November 16, 2005... I will finally get started on one of the gowns I've wanted to make from Lord of the Rings, from way back when I first saw it... years ago, now... ;) Eowyn wears the Green Gown the first time we see her in the Two Towers of the Lord of the Rings, when Eomer brings in Theodred, mortally injured in battle...
Finding all the fabrics and trim for this gown has been the cause of my very long wait... At last, I have most of the items here and ready to go... I've dyed some fabric, and started the muslin... Here is what I have so far...
You can click on any photo for larger, higher resolution images...
The Fabrics...
The Underdress Muslin...
Forest Green Cotton Velvet, and Gold Leaf Silk Organza, and Rivers Silk Jacquard...
Here is the result of my first dye test to get the right color for the lining silk... It came out too blue, so I will try overdying with a vivid yellow, and see where that leads... An effect I love is how the leaves in the leaf organza appear to float in the fabric when I also dye the organza in the same dye bath... So... my plan is to get the right shade for the lining silk, use the same mix of colors to dye the leaf organza...
The Trim...
Sketches...
I bought the trim from M & J Trimmings... The scalloped trim on top is the exact trim used in the original gown... The bottom trim, more narrow and straight edged... is close enough to the original to make me very happy... Unfortunately, M & J Trimmings has informed me that these trims are now discontinued... :(
I sketched this first one pool side over the summer... and the second one I sketched by staring at the costume gallery photo of this gown in The Two Towers Extended Edition...
The diamond grid on the bodice and sleeve sections of the muslin indicate the angle of the quilting I intend to do on this part of the underdress... Directionally, they are how I want them to go, although they are not evenly spaced here...
One adjustment I will make... is to raise the back waist seam about 2 inches...
Overdress Muslin... First, with just the bodice and the sleeves...
I have not yet set in the overdress skirt panels... so I don't have that panel swept to the side yet... I hope tomorrow... :)
November 19, 2005...
November 20, 2005...
Completed Overdress Muslin, with the front panel swept to the side...
In the photo above, you can see where I've raised the back waist seam... I think this is a better spot for te seam...
November 21, 2005...
My dyes arrived...
November 22, 2005...
Dye Test Results:
Test One, from before:
Spruce Acid Dye...
This one is too blue...
Test Two:
Added Sun
Yellow to the
Spruce dyed
fabrics...
This one is too
Lime...
Test Three:
Added Less
Sun Yellow to
Spruce lining
silk, and just
Sun Yellow
on the Leaf
Organza...
Still, too Lime...
Test Four:
Emerald Green
Dye on white
silk jacquard
and white
gold leaf
organza...
This one
just plain clashes...
Test Five:
Added a little
Olive Green to
the Spruce
dyed lining
silk and to
white gold
leaf organza...
I like this,
It is very close to Test Seven, using less dye, the lining layer retains more blue...
Test Six:
Olive Green on
white silk jacquard
and white gold
leaf organza...
I like this one...
Test Seven:
Added more
Olive Green to
the Spruce
dyed lining silk,
and to white
gold leaf
organza...
And I like this
one, too...
Test Six and Seven come out very close... If I add the Olive to the Spruce, (Seven), it comes out a tick more Green than just using the Olive on White, (Six)...
Thanks for visiting! :)
I can't decide between tests Five, Six and Seven, but have narrowed my choice down to those...
Olive on...
White (Test Six) Spruce (Test Seven)
No Flash...
Olive on...
Spruce (Test Seven) White(Test Six)
With Flash...
Olive on...
Spruce (Test Seven) White (Test Six)
With Flash...
Olive on...
Spruce (Test Seven White (Test Six)
No Flash...
The choice is difficult... I think I'll go with the Olive on Spruce, although I'm still not sure... There are two of those... More Olive... (Test Seven) and Less Olive... (Test Five)... Below are those two, compared...
If I go with Olive on Spruce, I'm going with Less Olive, Test Five... I can always add more, but it's hard to take it away once it's there... :) I am hoping the actual dying will work out like the test did... But more than likely, it will not come out exactly the same...
November 23, 2005
Golden Leaf Organza Dye Recipe:
I went ahead this morning and dared to dye the gold leaf silk organza... I started by using Jacquard Acid Dye 634 Olive... and surprisingly, somehow, it came out quite on the coppery orange side... I dyed 20 yards of the fabric, weighing approximately 2 pounds... and used one teaspoon of the dye... I'm guessing the powder may not have been thoroughly mixed, or something, and the green elements were not there... Then, I added one quarter teaspoon of Jacquard Acid Dye 630 Spruce... and it came out a very lovely golden olive shade... I'm very happy with it... Here are a few shots of the leaf organza while it is drying... Once it is dry, it will be a little lighter in shade...
