Arwen's Requiem Gown
Concept: When I
first saw this gown on AlleyCatScratch
I absolutely fell in love with it. (Of course, I also fell in
love with the Blood Red dress, but that will have to wait its
turn.) The colors were prefect for me, whether I went with blue
tones or more purplish tones. The final decision on which color
scheme to go with was decided by what fabric I was able to find since I
certainly did not have the money or the time to dye the fabric
myself. I actually planned this one well in advance, purchasing
all my fabric months before The Return of the King was released, but
then I hit a snag. I was still waiting for the software update
for my Janome Memory Craft 10,000 to arrive. By the time the
software arrived and my brother and I were able to get it figured out
and the trim designs set up, I was quickly running out of time.
Obviously, we did get the dress done in time for Trilogy Tuesday, but
only the neckline trim and the sleeve embroidery was done, and none of
the beading had even been started, and even then my mom, brother and I
were up until 3 a.m. Since then, I have continued to work on this
gown and hope to have it complete for future events. Now, for the
info and pictures.
Fabric:
The first fabric I found was a positively scrumptious purple stretch velvet
hidden on the bottom shelf of a local fabric store. Before finding this
fabric, I had actually determined not to make a new costume for ROTK, but
when I got my hands on this stuff, all that just flew out the window.
While I was there, I also picked up a lavender fabric I thought to use for
the underdress and a silver fabric for the lower sleeves. On a trip
to one of my favorite fabric shops, I ran into a lavender silk that has these
iridescent threads running though in one direction. Of course, I fell
in love with that, too, and decided to use it for the lower sleeves instead
of the silver, especially since I was starting to think that the silver I
had purchased would be too dark. However, when I finally started working
on cutting and sewing the costume, I found that I did not have nearly enough
fabric for the underdress; no problem--I'll just substitute this yummy silk!
So, the iridescent silk became the underdress and trim base, and white Posh
lining became the lower sleeves...for now.
Patterns: For the underdress, I used Simplicity 7898. This is actually a slim fitting dress; since you can't see the underdress in the movie, I decided that I could pretty much do whatever I wanted with this, and I wanted to make it something that I might consider wearing without the overdress. I had to make some modifications to lower the neckline (and it is still not as low as in the movies, but I have a little bit more to cover up), needed to lengthen the pattern overall to make it ankle length, and changed the slit in back to a wide pleat (this still needs to be modified a bit--the pleat begins to far down to give me normal range of motion, so I'm planning on picking the seam out and adding a gore.
For the overdress, I used McCall's 4300...I think...my sewing room is a shambles right now (it's being renovated) and all I could find is one pattern piece and no envelope, so I'm just kind of hoping that this is the right pattern number. One thing to note is that although this pattern comes very close to achieving the look of the dress in the film, it is cut in a princess style; this is a bad thing if you are going for absolute authenticity, but a good thing for me since I was going for something that will make me look good and yet still be recognizable as an obscure gown that only shows up in the film for like three seconds. Anyway, so I was able to almost completely follow this pattern. The one modification I made was to do away with the straps and substituted bias tape. I made the trained version, so I also added a loop to the inside center back seam so that I can put my hand through the loop to hold up the skirt while I walk or dance. I think the pattern also calls for boning, but I ignored that.
Both dresses are fully lined, which I don't believe is in either pattern, but this shouldn't be a problem for an experienced sewer. I wanted to line the stretch velvet simply to help stabilize it at the neckline, which worked very well I might add, and to make sure that the back of the velvet didn't get caught up on the underdress fabric. I decided to line the underdress so that I didn't have to finish my seams; my serger is on the fritz and for some strange reason I think it is easier to line something than to finish the seams on a regular machine.
Embroidery: One of the things
that really attracted me to this dress was the embroidery, and the fact that
with my new embroidery machine, I could do it! Unfortunately, I didn't
realize how much time and effort it was going to take to get it done.
I was able to download the sketches of the original embroidery from
ASC, and my brother was able to clean up
the images and get them ready for the embroidery machine. I was then
able to stitch the sleeve and trim embroidery with metallic silver thread.
I was extremely pleased with the results and very appreciative of my brother.
