Gallery:

January 2005
The finished re-vamp on Bridget. Isn't she gorgeous? More pics can be found on the Twelfth Night page as well.

January 2005
Finished re-vamp on Narcissa. I love the way it looks like this was the original design, instead of last minute fabric finds and changes on a whim. *squee*

October 2004
Bridget at the Ren Faire! We used hair extensions again, but Bridget has cut her hair so it was more of a challenge to get them to blend this time. More pics of the day can be found here!

August 2004
Unfortunately not many pics turned, something to do with early morning light on the blue dress. Oh well. No, all that hair isn't Bridgets. Her hair only goes to about the bottom of the silver trim. The rest was hair extensions. I was actually surprised how good it turned out.

I didn't have time to take "how we did this" pics of the hairstyle but it was very easy to do. Her hair was curled in rag curlers and the extensions were curled with a boil perm. Her hair was pinned up then the extensions were pinned in place using tiny claw clips. The extensions were then trimmed to look layered and help blend with her hair.

For more pictures of our day at the Faire click here!

July 2004
Some pics on Narcissa for your viewing pleasure.

Dress Diary:

March 2004

When my sister and I sat down to plan out her costume for this year's Renaissance Faire, she wanted to continue the "fantasy" theme I had started with my Eowyn gown. Rather than copy a particular dress from the trilogy we decided to mix and match elements to create an "Elvish inspired" design.

This costume was inspired by two The Return of the King gowns. The first is Arwen's "Requiem" gown. Her gowns in ROTK were very similar to each other but Bridget particularly liked the colors and the way the upper sleeves were beaded.

Rather than create the large contrasting lower sleeves of the Requiem, we decided to go with the simpler lower sleeves of Eowyn's Shieldmaiden gown. Still elegant but more practical and comfortable.

For the fabrics, we used a medium weight navy blue cotton from our fabric stash for the main dress. The sleeves used cotton, an opaque navy blue organdy and a shot sea-foam green chiffon.

Bridget did an amazing job embellishing the upper sleeves with a beaded flowering tree of Gondor (her favorite LOTR motif). She also embellished the sleeve bands and neckline with silver trim and beading.

April 13 2004
Rather than try to alter a pattern for Bridget, I decided to drape the pattern myself. I draped it directly on Bridget, as Narcissa is neither the right shape or size. It went pretty well and so far I’m happy with the pattern. I’ll work on the first toile next.

April 14
So far the basic dress is sewn together (front, back and side gores). I still need to cut out some sleeves and attach those. Also need to put in a zipper. I’m trying to figure out how to put one in the back with having to create a back seam. Is that possible? I guess I’ll find out.

April 15
Fitted B’s first toiletoday. Ooy, It is going to be one of those torturous toile projects. It usually is with Bridget. I keep telling her she isn’t worth it but I continue to make her things. I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess. *grin*

Lots to fix on this toile. I had originally designed it to be slightly off the shoulders, like my Eowyn dress, but it’s to be on the shoulders now. *throws out toile sleeves that are now completely wrong* Bridget also decided to toss practicality out the window in favor of a real train. Not a sweep, a train. So I tacked some fabric on the back to make a 13" train. Not long enough. *makes note to add 5" more making an 18" train* I have to admit that the long train is very elegant, if impractical for a Ren Faire. I made the toile with double skirt gores on the sides but we decided that the gown needs double gores in the back as well. The one big mistake on the toile was somehow cutting the armhole well below where it should be. Like down to her bra strap. I have NO idea how that happened!

We did take pictures (so B could get an idea of what it really looked like) but, unfortunately, they are not rated "G" due to a black bra and some extremely thin toile fabric so I won’t be posting them. I’ll get pics of the next toile I promise.