More Olive... Less Olive... More Olive... Less Olive...
Test Seven... Test Five... Test Seven... Test Five...
Flash No Flash...
So, now I need to decide... whether or not to over dye the spruce dyed lining silk... :)
November 25, 2005...
I decided to over dye the Spruce Silk Lining... and added 1/2 teaspoon of the Olive dye for 12 yards of silk... Here are some photos of the results, with all the fabrics I'll use together...
Dryed, and set against the forest green cotton velvet and the spruce silk jacquard, as yet not over-dyed with olive... I put the olive over-dyed samples of the lining fabric underneath, and you can see them, surrounded by red dots... I'm wondering if I should over-dye the lining silk, or leave it alone...
November 26, 2005:
So, now all the fabric and trim is here ready to go... But before I moved on to cutting, I decided to re-visit the overdress sleeves, and move the seam line towards the bottom half of the sleeve, plus add about six inches, and insert some gather, to better resemble Eowyn's sleeves, kind of bunched, even when her arms are down in the photos we have seen... Here are some photos of the muslin with the sleeve alterations...
Overdress Sleeve Muslin, revisited:
Now, I'm ready with the muslin and the fabrics... The trim is all here, and next, I'll begin cutting, hanging (skirts) and quilting...
November 29, 2005...
I started cutting out the bodice and quilting today... To do this, I cut out a block of fabric larger than each pattern piece, quilted that, then ironed, and then placed the pattern piece on top, and cut it out... This way, I knew each quilted piece would be the proper shape... So far, I've done one out of six pattern parts, one half of the front of the bodice... I'm afraid I'll run out of silk thread, and have placed an order...
Here's how it looks with the collar trim; it's just pinned on here, so I could see how it looks......
December 2, 2005...
Well, I've quilted the front two panels of the bodice, and sewn in the collar trim, which was easier than I thought it would be... and sewn the two panels together... Here's how things look now...
December 6, 2005...
I have all the bodice panels and sleeve panels quilted and sewn together as of now... Here are photos of how it looks...
In the photos, I've rolled the sleeves... This is one way I can wear them... I'll also add rings for lacing, so that it's possible to lace them up and scrunch them about the wrist area...
Next, I cut out the skirt panels, and then I' pinned them to the bodice, and now I'm letting them hang a while... ;)
Here are photos of the dress with the pinned-in skirt panels...
December 8, 2005...
I ran a stitch on one side of the trim that will go arround the boat neck collar of the velvet overdress, and cinched it in, and made a nice curve... I'm finding the trim very easy to work with in this regard, and I'm sure I'll be able to sew it in flat to the velvet bodice... Here I have it laying on the underdress, just to see...
Next, I'll be cutting out the overdress fabric and lining, and getting started on putting it together... Aghh! More cutting! ;)
December 10, 2005...
Today, I cut out all of the gold leaf silk organza lining... and had just enough to line the whole gown... At first, when I was finished ironing it, I thought I'd have to come up with a cheat solution... but I had just enough, with barely an inch to spare...
Now, I am in the process of cutting out the green velvet... I have the bodice cut out, and sewn together... I still need to do a bit of fitting at the side seams... I have a few photos here, with the trim merely laying on top of the bodice... Yeah, I'm photo happy... ;)
December 12, 2005...
I put the sleeves in today... to try and cheer myself up, after being shafted by an insurance company... Grrr... Just had to work on something Beautiful... It did help a little...
Eric said tonight... well heh, the sleeves are too long... not realizing, I haven't finished, and they aren't cinched up yet... ;)
Those are Lisa's hands... she is being "funny... " :D
And... she's still behind the dress form... :D
See?? :D
Here, she helped by holding out the sleeve... I have not sewn the trim on the boat-neck collar yet... It is just layed over... That will be my next task... To be continued on a new page... :)
December 13, 2005... I've opened a new page, to continue logging progress on my Green Gown recreation... It is Green Gown Construction 2....
I have also opened a page to log construction of my own Green Gown Mantle... to go with the gown... ;D
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
Eowyn's Green Gown
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.
