For lunch that day, we did a Middle Earth Feast, with foods to represent
each of the peoples of Middle Earth. We had lembas and miruvor for the
Elves; tide-me-overs for the Dwarves; seed cakes and scones (among items
Bilbo served the Dwarves in "An Unexpected Party") as well as chicken stew
(hear it tastes just like rabbit...) for the Hobbits; and mulled punch and
salad (needed a couple of normal foods for those of unadventurous digestive
tracts) for the Humans. For desert, we had spice-berry cake with yellow
pudding frosting, baked in a tube pan so it looked a little bit like the One
Ring. I'd be happy to email recipes, if anyone wants them. All things
considered, the whole occasion came off quite well.
Arwen's Angel Dress (worn by Debbie)
This
was one of the last costumes I made for the project. By this point, I was
getting pretty darn good at making princess-seamed costumes, so I just took
Debbie's measurements and started cutting. The underdress is white polyester
crepe from Hancock Fabrics. The overdress is blue Silk Essence from JoAnn
Fabrics. I used iridescent rayon thread for a bit of machine embroidery
along the front and sleeve edges. Both layers are stitched together at the
neckline, with ties in back for adjusting the fit. The neckline trim is
actually three different trims, sewn down one layer at a time to create a
textured, shimmery look. All three trims were white with an iridescent
finish. I used leftover trim from the dress and leftover double-knit white
crepe from Gandalf's costume (see below) for a long cape to complete the
outfit.
Arwen's Mourning Dress (worn by me)
It's a good thing I started this one early, because the details took
forever. The dress is just a basic princess-seamed dress, lengthened, with
the neckline altered, the front seam added, and the sleeves changed. I used
machine embroidery to trim the sleeve edges and the hemline. It doesn't show
in the pictures, but up-close it adds a nice touch against the low-pile
fabric. I made the dress of washable navy velvet--cotton-poly mix. The trim
on the neckline and the upper arms started out as wired red paisley holiday
ribbon. I took out the wires, added gold lamé bias tape at the edges, did
the beading and embroidery by hand, and hand-basted it in place. The
buttons on the front are just decorative. There's an invisible zipper in
back. The neckline insert and the sash are both red Silk Essence. The veil
is poly-blend chiffon, hemmed with corners rounded.
The crown I made from brass tooling foil from
www.dickblick.com . The wooden
tooling tools don't yield fine enough detail, so I used a ball point pen for
most of the detail work. The crown isn't quite as narrow or smooth as I'd
like, and the fit is a bit tight. I might redo it for the RotK
opening. Other than that, though, I'm really very pleased with the end
result of my labors.
Arwen's Rivendell Farewell Dress (not shown)
This one was a bit challenging, as I had to make a short, rather
top-heavy, older woman with a hobbitishly buoyant personality look elvish.
That's what she wanted, though, so I gave it my best shot. I used long
lines, a fitted bodice, simplified layers, and wavy or vertical fabric
patterns to create more-or-less the desired effect. I used a glossy, pale
mauve cotton moire for the overdress, then lavender chiffon and dark purple
moire for the underskirt (front only, from where the skirt split to the side
seams, so as not to add bulk in back). I used the same purple moire for the
undersleeves. Machine embroidery in darker purple thread lines the sleeve
edges, collar, and hems on the mauve layer. I did the patterns on the belt
and collar with silver fabric paint. It looked a lot nicer than I'd thought
it would and was a whole lot faster and easier than embroidery. The moire I
found on clearance at a Home Fabrics store ($2/yd! Yes!!). The chiffon was
from Hancock Fabrics. There's an invisible zipper in the back.
