Brannon J. - Ohio, USA

Rosie Cotton

I am a relatively short individual with unruly curly hair, so it was almost pre-ordained that I be a hobbit!! I chose to make Rosie Cotton’s Final Reunion Dress that is worn in the final scene in Return of the King. In one of my 10+ times seeing this film, I decided to take along my sketch pad to get the details just right. Here is what I came up with:

CHEMISE: From what I could tell, Rosie was wearing a tan and cream homespun gingham check chemise that consisted of a simple drawstring neckline and sleeves that terminated in a ruffle just below her elbows. For this I used McCall’s pattern # 4091. I modified both the neckline (to scoop down more) and the sleeves (I shorted them quite a bit and added an elastic casing to make the ruffle that was required) I used a very inexpensive homespun cotton in a tiny tan and cream color.

SKIRT: Rosie’s skirt is made of a rust/pumpkin shade of orange fabric, which has a bit of a pattern woven into it. I used ACS instructions to make a simple Hobbit Skirt, using 3 panels of 45” wide cotton to make it very full. Again, I used an inexpensive cotton homespun for this.

APRON: The apron Rosie wears over her skirt is the same color as what is in her corset (see below) only it is a few shades lighter. To achieve this effect I took a green raw silk noil, which then I treated with Rit Dye Color Remover. This took out almost all of the green, but turned it an icky shade of yellow, which then I used a light green to re-dye. It turned out perfect! I then gathered a length of this fabric into a waistband . The ties on this apron are left long in the back.

CORSET: Rosie’s corset consists of a very light khaki colored panel in the front, with side and back panels of a sage-y green. There is a gorgeous crewel embroidery design on the front that is in a floral bouquet motif in shades of purple, green, orange, & yellow. The front panel is trimmed on either side in an orange piping that matches the skirt. The entire upper neckline and entire bottom is trimmed with a slightly larger piping done in green to match the corset’s side and back panels. To achieve this I used Butterick Pattern #3389 (heavily modified!). I took out the row of buttons that were supposed to go down the front and converted it into one solid piece. I modified the neckline and the length as well. I made this corset out of linen and using an embroidery machine, digitized an embroidery design similar to what was on Rosie’s. For the piping along the two front seams I used left-over pieces from the skirt material. This corset was lightly boned along the two front seams, side seams and just beside the eyelets in the back. I laced it up using a brown suede cord.

JEWELRY: Rosie wears a jewel encrusted square silver choker on a green ribbon. For this I simply took decorative square buckle, and using superglue I affixed 4 small, light purple crystals to each corner. I then used a green grosgrain ribbon to tie it around my neck.

This was a relatively simple and inexpensive costume to make. The only thing that I would change is the fabric that I used to make the corset out of. Linen stretches an incredible amount and didn’t lay right on my body, not to mention wrinkling like the dickens! I plan on making this over again using a more steady fabric, perhaps a heavy canvas or duck cloth. The other thing is that the apron has an ever so slight pattern woven into it, but I’m happy with mine.

I bought my ears online at a wonderful site: www.aradani.com which were the perfect shade. I highly recommend them! My feet are my own, and using spirit gum I attached hair I cut from a dolls wig.

Note: I almost forgot about my "baby"!! Pictured in the photos with me is Rosie and Sam's baby Frodo Gardner. I have no kids of my own, so I found the most realistic baby doll I could (under $10 too!) and dressed him up. I had no pattern for this whatsoever, which made it difficult, as I had never made doll clothes before. I used a linen for him underdress, and a plaid for the jumper that was as close to the one that baby Frodo was wearing in the movie that I could find. I put a small embroidery on the front of it to jazz it up a bit, and to top it all off a little mushroom cap out of a soft blue cotton.

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This page was last updated 11/21/09