Non Star Wars lord of the rings costumes

The Lord of the Rings 11 Nominations and 11 Oscars!!! Yay!!

 

Not only that, for this thread the most important was the costume and make up win

 

Eep.

The way things are looking now, I'm going to be making Arwen's Coronation gown for the Comic-Con masquerade, three months from now. I lurched into full research mode today-- spent the entire day on my computer in lab instead of doing any experiments. Oops. ;-) I'm pretty confident in my ability to draft and construct the dress itself, but the crown is going to be a bear. Luckily, I have a good friend with lots and lots of jewelry experience, so hopefully she can help out. Ambitious, yes, but I hope it'll be a worthy successor to my rainbow dress entry.

Caitlin

 

I seem to remember that kellila had a really beautiful one made my someone in France. I'll PM you the link.

Edit: Hmmm, I spoke too soon, their site is shut down. Too bad, their stuff was amazing.

 

I've been entertaining the idea of using fun foam for parts of a LOTR crown like Arwen's. Some people have used it to make armor with, shaping it over heat and then using glue and fabric to stiffen it. If you got a thin enough kind of foam, it should theoretically work, right?

Just an idea, eh?

 

For anyone that is interested in Arwen's Green Coronation/Ceremonial/Wedding gown from ROTK - I've finally put together a research site with all my notes and illustrations from the FIDM exhibit in March.

Arwen Green Coronation Gown Page

At this time I don't have plans to make the gown, maybe It will be on my list for next year though!

I finally got around to getting some REAL web space and one of these days I'll move my mish mash of Star Wars research to kay-dee.net as well First thing is first though, I've gotta finish up the Arwen Mourning gown and that dusty old Padme Senate dress.

-Kay Dee

 

kay_dee, your research page is nothing short of fantastic -- great work assembling a wonderful resource!
I'm sure it will be used by many, many costumers wanting to recreate the coronation gown.

Again, terrific work!

 

Fantastic research pages kay_dee! Thanks!

 

Thanks for checking out my Arwen page I should add that 5 of the photos I used were taken by 'Secret Elf' and were originally posted at Alley Cat Scratch... I simply used the photos to help illustrate my observations (not trying to steal or take credit for those). All the notes, observations, and illustrations were my own though (Some photos and quotes taken from my own magazine).

-Kay Dee

 

Kay dee, YOU ROCK SO HARD. That page is *awesome* (and a very elegant design, too!). You are just an absolute godsend. Here I am about to start in on this dress, and you compile everything I've been looking for in one place! Thank you *so* much!

Caitlin

 

Ummmm, can we, like, hire kay_dee to do one of those for every costume?

kay_dee, that is one of the most well organized, visually pleasing and easy to follow research sites I've ever seen. Great job!

 

Caitlin - I'm so happy you can use some of my notes for your Arwen project! I know I got a little wordy with my pages, it's just hard to express things that you've seen knowing that others probably never saw the gown in person. As many times as people had talked about the gown I never really understood how the whole thing was constructed until I saw it in person - it was like this huge light bulb went on!

ACS has tons of info too, so between the two sources you should have lots of good info to make an accurate gown (if you are debating sequins v bugle beads TRUST me, they were bugle beads LOL!). You'll have to keep us posted on your progress. Now that I have this costume in the back of my mind I have to see if I can find a similar lace (what are the odds that I'd ever find the exact same fabric?).

Dawn - hey, don't kid yourself, you've got one of the best costume research sites for the picnic dress - and Maggie's huge Padawan's Guide is nothing to sneeze at! Heck, I'll be lucky if I can construct a site for each costume I make/have made. (Never got past the home page design for my Picnic Dress).

-Kay Dee

 

Well, I know I'm a slow poke - but I thought I'd post some recent progress pics of my Arwen Mourning Gown. I've gotten the sleeves sewn on, and now I have to decide if I want to alter my neckline before sewing my trim on.

Mourning Gown Progress Pics

I know my sleeves are not as full as the real costume, but I didn't realize it until I was almost done with the armband trim. I just didn't have it in me to do it all over again! Oh well.

-Kay Dee

 

oh, kay_dee... I literally gasped when I saw your gown. It's an absolute stunner.

 

Kay_dee OMG! [face_shocked] Your Ceremonial gown site is so great! I am such a fan of that gown, and am always on the look out for materials and trims for it. I'm partial to anything green, and that gown just takes the taco. I cannot believe you developed such a comprehensive site for a gown you're not sure you'll even make--But I know I'm not the only one who is glad you did. It is SO detailed, and wonderful. Thank you--Thank you!!

