Since I used Simplicity 4940 for this dress I wanted to try it on and look at the skirt shape to see if I want to use it as a base for Eowyn's dress and I think yes, this is the fullness I want. I will lay it out as well to check. With lighter fabric I hope it won't be quite as weighty as this costume is. Liv Tyler wasn't kidding that her dresses helped her move in an Elven way just from their weight and drape. I found some bubble gauze cotton and linen/linen blends that I think will work well at my scouting trip to Joanns today.
While I have you here LOOK AT THESE SLEEVES
This was the very first pattern I drafted on my own instead of following the store bought pattern! I believe the real costume is lined but the shape is screen accurate. You have to hold your hands at your waist like Arwen in all her promo images or they'll get lost!
Left: Return of the King Arwen-inspired dress, 2003
Right: House of the Dragon Rhaenyra screen accurate dress, 2023
Both of these costumes were based on screen-used dresses, using self drafted patterns and my best attempt at recreating what was seen in the filmed media. Both feature neckline trim with beading applied over top, and screen-accurate jewelry, but that's about where the similarities end.
The Return of the King dress was made fairly quickly, over the course of about a month in the fall of 2003, and used a modified stretch velvet dress I already had on hand. The underdress was drafted from scratch, but a t-tunic shape without set-in sleeves was about the height of my pattern drafting skills at the time. I remember carefully figuring out the shape for the lower sleeve, to get the bell to hang right. Just about every bit of it is polyester. Neither the cut, color, nor fabric is accurate to what's in the movie, but I wanted something that had the feel of one of Arwen's dresses, just for the fun of dressing up for the premiere, and it certainly achieved that.
By contrast, the House of the Dragon dress was made over about 8 months, from January to August 2023. The pattern was drafted from my measurements into a 10 panel princess seam dress, with the waist, hip, and skirt measurements being equal in every panel. Both the red overdress and the black underdress (providing opacity and a modesty panel under the back lacing, but otherwise unseen here) are made from 100% silk fabric. The trim at the neckline and the narrower trim along the vertical seamlines are both polyester, but the beads over the neckline trim are garnet rondelles rather than plastic. The screen-accurate earrings were made by me as well, and along with other purchased jewelry and the wig (also styled by me) complete the over all screen accurate look -- as opposed to whatever earrings I threw on in 2003 and the weird hair color I was sporting at the time, lol.
My sewing and general costuming skills have definitely improved in the last 20 years, but it's interesting to see that both of these dresses have a bit of trouble with the neckline not wanting to lay flat. For the Arwen dress, this was because I didn't yet know how to iron trim to curve it before applying it to a round neckline, and I chose bad trim for achieving that, anyway. For Rhaenyra, the problem was that the V neck was cut on the bias and stretched more than I had anticipated, and I didn't realize it until after the trim was all on and the lacing in the back grommetted right through it. I did look closely at fixing that by taking in the top edge of the center front by a fraction, but I had actually attached the trim so well that I couldn't move that seam without damaging the trim.
The other similarity between these two dresses is perhaps the most important of all: people at the event knew who I was dressed as, and I had an absolute blast wearing both costumes. Still, it's fun to look back at the improvement in my skills over the last 20 years.
A commission I finished a while ago, Arwen! Based on art by Hannah Alexander. I love lavender, it’s a favorite color of mine so making this was so nice!
For a commission of your own: AmazonMandy.com
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“But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn also was gone, and the land was silent.
'There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.”
― Tolkien, J.R.R
Arwen- Lord of the Rings. Basic DIY for the base of the crown.
I printed out templates for Arwen's crown.
Crown Pattern (alleycatscratch.com)
Cut out the pattern pieces and I used EVA foam for the base of the crown. I simply cut out the pattern on the crown. Afterwards, I used a dremel and sandpaper on the foam before painting.
EVA foam-
I used hot glue to put the pieces together. I used mod podge as a base coat first before using acrylic paint. Let each layer dry for continuing.
First, I used a base of white acrylic paint on the inside and the outside of the crown.
Second, I simply mixed together black and white to get a light grey.
Third, I used a sponge (for painting) and added some white all over the crown. That is where I am right now for the Arwen butterfly crown.
Visited Kaitoke Regional park with my flatmate today (she took my photos!! She’s AMAZING! And I took photos of her, too—we both got dressed up!) and knocked a HUGE thing off my New Zealand checklist: we saw where they filmed the exteriors of Rivendell! 😍
The gateway is immense and absolutely breathtaking! It was so amazing to have made it there at last! ✨
Some tourists saw us taking pictures, and wanted to pose with us! 😭 💕
The requiem gown was made by @aurelia_lucis on Insta!
Other mistake: Just as Gandalf and the Rohirrim are riding into the Uruk-hai and they clash, go slowly, frame by frame. Legolas will be on the right of the screen. Keep going frame by frame. You'll soon see a few pretty clear frames of Arwen with her sword, on her white horse. She's sitting to the right of Legolas. Her long hair is pulled back into a braid. She's wearing pink sleeves. She's the only one on the screen with that color, so you can't miss it (slow motion can be helpful but is unnecessary). The official reason for editing out Arwen (given on the DVD extras) was that during filming Peter Jackson intentionally leaked an image of Arwen at Helm's Deep online to gauge fan reactions, then backpedalled over her presence after overwhelmingly negative fan reactions.
And until today I would have liked to have had at least one extra DVD in the Extended Version, in which one could at least watch this version of the film at least once!
But I am happy to announce that I will cosplay this outfit next year 😁
So the whole point of going to FanExpo Chicago was because my sister and I saw “meet all four hobbits” and were sold. We got our tickets and I’m STOKED and of course we will be wearing Middle-earth cosplay for our pictures with them. So I had to get them out and make sure they all fit because I am a LOT fatter than when I made these right out of college.
The Arwen dress was designed to be loose and fits great still because of that. And it fits my sister (who is less fat and more elven than my hobbity self) who is going to borrow it. I brought it on vacation so she could try it on and practice moving in it; the velvet is beautiful but heavy and the sleeves force you to move a certain way. Liv Tyler even said that herself about Arwen’s gowns, possibly even the RotK-style gowns that are all like this.
Luckily all my handcrafted Bilbo stuff still fits (jacket, vest, scarf, and shoes). But the storebought shirt and capris do not. At all. So either I get new stuff or go as Sexy Bilbo and I didn’t want to do that lol. Today I went to Goodwill and thrifted some stuff, not screen accurate but close - new khaki pants and a white shirt. I don’t really have time for major alterations (to do list is still sewing + painting Cara parts, plus I want to make custom masks to match both cosplays) but hopefully I can take in the shirt a bit and crop the pants. If not though they’ll do for the con.