Elrond's Robes (not shown)
This costume was made relatively early on in the project. From it I
learned that costumes for guys need to be BAGGY. The fitted thing does not
fly unless the intended wearers are either extremely thin or extremely
patient. I didn't use a pattern here, really, just measured and cut. Anyway,
this one combined the lines of Elrond's Two Towers robes with the more open,
stand-up collar of his Fellowship robes. The outer drape was heavy,
textured, dark blue crepe with a velvety drape to it. Inner sleeves of the
drape were blue Silk Essence. A black frog clasp holds the drape together at
chest-level. The tunic was a terrific, drapey grey diamond moleskin print,
with a black and white beaded knit forming the underlayer. Trousers (very
loose and flowing) were made of more blue Silk Essence.
Eowyn's Travel Dress with Brown Coat (worn by
Meredith)
This costume is just two more princess-seam dresses layered one over the
other. I fiddled with the necklines on both (raised underdress's and shifted
overdress's to a rounded V) and added ties in the back for a customizable
fit. Meredith was on a tight budget, and the brown overdress fabric was
about a yard shy of what I really needed, so the sleeves aren't as full as I
would've liked. Such is life. The underdress is medium weight grey wool
crepe, with some delicate machine embroidery at the collar and sleeve edges.
The overdress is a fairly heavy, textured poly-blend, trimmed with brown
fleece that I cut in 3" strips and sewed in place. The sleeves have thick,
brown, wool-blend yarn (basted in place for convenience) for ties. I sewed
dark brown bias tape along both sides of the front, then stitched the two
pieces together from top to about hip-level. Below hip-level, it's open. I
stitched round gold-tone buttons in place on the sewn-together part. Both
layers slip on over the head and tighten with aforementioned ties.
Frodo (worn by Jim)
Another lesson in baggy-ness--I had to completely redo the trousers. The
shirt is unbleached muslin--nothing fancy. The pants are medium-weight brown
poly-cotton blend, pleated for fullness, with a well-disguised elastic
waistband. The jacket started out as burnt orange denim (really ugly
stuff!), but the underside was a lovely, warm light-reddish-brown, so I used
it inside-out. I trimmed it with the same brown fleece used in the
Eowyn costume. There was a vest as well, of medium-weight dark brown
upholstery velvet, but the office was too hot for Jim to wear it, and that
thick velvet added more than he liked to his girth. The cloak is grey-green
robe velour, found on clearance for $1.50/yd. It's just a standard
half-circle cloak with a deep rectangular hood. In retrospect, I wish I'd
made it about six inches longer. Live and learn.
Rosie Cotton (worn by Wanita)
This one was kind of a collaborative effort, as Wanita also likes to sew.
I did the bodice, skirt, and apron, and she did the chemise and furry feet.
The bodice is different types of blue cotton calico, with the
teardrop-shaped cutout in front, navy bias tape on all the edges, and
ties in back for a customizable fit. I used lightweight interfacing and a
full lining to give it the sturdiness that proper bodices need.
The skirt is double-layered, with light blue cotton broadcloth forming
the longer layer and navy flannel forming the shorter layer. The apron is
the same broadcloth as the longer skirt layer. I trimmed it and the navy
layer of the skirt with a bit of machine embroidery and some light blue
lace. Wanita made her chemise of bleached muslin. The furry feet are
knee-high nylons with slipper-soles on bottom and doll hair glued on top. We
hit some last-minute problems, though. Wanita was so busy with her
daughters' costumes that she couldn't start her chemise until the night
before Halloween. She didn't discover until much too late that the chemise
pattern was several sizes too small. There wasn't time or fabric to redo it,
so she just slit it down the front and, for modesty's sake, wore the bodice
on backwards. This resulted in a rather bunchy-looking front, as the ties
weren't designed to work on a person's front, but it beats wandering around
the office with one's dainty unmentionables visible through that
teardrop-shaped cutout.
Wanita's hobbit-feet turned out really well, though--I'd recommend the
method to anyone needing quick, inexpensive hobbit-feet.
Galadriel's Mirror Dress (worn by Kristen)
This dress is one of my favorites. It looks great but was really cheap to
make. (Let's hear it for after-Christmas clearance sales!) The underlayer is
white satin with a metallic silver Christmas tree pattern. Turned
upside-down, though, the Christmas trees look like kind of thistle-ish
flowers. This is exactly what I did for the underlayer.