You mourning gown is just amazing--I am always stunned by your work. That sari/trim is just perfect!! WOW! What a find.

Can't wait to drool over your costumes in person at DC!!

~Ferd

 

Holy shemogins kay_dee!!! Your mourning gown is looking fantastic so far - luscious velvet, and that trim is sooooo perfect! Can't wait to see you in it!

 

Ditto! It looks so beautiful! Those sleeves....*sigh*
Once again, your attention to detail and your dedication for doing things right is apparent and appreciated, kay_dee.

 

kay_dee, that's gorgeous. I've got to ask though, how heavy is that gown going to be? There is so much fabric!

 

Kay_dee - love your Coronation gown site!

Caitlin, if you're going to make the gown - you should definitely check out the ACS site too - I also have some pics and info up
here.

You could also look at the ACS writeups on the BR gown and the Requiem gown[/link] also - they are all the same style of gown. There are little differences, but if you're looking for construction hints - looking at them might help.

Kay_dee - your Mourning dress is coming along wonderfully - the sari trim looks great - and I'm glad you did the little bullion loops too! I think it really makes the trim look accurate!!

You got your velvet from Thai Silks, right? I want to get that color for the BR dress when I get to it. I used rayon velvet for my Mourning gown, but I wished I had gotten the silk velvet. I'm happy with mine, but there's always that redo bug itching at me!

Maggie

 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone - I can't wait to finish the Mourning Gown and have some sense of accomplishment! I think the neckline is going to be tricky - hopefully I can finish that up this weekend. Then I just have to add the red insert, make the red belt, and do the hem Oh, and add the buttons!

Ferd - I do hope to do the Coronation gown because after seeing it in person I feel I understand how to construct it. I just know I won't have time 'till 2005. But green is one of my favorite colors (#1 purple, #2 pink, #3 green).

starfire-phoenix - the mourning gown is not too heavy at all. It's made from silk velvet (rayon pile) and it is so much lighter in weight than typical polyester velvets you'd come across at a place like Joann's or Hancock fabrics. I still have to hem it, so a few inches will come off from the bottom so I can walk w/o tripping. The lining (china silk) is also very light.

Maggie I think the navy silk velvet from Thai Silks will be perfect for your gown. It is much more difficult to sew with though. I found that on anything curved where I sewed 1 layer of silk lining to the velvet (no napped finishes to squish & lock together) I had to baste it, then put in pins at a diagonal to keep it in place while I used my walking foot (my fingers came into play as well).

-Kay Dee

 

Wow, Kay Dee - its beautiful! I need to go check out a Sari store! I just love those exquisite trims. I want to make the Coronation gown too, one of these days. Keep us updated on your progress!

ecila

 

Thanks for answering my question kay_dee. I've never actually had the pleasure of seeing and feeling large pieces of silk velvet in person before, only tiny samples that I got from thaisilks.com. It's just not popular in oz I have been to every single fabric store in my city, and no one has it in stock. That's very nice to know that it's not all that heavy though. I have plans to make at least one gown this year out of silk velvet, so I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

 

I finally finished my Arwen Mourning Gown!!!

[image=http://www.kay-dee.net/costumes/mourning/gown_front.jpg]

See all the pictres and my notes here

These things always end up being more work that I expect. Not to mention my minor trauma last night when I was snipping a little thread on my hem (clumsy mistake and I snipped a hole in my velevet a few inches up from my hem- whaaa!)

I'm pretty happy with my results, but it can never be as beautiful as the real thing.

I hadn't orignially planned to make a crown, but now I'm considering it. (Does anyone think my costume would be deemed less authentic without the crown and veil?) Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to take some photos of myself wearing the costume.

-Kay Dee

P.S. A big thanks to Maggie for getting me started on this project and helping out with some of the research (if you hadn't told me about FIDM a year ago none of this would have happened!). Also, thanks to everyone else who has offerend opinions and advise along the way I learn so much from these bboards!

 

Wow - KayDee, that is sooooo beautiful!!! Any pics of you wearing it?

One day, post can-can dress mania, I hope to make one of Arwen's gowns too.



ecila

 

Oh, Kay-Dee, you've outdone yourself! Your gown looks absolutely luscious!

(and a big thank you for your help!)

Jen