April 17
I've been steadily working on Bridget’s dress the past two days. It only took 2½ toiles total, which was better than I expected. I marked the changes from Thursday’s fitting and made up a new toile. I know the fabric is ugly. It smells too. What can I say, my grandmother gave it to me and I never turn down free fabric!

toile 2.0

Both B and I were pretty happy with toile 2.0. The back gore was too wide. It gave the skirt bottom too much circumference and looked like a wedding gown. Not very Elvish. The sleeves turned out a bit puffy too. Easy fixes!

toile 2.1

I narrowed the back gore and made one sleeve cap shallower (is that a word?) then had B try it on again. Much better! I draped the lower sleeve piece on and re-cut the train a bit. The sleeve top needs to be lengthened an inch and the bottom of the lower sleeve rounded off. That’s it!

I picked the finial toile apart so I could cut out the "fashion fabric" but I decided that rather than start at 9pm I would wait until another day. There is no real rush on this. B can't start beading until after finals anyway. I’m looking forward to starting the fun part of this dress though. Toiles are SO boring!!

April 26
I bought the sleeve fabricfor Bridget's dress today. It is a soft navy blue organza. It has a subtle metallic sheen that helps to "dress-up" the cotton without making it look drab. Very nice. We were originally thinking a lighter blue for the sleeves but after looking around I decided that darker would be better. I was a bit concerned about visually cutting the outfit up too much. All one color is typically more slimming. Besides all dark with the silver trim and beads will be much more striking. Bridget agreed and she looks very good in "striking". *wink*

May 1
I started on the elvish dress today. Got some of the hard bits out of the way; back gore, zipper and darts. One side gore is attached to the front and the bodice lining is ready to go. The upper sleeves are ready to be embellished too. (I mounted the organza to the cotton and finished the edges with a zig-zag.)

May 6

Today I finished the main construction of the Elvish dress. For some reason it came out a little snug in the bust, or I should say, the upper back. The toile fit perfectly so I’m not sure how that happened. It’s wearable but it’s bugging my perfectionist nature. Hopefully the dress will photograph better once it has sleeves and the train is finished.

The length of sea foam green chiffon is one I found in my "fancy fabric stash" the other day. It’s really lovely stuff I found on a bargain table, shot with black and mint threads. I bought it with a Titanic dress (tunic layer) in mind but when I laid it with the blue elvish fabrics, I fell in love. Bridget really liked it too so I’m going to add some chiffon to the inside of the bottom sleeve, creating two layers there. I hope it will add just a bit more "ooph" to the design and movement to the sleeves. So I have to cut those pieces out before I can hem the lower sleeve edges. (The two fabrics will be hemmed separately but I want to do it all at one time.)

Bridget started the embellishment of the upper sleeves today and she is really whaling on the project so far. Her design is based on the flowering tree of Gondor that can be found on the ROTK soundtrack. She scanned the CD, traced it and then scanned it back in before re-sizing it. She removed some of the flowers, but the design is pretty much the same as the original. She is using a mixture of silver lined bugles, seed beads and sliver threads. Pretty, pretty!

May 8

Bridget finished the first upper sleeve today. That was fast! It’s thoroughly disgusting that she can excel in beadwork, embroidery and math! Actually she excels in pretty much everything. *curse the wench* She has already begun work on the second sleeve – I guess I better get hopping on those lower sleeve hems!

My camera had a hard time, because of all the "sparkle", sorry about that. The scans of the sleeve are clearer but really, neither medium captures how pretty the embellishment is. ‘Twill be hard for poor moi to outshine her at the Faire! :>

Worked on the lower sleeve hems a bit. I was going to start the hem on the machine but finish by hand but after some thought I think I’m just going to do the whole thing on the machine. I’m feeling a bit lazy about the costume at this point.

May 27

I finished up all the sleeve hemming and attached one sleeve "upper" to it’s "lower" today. When I was done, I pinned the "full" sleeve into the dress and had Bridget try it on too. It’s starting to come together and look good. Bridget is happy, so I am too. The hemming required a lot more handwork than I anticipated. I did the hems on the machine but I had to turn, pin and baste the hems first all by hand. Very tedious. It was faster than a hand done rolled hem but it still took hours to finish all four pieces. What a pain!

I’m now at a stand still on the costume. I have to wait for Bridget to finish beading the second sleeve so I can attach the uppers and lowers. Then I have to wait for her to create the sleeve band decoration before I can attach the sleeves to the gown. I do have the hem to do but I’m not going to worry about it for a little while.

