I dyed the silk chiffon myself... and found a very lovely pink/natural cross-dyed dupioni to complement the chiffon... The dying process is described below...
This page was last updated: March 11, 2013
The Mock-up...
This dress started for me with the Lavender Beaded Gown... After making that mock-up, I realized I nearly had this dress worked out, too... (You can see my LBG construction page by clicking here... and my LBG Portraits page by clicking here...) Starting with the LBG bodice and skirt pattern, I made a new sleeve draft for the sleeve to the Arch Dress... based on an illustration and description of the dress over at Alleycatscratch.com...
Sleeve Mock-up...
At one time, I had it sewn together with the bodice and skirt panels... but I am too impatient to do this now... so I thought I'd use a little help from one of Philipp's GI Joe's... (You will see him coming up...)
On the right are the LBG sleeves... on the left... the Arch Dress Sleeve... The duck tape shows where I added some fabric... There is about a 12 inch difference in length from where the inside part of the sleeve falls compared to the outer part... So... longer on the inside means we'll see lots of that pretty pink dupioni!
And there he is!
In Progress...
Here is my reconstruction (in progress) of Arwen's Arch Dress, as seen in photo-stills of The Lord of the Rings... Arwen never appears in the Arch Dress in the actual films... But we have seen her in it in pictures...
The dye process...
I used crinkled silk chiffon from silkconnection, and Jacquard Acid Dye #615 periwinkle from Dharma... I dyed 12 yards of fabric (because I always like extra...), using two 1/2 ounce jars of dye... The dye process took four steps...
Step One: I pre-washed the fabric in Synthrapol to get rid of stuff that could be in the fabric... Synthrapol can also be purchased through Dharma... I filled the machine with very hot water... (I turned my water heater up as high as it will go, and made a note to myself to turn it back down when I was finished... and cleaned the fabric with Synthrapol... a couple of caps full. After the rinse/spin, I took the fabric out and put it in a big bucket...
Step Two: I refilled the machine with very hot water, and very full... In a glass jar, I mixed one ounce (two packs) of the dye in hot water until it was all dissolved... and added this to the machine, and mixed...
At this point, I put the fabric back in, and agitated on gentle for about 20-30 minutes, trying to keep the fabric from twisting on itself, but keeping it moving... to prevent color blotches... Then I checked to see if the fabric was dark enough, keeping in mind it will look three times darker when wet...
Step Three: Then I added vinegar to the mix... The Vinegar is the acid... I added two cups... I pulled the fabric to one side of the tub, added the vinegar, mixed it in, pulled the fabric back around, and agitated another 20 minutes...
Step Four: Then I drained the tub, and put the fabric through two cold rinses, and lined it dry... and I was finished!
More Fabric Pictures...
I have also in the mean time pre-washed the rose/natural cross dyed dupioni... and it has turned into this incredibly soft fabric...
The Full-Blown Mock-Up...
I decided to do a full blown mock up, to see how the bag lining would work, how the contrast in the sleeves worked out, and to see how the embroidery I wanted to use would look on the neckline... I used some dollar fabric I had on hand... The skirt panels are how I will do them... I will use four panels, like in the LBG, I did not have enough of the dollar fabric to do four panels, so I improvised, and used two instead, so I could still get an overall impression of how the dress would work...
Neckline Embroidery Mock...
Front Views of the Mock...
Back Views of the Mock...
Sleeve Mock...
Upon looking at the full mock, I thought I would alter the lower sleeve, so that the outer edge comes up a little higher, but I have since changed my mind again, and will leave it the way it is... You can see where I planned on doing this... with the needles...
I do think I may be raising the neckline a tad...
The Cutting Layout... and pattern shapes... You can click any image to enlarge it...
Bodice Front:
Bodice Back... I cut two, one right, and one left side...
Front Skirt Panels... I cut one right and one left... with the center seam line on the selvage...
I cut the underlayer (the pink) bodice pieces on the grainline perpendicular to the selvage... but the overlayer (the periwinkle) parallel to the selvage, because of the way the lines stood out in the fabrics... I folded the fabric and the pattern piece in half, and cut on the fold line.
(I just used the pieces of my mock... but it is also possible to simply flip the pattern piece over...)
Back Skirt Panels... I cut one right and one left...with the center seam line on the selvage...
Upper Sleeve Cap...
I folded this down the center and cut on the fold... Again, like with the bodice pieces, I cut the underlayer on the grainline perpendicular to the selvage, but parallel to the selvage on the overlayer... I folded the pattern piece down the center, and cut on the fold...
Lower Sleeve...
I attached the lower sleeve to the upper sleeve by stitching them right sides together at that ">" on the left of each photo... I bag lined the over and under layers of the dress at the lower sleeve...
Dress Construction...
The Bodice...
I started by bag-lining the over and underlayers of the dress at the neckline...
Neckline Embroidery...
Here, I learned that bag lining and embroidery on crinkled silk chiffon is a bad idea... (bunching!) And then, I needed to do some VERY steady slicing, to see if I could save the bodice... It worked, and I used self-made bias to clean the edges... Below, you can see the embroidery, and the bunching...
After "fixing" the neckline...
Then I attached the Skirt Panels to the Bodice...
Then I sewed the Sleeves together, and put them in... Here is the dress so far, from various angles and in various light...