Beading: I had already purchased the beads for this gown months ahead of time at a sewing and craft fair. I only put a few here and there on the sleeves, since I was a bit concerned that the beads might overwhelm the embroidery; however, I went to town on the trim. I used these silver bugle beads to edge the top and bottom of the trim (at least I think they are bugle beads, but they are only like half the length of most of the bugle beads I have seen). I used iridescent purple bugle beads to accent the arch, threw in a few round silver beads, and them placed a lavender tinted bead with a pink center inside of those silver filigree circles. (The original trim pattern uses sequins quite liberally, but I'm not very fond of them, so I substituted these filigree circles a bit more conservatively.) The trim is placed at the neckline, sleeve edges (to separate the upper and lower sleeves), and at the hem. (The hem was my own touch; since I will often be carrying the train, exposing the hem of the underdress, I thought it would be nice for the same beaded trim to be hiding down there.) In order to get the neckline trim to curve, I stitched the embroidery to a bias strip of fabric and also ran a gathering stitch along the upper edge, gathering it just enough to lay flat but not enough to make it start to pucker.
Jewelry: I
wear my Evenstar pendant with this outfit, which one of my brothers
bought for me from the Noble Collection, and a silver circlet that my
other brother made for me. Eventually I'd like to feminize the
circlet a bit, since most people who saw it made comments about it
being like Elrond's. I'm going to try to convince my brother to
keep working on it, and then I might add some strings of beads.
Here are some pictures of the final product with the beading complete. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, even if it has taken six months to complete. Oh, if you are wondering about the pattern for the beading on the overdress neckline, that is purely my own brain child: bordered by two rows of alternately colored seed beads, with a zigzag pattern made up of long, twisted bugle beads and round glass beads.
Cloak:
I actually managed to get the cloak done on time for the second event I wore
this costume to (the PEERS Return of the King Ball). I found this beautiful
stretch velvet fabric in LA that already had a lovely sprig pattern painted
on it. I wanted it to be a complete circle cloak, but ran out of fabric,
so it turned out to be three quarters. I was concerned about nap, so
I made sure that it matched in front, where it will be more readily seen,
and then just didn't worry about the back. The hood is just a large
"M" shape, with the neck edge matching the exact measurements of the neck
edge of the cloak. I lined the hood with a silver fabric (couldn't even
guess as to fabric content, but could possibly be a poly/cotton), by sewing
the two pieces right sides together on all but the neck edge. I then
attached just the velvet layer to the cloak, reinforced the seam with seam
binding (very important in order to prevent your neckline from stretching,
as the neckline of the cloak is cut on the bias), and then covered the seam
by folding over the hood lining and slip stitching it down. (For specific
measurements and more detailed instructions, check out ASC.
The research and attention to detail on that site is absolutely incredible.)
Home
Fabric:
The first fabric I found was a positively scrumptious purple stretch velvet
hidden on the bottom shelf of a local fabric store. Before finding this
fabric, I had actually determined not to make a new costume for ROTK, but
when I got my hands on this stuff, all that just flew out the window.
While I was there, I also picked up a lavender fabric I thought to use for
the underdress and a silver fabric for the lower sleeves. On a trip
to one of my favorite fabric shops, I ran into a lavender silk that has these
iridescent threads running though in one direction. Of course, I fell
in love with that, too, and decided to use it for the lower sleeves instead
of the silver, especially since I was starting to think that the silver I
had purchased would be too dark. However, when I finally started working
on cutting and sewing the costume, I found that I did not have nearly enough
fabric for the underdress; no problem--I'll just substitute this yummy silk!
So, the iridescent silk became the underdress and trim base, and white Posh
lining became the lower sleeves...for now.Patterns: For the underdress, I used Simplicity 7898. This is actually a slim fitting dress; since you can't see the underdress in the movie, I decided that I could pretty much do whatever I wanted with this, and I wanted to make it something that I might consider wearing without the overdress. I had to make some modifications to lower the neckline (and it is still not as low as in the movies, but I have a little bit more to cover up), needed to lengthen the pattern overall to make it ankle length, and changed the slit in back to a wide pleat (this still needs to be modified a bit--the pleat begins to far down to give me normal range of motion, so I'm planning on picking the seam out and adding a gore.