June 12
Bridget finished the second beaded tree and the first sleeve band. It's lovely with silver trim, silver beads and blue beads. I am going to tease ya'all though and not show any more pics until the embellishment is finished. I want wait so you can see the whole effect at once. If the band is any indication, it will be stunning!

July 2

I've been very productive today. I finally put the second Elvish sleeve together and put both sleeves in the dress. Bridget is very excited and I’m excited that she will stop bugging my about it. :> I had her try the gown on and I marked the hem. The skirt ended up a little short so I'm going to use some bias tape to finish the bottom. I need to go out and buy that and some navy blue thread. Apparently we are out.

I know I was going to wait to post pics until the Elvish was finished but well... I changed my mind. A girl’s prerogative right? I love the beading she did on the sleeve band. As usual pics don't really do it justice. She will be doing the same trim along the neckline as well.

July 5
I also finished the hem on the Elvish dress. It’s all up to Bridget now, I’m done. She is upstairs working on it as I type. The silver trim on the neckline is looking very pretty. She is probably about half way done with it.

July8
...I haven't gotten too much done the past few days. I've mostly been watching Bridget work on her Elvish dress. The embellishment is going very well and it's looking really amazing!

July 16

The Elvish gown is officially finished! *throws confetti* Bridget put the last bead on yesterday. It looks so amazing. I couldn't be more pleased with this gown. It has been such much fun to team-up with Bridget on it. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and using the best of our talents to produce something this nice.

I took some pics on of the dress on Narcissa this morning. It looks even more fabulous on Bridget. She is going to do a trial-run of her hair/makeup in the next few weeks and I'll take some pics of her in the gown then. For more pics of the gown on Narcissa check out the Gallery!

July 16

Bridget and I decided this gown really needed the Evenstar necklace but since that is not an option at the moment, we had to be creative.

I scrounged around in my jewelry stash and found a pair of highly gaudy earrings I picked up for no particular reason months ago. They were $.50 I believe and thought they might come in handy for something. Well they have! I popped one of the earrings off it's hook, put a little jump ring on it and put it on a silver chain. Et voici, the perfect necklace. *big 'ole grin* She will wear some simple diamond studs and sparkly hair jewelry to complete the look.

Or The Elvish Re-vamp

November 2004
Bridget and I have been in negotiations about "re-vamping" her Elvish Gown for a few weeks . After wearing it to every costume event this year, Bridget is a bit bored of wearing it and honetly I'm bored of seeing her. Unfortunately, it’s the only costume she can possibly wear for Twelfth Night.

Once we decided Bridget really did need something new and I was willing to do it for her, I suggested a quickie new frock (about the same amount of work really) but Bridget didn’t want to lose all the effort that went into the beading of the orginial Elvish and since I can't really blame her, we settled on a re-vamp.

We will be splitting the front open, adding an under dress and embellishing the edges of the new over-gown with beading. I’ll be doing the sewing and Bridget will work on the beading, per usual. The idea is based on Arwen’s "Angel Dress". The beading design is also copied from that gown. We don’t really have original ideas.

We went shopping yesterday and found the perfect fabric at Hancock’s. It’s a shot blue/green/yellow cotton, found in the Christmas section. It goes remarkably well with the green chiffon in the sleeves and really makes the gown "pop". We haven’t bought it though. I’m working on the toile today, so we can determine the needed yardage and buy it this weekend.

Nov 8

I fitted the toile and figured out the finial yardage estimates (5yd) on Saturday night. I’m making the underdress a bit more fitted and longer than the original blue (which somehow ended up almost too short) but other than that I didn’t change much on the toile.

On Sunday, we went out and bought the fabric. As I mentioned before it’s a textured cotton/nylon blend, shot blue & gold. It’s actually more blue in person than in the pics. The flash brings out the gold I guess. It really shimmers when it’s moved. *sigh* I love shot fabrics.

Dec 9
I cut B’s re-vamp today, among a few other things. I really have put this off too long!