Starting the Belt ... :) This has proven to be quite a journey... I started with Rattail and Chinese knots... but after three attempts with the Rattail... I discovered I don't want to use the Rattail... and am now in the process of crocheting a total of 54 yards of chain stitch on a very fine antique gold yarn that has a single metallic gold thread through it... It is looking very delicate and matches the character of the dress... I hope I'll have photos of this up by next week... (The first week of February, 2005...
Alleycatscratch.com for general LOTR Research... And specifically under the Arch Dress Page, where there is a detailed description of the dress...
Maggie's Costume Site has anArch Dress section, with a Research Page devoted to this dress, along with her Construction Page, and a page with photos of her own Arch Dress. We were both working on the Arch Dress at the same time!
At this point... I discovered the original Arch Dress has embroidery on the upper arm sleeves... So... Unwilling to let it go...
That meant taking the sleeves apart to put in the emboidery... Below are photos with the sleeve embroidery... The belt is a Wet-Seal aquisition... Looks like I'm going to want to make something in silver... to go with the belt!
I started by using two knots I learned from this book: The Double Coin Knot, and the Double Connection Knot... and tied them in a series together... First, a look at the knots...
The Double Coin Knot...
The Double Connection Knot...
Photos of my belt experiments... In all... I made four attempts... and am finally happy with the fourth belt!
Still to do... One more adjustment on the bag-lined sleeves... (There have been a few) Plus, finishing touches on the Belt and the Hem... among other things... :)
The First Belt...
The Second Belt... Here, I used a compound knot called the Ten-Accord Knot from the Chinese Knotting Book mentioned above... It is a series of double coin knots joined together...
In my second belt, I joined five of these knots together into a kind of Y shape...
After finishing this version, I began to realize I was not too excited with how the gold rattail worked on the dress... It came across as too hard... But I tried again, anyway... deciding to dispense with the Chinese knots, I planned on using a simple diamond weave in the center at the drop waist point...
Because the rattail is so slippery, I used cardboard and pinned the strands into the diamond weave shape, measuring out the distances I needed in each direction... At this point, I stopped... Concluding I didn't like this rattail on this dress... I left this attempt pinned to the cardboard, and took no photos... And decided I'd go with something softer, and began learning to crochet a chain stitch...
This belt has more than 56 yards of chain stitched yarn all together...
The Third Belt Attempt...
The Fourth Belt Attempt... Finally, I'm liking it!
These two books and the illustrations in them helped me figure out how to crochet a chain stitch...
The Belt ... various construction photos...
Two strands on each side of the belt... or Six yards of chain-stitch...
Thirty Six Yards of Chain-stitch...
Fifty Four Yards of Chain-Stitch...
Most Photos can be clicked for larger, higher resolution images...
You can see in the diamond weave where I'm adding tiny Czech glass beads... The same ones I'll use in the Requiem Trim... My new Requiem Construction page is here...
Six strands on each side of the belt... or 36 yards of chain-stitch...
At first, I had the back toggles at the waist seam line... but then, obviously, the belt went lower... So, I have since placed them at the back seam, one inch higher than the waist seam... You can see this below...
Here, the diamond weave is in, and there are now a total of 58 yards of chain-stiched gold yarn...
Here's a little sapphire S hook I put in the back seam...
I have in the meantime modified my lower sleeve pattern... Here is the modified version...
The Hem...
Sleeve Adjustments...
While working on the dress, I came to the conclusion that my sleeves were too long, and much fuller than the original... So I modified the lower sleeve pattern, taking of length, and some of the fullness in my sleeves... The modified pattern I have put below my original, up above with the pattern section...
The Neckline Adjustments...
I slipped stitched the bias inside the neckline to the lining fabric... and here's the finished neckline...
Aside from a few very minor things, this dress is finished... (Completed March 5,2005...) I still want to add toggles to hitch the train, and will also make a mantel to go with the dress... I am currently loading up a new Construction 2 page, with photos of the completed dress on my dress form...
You can visit this page by clicking: Link to my Arch Dress Construction 2 Page, where I have photos of the nearly finished dress on the dress form, and I will later add photos of the train hitch (still to be done,) and the mantel I'll make to go with the dress... Fabric for the mantel is pictured below...
I decided to make a corresponding mantel for this dress... even though there wasn't one in the movie that we know of... because I have a little bit of some very nice velvet that matches well, and I'd like to have something extra to go with the dress, in case there is a chill... The finished mantle and construction details can be seen on my Arch Mantle Construction Page...
Peter Jackson's visualization of The Lord of the Rings woke my latent passion for costuming and inspired me to learn to sew.
This page and its links reflect my best efforts in Lord of the Rings costuming.
Projects linking to their own pages are featured here. Click the links in the navigation bar to visit the individual pages, or scroll further below to the image links and see a quick overview of the costumes.
y
Arwen's Arch Dress
Construction
Welcome to Yvette's
Nearly ten years ago I set out to teach myself to sew, so that I could create inspired costumes such as those featured on my site.
I created this site to share what I've done. It launched August 18, 2004, and has been growing ever-since.
In addition to costume construction pages, there are pages featuring portraits of the costumes being worn.
Costuming is a hobby I love documenting, but I do not do commissions, nor do I sell patterns.
Please visit where your interests lead you, and enjoy.
y
The navigation on my site is under construction. I'll be getting the links set up page by page. In the meantime, please bear with me.
