Arwen - Lord of the Rings
When I saw this dress in early trailers and promotional material for the LOTR trilogy, I knew I was in love. I waited patiently as more pictures of it trickled out, and then expected to see it in Fellowship. It wasn't in Fellowship. Then I thought maybe it had been cut from the movie, and waited for the extended DVD. It wasn't on the DVD. It was then used on promotional material for The Two Towers....and wasn't in that movie or DVD either. Luckily the dress was indeed in Return of the King, and I was able to finish it just in time for the Masquerade at the 2003 Gathering of the Fellowship, and then wear it to the premiere of ROTK. Unfortunately some asshole stole my camera, so I didn't have any pictures until I rewore the costume at TT18.
After the insanity that was Worldcon costuming, this was pretty simple. I just left it to the last minute (as usual) and didn't receive my silk velvet until right before the con so was up all night sewing and got 2 hours of sleep before the Masquerade. The underdress is ankle-length and made from inexpensive black satin. The overdress and lower sleeves are silk/rayon velvet, and I hand-painted the paisley patterns for the upper sleeves and neckline since I couldn't find fabric that looked right. I hand-sewed the lining to the sleeves (there's a lot of sleeve!) as I discovered that sewing velvet to satin on a machine is impossible. The trim is Indian zardosi (embroidery and wirework) on a gray mesh base, which I coloured with markers as it stood out too much.
The longer-than-floor-length hem looks lovely when I'm standing still but is a pain in the ass to walk around in. The heavy velvet sleeves are also very unwieldy for doing, well, anything (and that's at only just over a half circle for each sleeve...can't imagine having a full circle). This dress is designed for standing still in and looking pretty.
Of course I discovered long after making it that the original was in fact dark rose and navy blue and only looked red/black due to colour grading, but honestly I like red/black better anyways.
Workmanship Award (for fabric painting and construction) and 3rd Place Presentation (Journeyman division) - Gathering of the Fellowship
After the insanity that was Worldcon costuming, this was pretty simple. I just left it to the last minute (as usual) and didn't receive my silk velvet until right before the con so was up all night sewing and got 2 hours of sleep before the Masquerade. The underdress is ankle-length and made from inexpensive black satin. The overdress and lower sleeves are silk/rayon velvet, and I hand-painted the paisley patterns for the upper sleeves and neckline since I couldn't find fabric that looked right. I hand-sewed the lining to the sleeves (there's a lot of sleeve!) as I discovered that sewing velvet to satin on a machine is impossible. The trim is Indian zardosi (embroidery and wirework) on a gray mesh base, which I coloured with markers as it stood out too much.
The longer-than-floor-length hem looks lovely when I'm standing still but is a pain in the ass to walk around in. The heavy velvet sleeves are also very unwieldy for doing, well, anything (and that's at only just over a half circle for each sleeve...can't imagine having a full circle). This dress is designed for standing still in and looking pretty.
Of course I discovered long after making it that the original was in fact dark rose and navy blue and only looked red/black due to colour grading, but honestly I like red/black better anyways.
Workmanship Award (for fabric painting and construction) and 3rd Place Presentation (Journeyman division) - Gathering of the Fellowship
