January 27, 2006: This page will document my construction progress of Galadriel's Mirror Gown and Drape, the outfit she is wearing when she meets Frodo in Lothlorien after the fall of Gandalf in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings...
Galadriel's Mirror Gown without the cape... and with the cape...
The fabric...
I have ten yards of beaded and embroidered crinkled silk chiffon, and it may be just enough for the gown and the cape...
I played with the fabric over my Doric Chiton, to see if I could drape something like what I think the cape looks like... I think I'm close to figuring out how I'll do it...
Here are a few more shots of the fabric draped over my dress form...
The first muslin
Galadriel's Brooch:
I'd like to make this with silver precious metal clay, but I've never worked with that before. The nice thing is I have a very good bead shop here locally, and they have the kiln I'd need to fire it... We'll see...
Research:
I'm studying the pictures in the Gallery on the EE of The Fellowship of the Ring. Those photos are a wonderful help.
I'm plying my LJ friends who have seen the gown in person with questions... Thanks Sarah, Mel, Maggie, and Michaela! ;D
I often visit Alleycatscratch, where there is tons of valuable information on this gown.
Michaela de Bruce's website, Glittersweet, has a page describing the Mirror Gown from observations she made at the Te Papa LOTR exhibit...
Then I added the undulating strand, and the border strands, and colored it in... I intend to do this the same way I did the belt for my Lavender Beaded Gown... The beading will be the pattern...
The sketch, from ACS's Galadriel Mirror Gown Page, is by Abby... I traced it and then I colored it in...
January 22, 2006...
I put together my first muslin for this gown today, and have a few photos of it just pinned together... I think I will shorten the sleeves about 4 inches... Here's how it's looking now, with the Alternative Arch Dress belt... My belt for Galadriel will be more narrow, just two inches as opposed to the three of my Arch Dress Belt shown here...
First Drape Muslin...
January 23, 2006...
I did my muslin for the drape today, and here is how it is looking so far...
Next is the muslin for the belt...
I made it to follow the seam line... It just sits there, and does not pull anything in... The belt will not be as wide as the muslin here, because the muslin is really just the pattern, and I have the seam allowance in there; I expect to take off a half inch in both directions; here it is showing the belt being three inches wide, when I'm done, it will be two inches wide... Here are a few photos of the belt muslin...
Next on my agenda is the bead order... Thanks for visiting!
January 27, 2006...
My bead order from fire mountain gems, along with my Art Clay 650, and the butane torch arrived yesterday... I filled the torch with butane from Home Depot, and then, at night I opened one of the packets of art clay and started playing with it...
I formed the foremost leaf V that will lay over my abalone shell... It is not yet dry; when it dries, I'll sand and file it... I am not so sure how it's going to turn out, as there are tiny fissures in the clay, and I am concerned it may crumble apart. Maybe firing it will make it more solid. This is my first attempt at art clay. Here's some photos of the leaf V with the abalone shell... with and without flash...
January 27, 2006; I've started Galadriel's Brooch: February 6, 2006: I moved all the details on the Brooch Construction to my Galadriel Brooch Construction Page...
To the right are the beads I've collected for the belt project...
January 29, 2006...
This morning, detouring from the brooch, I went back to the drape muslin, for some refining of the shape, thanks to Mel, who has drawn up an excellent sketch of what she saw at the Indy Exhibit...
I attached tape to where I intend to use organza twill to add a gather at the back shoulder. Also I have attached a brown strip of bias tape where I intend to add organza twill, to rig up a hitch, so I can wear the drape without pinning it to my gown... Here are the photos of the adjusted drape muslin...
February 2, 2006...
I have my beads and the fabric I'll use to make the belt all here now, except that I've changed my mind, and want to use white sequins; I think they will show up better against the silk charmuse I've chosen for the belt...
Some photos of the fabric and the beads I have now:
February 6, 2006: I've opened a separate page to document the construction of Galadriel's Brooch, and will move the details of it's construction from this page to my Galadriel Brooch Construction Page...
January 27, 2006 through February 2, 2006, I worked on the shaping the Art Clay 650 that I'm using to make the brooch...
February 10, 2006.... I continue to tinker with Galadriel's Brooch: Here is the current stage I'm at...More details and photos on my Galadriel Brooch Construction page...
Continuing to work with precious metal clay, I have also made two Boat Swans I will sew into the drape I'm making with the dress... Here are photos of them... I have more photos of them, along with the whole construction process, and step by step of how I used the pmc, are on my Galadriel Brooch Construction page...
March 10, 2006.
After a long break from the fabric aspect of this project, I'm back at it. I found out from Mel that the bodice of this gown is actually split at the top, and thought I'd re-draft the muslin, but instead, I got lazy, knowing I have a bit of excess fabric in case I really messed up... I went ahead and did it, without a muslin... and cut out and sewed the bodice together today... I am really happy with how it turned out. Here are a few photos... I have not yet sewn the beads into the neckline, but I did take some pictures... Here they are.
The skirt panels... That is another question. I think I may change my muslin plan yet again, and follow Jess's lead, and have no seam down the front center. I'm not sure yet... But, I like the idea of no interruption in the pattern on the front. Before hearing Jess's plan, I had already decided to have not seam down the center of the lining layer. So, the skirt panels in this case I may limit to three. Deciding, still...
Once I decide, this should not take too long... What will take a while is all the beading for the belt, and the neckline. This is a fun one!
March 11, 2006.
I must be getting in a big hurry. I decided. And again, I did not re-do the muslin, but just started cutting everything out. Then, I pinned all the skirt panels onto the bodice, and sewed then in. Now, they are hanging. I'll let them hang for a few days before I do the side seams. I also cut out the sleeves, and they are also sewn in. I started the beading around the neckline, but have not gotten very far with that yet.
I must say, I like how I've decided to do the skirt panels. What I did was lay out my current two panel front piece, and put the fashion fabric dead center. Then, I added to side gores to fill out the front of the skirt. I also added two gores to the two back panels. It is not too easy to see the seams, and I like that. I like that there is no center seam, too. I took a few photos, as usual. ;D.
In this photo below, you can see where I've started adding the first row of beads along the neckline... I still have quite a ways to go...
March 12, 2006:
I put in the zipper, hemmed the sleeves, and sewed together the skirt panels, and am currently working on putting in the beads around the neckline... Here are a few photos.
March 14, 2006:
On the gown, everything is done except the hem of the skirts... Here follows a few photos of what I have so far...
March 15, 2006.
Seems I've made it to the end of this page. Construction of the Mirror Gown will continue on my Mirror Gown Construction 2 page...
And, it will start with the belt construction... At this point, I have the belt cut and sewn, and will be doing the beading in the coming days...
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
Galadriel's Mirror 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.
