How to Make a Goa'uld Bandeau Top

Okay, so once upon a time I decided to make a Goa'uld costume for this segment. It has not gone well, due to my complete inability to work with foam like the Loonatic. 

I just. I don't know. 

Anyway, the top is one of the few pieces to make it out alive so you may have to imagine the rest. But the top is cool.

Ignore the unfinished skirt, yeah? I don't know when that's getting out of production hell

For those of you not in the know, the Goa'uld are the main villains in the Stargate: SG-1 television series (yeah, that's right, I said it. The Replicators and the Ori are penny ante villains and you know it). Technically the Goa'uld are parasitic snake things that Khan-worm into people's brains and take over their bodies. But aesthetically, the Goa'uld in their chosen hosts masquerade as gods and goddesses from Earth's various mythologies, with Egyptian mythology being the principle example. In general, they wear a lot of robes, bikinis, and gold. 

You know. Like the Egyptians.

Historical accuracy aside, it can be a fun look. The look I specifically chose was based largely off the Goa'uld Hathor and Kida from the animated Atlantis movie (I can't help it. I was deeply confused as a child because Daniel Jackson and Milo Thatch are essentially the same character and have the same goddamn story).

It's weirdly difficult to find good pictures of Hathor's costumes, so have this tiny blurry thing.

 

Okay, so maybe my outfit is more Kida than Hathor. Sue me.

So yeah, this is a basic tutorial for how to make your own lace up, scrunch-front bandeau top.

Materials

1-2 yards of thin, durable fabric 

1 sheet of thin, flexible plastic (I routinely mutilate plastic folders and they are the best for this)

A length of leather for trim (I ended up using a piece about 3 inches by 20 inches to cover both ends of the bandeau)

An eyelet kit (including a hole punch, 16-20 eyelets, and something to set to eyelets with)

Scissors

Needle and thread

A measuring tape

A trims and ribbons for decoration and lacing.

 

Step 1: Cut and Finish the Basic Tube  

This is pretty simple. It's a bandeau, so there's really nothing fancy to it as long as you give yourself enough fabric to start with. I had a decorative window valance that I wanted to use for the bandeau. It's a gorgeous fabric that (huzzah) already had some finished edges. It is, however, super thin. It was already folded to be two layers thick but I decided to double it over again to give the top more strength and to avoid any untoward nipple-age. And since I knew I was going to scrunch up the front, I wanted to have enough initial width there to create some good texture.

See, looks pretty stupid here. I swear it gets better

So for the length I measured my bust. My fabric has no stretch, so I even though I wanted to make it tighter rather than looser, I only subtracted about 2 inches from the bust measurement for my total length.

Length: 36 inches

For the width, I decided that ten inches would give me enough fabric to create a good scrunch in the front while not sacrificing coverage. And as previously mentioned, my fabric is very thin so I doubled that measurement so I could fold over the fabric.

Width: 20 inches.

From there, you just need to hem the top and bottom edges so you don't have any raw edges showing. The edges that will form the corset back don't matter so much. They're going to be covered anyway, so they don't need to be pretty.

Step 2: Strengthen the Ends

I don't believe in complex tutorials. Clothespins and scraps are all you really need in life.

Since my chosen fabric has the rigidity of a Kleenex, I knew that any corset lacing was going to need some assistance. As such, I added two stabilizers. 

Over the outside of the bandeau edge, I folded a strip of leather. Since I was adding structure more than style, I used a heavyweight natural leather scrap I picked up at a craft store. The strip was an uneven 3-5 inches wide, which gave me 1.5-2.5 inches of leather over the inside and outside edges in which to add the eyelets. Since I was going to add eyelets anyway I did not bother to sew down the leather, simply clamping it in place for the moment.

Just to be sure that the corset back would be rigid enough, I also decided to add a strip of thin, flexible plastic to the core. All this means is that I cut a strip of plastic from a back-to-school folder (about 9 inches by 1.5 inches) and winkled it in between my existing layers.

Step 3: Add Eyelets

So, yeah. Add the eyelets. 

I got lucky and borrowed this craft rivet-er thing from the Loonatic. Please don't ask me anything else, I don't know. I cut some holes and I squished some metal.

So yeah, this is the thing.

Although I will say: at this point I was attempting to cut through and clamp together 4 layers of fabric, 2 layers of thick leather, and a piece of plastic. It was not super easy and some of the rivets came out better than others. So keep that in mind when choosing your fabrics, a rivet can only do so much.

Step 4: Cut and Finish a Front Tie

Sorry for the crap photos, I didn't realize the mirror had been splattered

This is pretty much the first step except even easier. Cut a strip from your fabric that's long enough to tie a knot around the bandeau. How long is really your prerogative. I made my strip about 5 inches wide and 20 inches long. 

Step 5: Decorate

And here's the fun part. This is the time to give the top some personality and also to cover up any screw-ups you may have made. For my top, I really only did a few things.

Since the leather I used on the lacing section was a scrap, it was pretty rough. So I went ahead and cut the ragged edges into a wavy pattern for fun. 

In addition, I sewed a gold trim to the sides of the front tie, and I replaced the shoelace I had been using to lace the back with a two different kinds of ribbon.

Yeah, I know I already put this one up but I have a limited number of glamor shots

I swear to you I can actually lace it all the way, I just can't do it by myself.