Dec 17

In addition to the new changes, I am also attempting to fix old "issues". It’s really amazing how much I’ve grown as a seamstress in such a short time. My fitting skills have definitely improved since I drafted the pattern for this gown almost 9 months ago. The shape of the bust on this gown come out odd, something that has bugged both Bridget and I. Originally I thought the darts were somehow to blame but when I took the sleeves off tonight and examined it, I realized that it was a side seam issue. Simply put, the fit is too tight at the top of that seam, throwing the fit of the bust off. I’m going to make some little gores to add some extra fabric there, correcting the fit. Luckily the "patches" will be right under the arm so no one should ever notice them. *wink*

Once I had sewed together the under dress, I had Bridget try that on. It looked and fit just fine, actually better than the original. :> I then had her try the over dress on. We worked through the bust issue above and discussed our plans for the rest of the re-vamp.

Bridget took the gowns off and I proceeded to cut a slit up the front and remove the back gore, creating a second slit up the back. I also removed most of the bodice lining, leaving just a few inches at the neckline as a facing. Bridget then tried on the gowns again. I was rather amazed at how well the slits worked. We decided at that point to remove most of the side gore as well to create a better silhouette for the over dress. I quickly hemmed up the slits before calling it a night.

So now that I have pretty much taken the entire gown apart I have to put it all back together! *rolls eyes* I’m really happy with the way it’s looking though. This is definitely one of those styles where Bridget's height is an advantage. The first dress was pretty but I think I'm doing a better job of accentuating her height and proportions on this re-vamp. Makes me wish our party room was a bit bigger, to better show off the gown's elegance.

Oh yes, B started the beaded trim last night... wow! It's really going to make the dress.

Dec 20
I worked just a bit on the re-vamp. Real life stuff kept getting in the way. Of course I did sleep in super late and then kept getting sucked into ROTK. Bridget's idea of taking a break from studying is to add beaded trim to her gown while watching Lord of the Rings. Meanie.

Where was I? Ahh yes, the re-vamp. I cut the side gores down to the proper size. I then cut out the upper side seam wedgies (as B and I call them). I got one side put back together before deciding to call it a night.

Dec 21
Worked on the re-vamp some more today. Sewed up the side seams, messed with the underdress neckline, had a fitting with B, cut out more wedgies because the first ones were totally wrong...

Do I sound bored? Well, I am. It's all little, tedious, nit picky stuff that is even more lame to write about than it is to actually do.

Don't mind me, it's really not that bad. I'm just bored stiff and starting to feel pretty un-motivated about life in general. I think I need a guilt free vacation time. How many days left until Christmas again? :P

Dec 30
The List™:
finish hems, sew dresses together, insert wedgies, re-attach sleeves.

Jan 1
I worked on the re-vamp some. I finished hemming the overdress, so B can finish the beading. *whew* I also inserted the new wedgies. They aren't a perfect fix but I'm not willing to mess with them anymore. B will just have to shrink into the dress to get it to fit better – I’m done!

I attached one of the sleeves as well but I want to have a fitting with B before I go any further. She was already in bed, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Jan 2
I’ve finished the re-vamp!!! *throws much confetti* ...Or I should say my contribution to the project. B still has a bit of beading to do. I'll try to take soon pics tomorrow, but really no guarantees.

I’m so glad to cross that off my list. I’ve discovered I don’t like doing re-dos. I just as soon make a new garment. I can’t say I won’t ever do it again (it is a practical, cheap option and in general I have to be a very frugal costumer) but I’m going to avoid the process as much as possible. Yuck!

Jan 4

Lots more pics of the finished re-vamp on Narcissa can now be found in the gallery. I’m pretty amazed at how it came out. It almost looks like this was the original design, instead of last minute fabric finds and changes on a whim.

I’ve said it a few times already, but beaded edging is what really makes the dress. It draws it all together. It adds weight and drape to that wretched cotton, and great sparkle to the whole ensemble. I have a series of pics to show how the edging was made too. I’ll be posting them as a beading tutorial on my site sometime this month.

I can’t wait to see the gown on B, with her hair and makeup done. It looks twice as good on her. *wink*

Jan 11
Pics the finished re-vamp on Bridget are be found in the gallery.