For the overdress, I used McCall's 4300...I think...my sewing room is a shambles right now (it's being renovated) and all I could find is one pattern piece and no envelope, so I'm just kind of hoping that this is the right pattern number. One thing to note is that although this pattern comes very close to achieving the look of the dress in the film, it is cut in a princess style; this is a bad thing if you are going for absolute authenticity, but a good thing for me since I was going for something that will make me look good and yet still be recognizable as an obscure gown that only shows up in the film for like three seconds. Anyway, so I was able to almost completely follow this pattern. The one modification I made was to do away with the straps and substituted bias tape. I made the trained version, so I also added a loop to the inside center back seam so that I can put my hand through the loop to hold up the skirt while I walk or dance. I think the pattern also calls for boning, but I ignored that.
Both dresses are fully lined, which I don't believe is in either pattern, but this shouldn't be a problem for an experienced sewer. I wanted to line the stretch velvet simply to help stabilize it at the neckline, which worked very well I might add, and to make sure that the back of the velvet didn't get caught up on the underdress fabric. I decided to line the underdress so that I didn't have to finish my seams; my serger is on the fritz and for some strange reason I think it is easier to line something than to finish the seams on a regular machine.
Embroidery: One of the things
that really attracted me to this dress was the embroidery, and the fact that
with my new embroidery machine, I could do it! Unfortunately, I didn't
realize how much time and effort it was going to take to get it done.
I was able to download the sketches of the original embroidery from
ASC, and my brother was able to clean up
the images and get them ready for the embroidery machine. I was then
able to stitch the sleeve and trim embroidery with metallic silver thread.
I was extremely pleased with the results and very appreciative of my brother.
Beading: I had already purchased the beads for this gown months ahead of time at a sewing and craft fair. I only put a few here and there on the sleeves, since I was a bit concerned that the beads might overwhelm the embroidery; however, I went to town on the trim. I used these silver bugle beads to edge the top and bottom of the trim (at least I think they are bugle beads, but they are only like half the length of most of the bugle beads I have seen). I used iridescent purple bugle beads to accent the arch, threw in a few round silver beads, and them placed a lavender tinted bead with a pink center inside of those silver filigree circles. (The original trim pattern uses sequins quite liberally, but I'm not very fond of them, so I substituted these filigree circles a bit more conservatively.) The trim is placed at the neckline, sleeve edges (to separate the upper and lower sleeves), and at the hem. (The hem was my own touch; since I will often be carrying the train, exposing the hem of the underdress, I thought it would be nice for the same beaded trim to be hiding down there.) In order to get the neckline trim to curve, I stitched the embroidery to a bias strip of fabric and also ran a gathering stitch along the upper edge, gathering it just enough to lay flat but not enough to make it start to pucker.
Here are some pictures of the final product with the beading complete. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, even if it has taken six months to complete. Oh, if you are wondering about the pattern for the beading on the overdress neckline, that is purely my own brain child: bordered by two rows of alternately colored seed beads, with a zigzag pattern made up of long, twisted bugle beads and round glass beads.
Cloak:
I actually managed to get the cloak done on time for the second event I wore
this costume to (the PEERS Return of the King Ball). I found this beautiful
stretch velvet fabric in LA that already had a lovely sprig pattern painted
on it. I wanted it to be a complete circle cloak, but ran out of fabric,
so it turned out to be three quarters. I was concerned about nap, so
I made sure that it matched in front, where it will be more readily seen,
and then just didn't worry about the back. The hood is just a large
"M" shape, with the neck edge matching the exact measurements of the neck
edge of the cloak. I lined the hood with a silver fabric (couldn't even
guess as to fabric content, but could possibly be a poly/cotton), by sewing
the two pieces right sides together on all but the neck edge. I then
attached just the velvet layer to the cloak, reinforced the seam with seam
binding (very important in order to prevent your neckline from stretching,
as the neckline of the cloak is cut on the bias), and then covered the seam
by folding over the hood lining and slip stitching it down. (For specific
measurements and more detailed instructions, check out ASC.
The research and attention to detail on that site is absolutely incredible.)
And finally, here are pictures of the
finished costume on me!
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