It's just a simple, sleeveless, slip-over-the-head dress. The overdress
is flocked velvet with a white, glittery snowflake pattern. I used a single
layer of it for the main overdress, so that the silver-thistle pattern of
the underdress would show through a bit. On the sleeves, I used a double
layer, for a bit more opacity and to keep the hems tucked unobtrusively
between layers. Kristen made some neckline modifications for modesty and
added her own silvery brooch. The overall effect was quite nice. I also made
a matching cloak from white fleece. It's not shown, as the office was much
too warm for a full-length fleece cloak .
It looks like the cloak Galadriel wears to bid the Fellowship farewell.
added some hand-beading for embellishment, so that the cloak would
have the same shimmery look as the rest of the costume.
Gandalf the White (worn by Deloy)
You
can't see the tunic very well on account of the cloak and fake beard, but if
you could see it, you'd see a nice Mandarin-style collar, an invisible
zipper, and a top part of ivory home-dec textured jacquard in a properly
manly-looking pattern. The bottom part was double-layered, with the inner
layer being the same double-knit white crepe that I used for the cloak, and
the outer layer being white naugahide (lots cheaper than leather, and again,
I was on a budget).
The cloak is another basic half-circle with rectangular hood. The cloak
clasp is a cheap silver-tone one, with silver fabric paint added to create
the basic appearance (from a distance) of Gandalf's brooch. As
aforementioned, it's made of white double-knit crepe. The loose trousers
under the tunic are white Silk Essence. The staff was fun to make. I hadn't
the tools to make a properly accurate reproduction, but instead went for
something that creates more-or-less the right impression. I took a 6' wooden
pole, then drilled, carved, and sanded enough of a hole in the top to fit in
a store-bought finial. I took a narrower, square dowel, cut off three pieces
at fairly steep angles, then filed and sanded those pieces until they looked
more-or-less like the three pieces protruding from the top of Gandalf's
staff. I wasn't clever enough to figure a way to make them curve back
around, so they just go out. Anyway, once the smaller wooden pieces were
done, I thoroughly glued everything in place, let it dry outside for a full
day, then spray-painted everything a glossy white.
Legolas (worn by Ian)
Debbie's little boy wanted a Legolas costume for Halloween, and was quite
excited that his "friend Heather" was going to make him one. Adorable kid!
Since Ian is quite an active little fellow, I decided this one needed to be
simple and easy to get in and out of. Since he was going trick-or-treating
in it and the weather forecast said snow, it needed to be warm as well. For
simplicity, I combined Legolas's shirt and jerkin into one garment. I
followed the basic lines of the patterns, just made it child-size. I used a
silvery-grey, leaf-patterned, lightweight-but-fairly-stiff damask for what
was supposed to look like the shirt (really, just collar, yoke, and
sleeves). The dark green parts are suedecloth left over from another
project. The lighter green is that robe velour from Frodo's cloak. Two
small, silver-tone cloak-clasps hold it shut. I didn't do the jerkin
decorations, as Ian didn't want anything "girlish." The cloak is
charcoal-grey fleece (half circle cloak, rectangular hood), with a
different, darker clasp to hold it shut. We didn't bother with the mallorn
leaf pin, as that might've been a bit much for Ian to put on and take off by
himself. The quiver is a double layer of brown naugahide, trimmed with the
last scraps of the brown fleece. Dark jeans, comfortable dark shoes, and an
inexpensive blond wig (provided by Debbie) completed the outfit.
Middle-earth Groups | Middle Earth Group 2 | Middle-earth Groups 3 | Middle Earth 4 | Middle Earth 5
Home | Up | Cheryl's Examples | Heather's Office | Maggie and Danny | Ron & Lynda's Examples
This page was last updated
11/21/09
