Miriel Gown
I found a maroon gorgeous fabric with a velvety pattern, and it made
me want to make something a bit "royal". I ended up mixing elvish and
human - kind of an Eowynish elf look. I made my own pattern, empire
style with a half circle skirt for the over-dress. I regretted the half
circle while I hemmed it by hand, but when I spin or dance it looks
amazing. This dress is fully lined with soft silk satin, as I really
wanted to feel like a princess this time.
When the over-dress is worn alone, It's like wearing silk pajamas!
In the neckline I fastened a store-bought trim with beads, stones and
rhinestones which took me ages to fasten with invisible thread.
The invisible zipper is hand fastened in the back. The funniest thing
happened when I pulled the zipper up for the first time: This is the place
where four pieces of the patterned fabric meet. I hadn't planned for it, but
the pattern in all four pieces match each other perfectly! Totally
coincidental - and looks like it's carefully planned :)
The
under-dress in maroon stretch velvet is much shorter and has an outrageous
neckline - it had to be below the neckline of the over-dress, and I guess I
overdid it a bit :) I'll never dare wearing it by itself! This dress has
huge lower sleeves in the same fabric as the over-dress. At the elbows, I
had to fasten that same store-bought trim again...
The mantle was inspired by Eowyn's funeral and coronation mantles, and is
in the same fabric as the over-dress, fully lined with thick brown wool. In
other words: warm and heavy.
The mantle is made from 3 panels, mostly because of the size of the
pieces of fabric I had left. I fastened the trim along the edge before doing
the bottom seam (baglining), so that the backside of the fastening wouldn't
show. Turning the whole thing inside-out, and then "outside-in" again
through a tiny hole in the hem, was a project in itself... In about breast
height, there are fastening loops hidden in the seam. The loops can be
pulled out a bit if need be, and used to fasten my gold chain across the
breast if the wind threatens to rip the mantle off my shoulders.
The dress and mantle took me ages to finish, mainly because of the
fastening of the trim. The trim was pointy all along the edges, and my tiny
hand stitches is all around it... In addition, the density of the trim made
it difficult getting my needle through! I spent about 8 hours fastening
every 20 cm of trim - then my patience was spent for that day, and the
needle put away for later :)
