March 21, 2007: Sherri has graciously commissioned me the honor of crafting her wedding gown. This page will be a log for this project. She wants it to be designed similarly to my Arch Dress. She will be crafting a beaded belt to go with the gown, and the beaded trim for the neckline and sleeves. Swatches and initial fabrics are on the way, and today I started drafting and constructing a preliminary muslin. So far, I've got a start on the bodice and the sleeves.
This page was last updated: March 11, 2013
March 28, 2007:
More progress on the muslin... The skirts.
Some of the color swatches of dupioni have arrived, and I wait upon others. Also, the silk chiffon is here, and the dyes are here, so next I will make a few samples of possible shades for the overlayer of silk chiffon. Yay, playing with color... ;D
April 4, 2007:
Sherri was over today, and we checked the fit of the muslin; it is good with a few minor changes...
She also picked out which fabrics she wants to go with; I have two scans of the swatches she picked.
I will be dying the chiffon layer. The dupioni layer is an antique gold/royal blue cross dyed dupioni.
April 15, 2007:
The fabrics have arrived. The gold/royal blue dupioni has been pre-washed and ironed, and the chiffon has been pre-washed, and dyed... Here follow some progress photos. This is the chiffon prior to washing and dying, and the dupioni prior to washing:
Here are some photos after washing and dying: My camera is arguing with me in regards to the color... With some manipulation, I've managed to get close to accurate photos of how the colors look in real life.
This photo to the left shows the dupioni in the color it appears in real life, whereas the three photos above and to the right show the chiffon close to real life... I will try another camera next time I take photos, and see if this helps.
April 19, 2007:
The chiffon is now ironed. :D A few in progress photos:
April 23, 2007:
Today I cut out and stay stitched all the gown parts, and now it is hanging to relax the bias. I'll leave things hanging out for a few days...
May 30, 2007: Construction is well underway. The skirt panels are sewn into the bodice, and the zipper is installed. In these photos, the side seams at the bodice are pinned together. I want to re-pin, but first, a look at what's up.
June 1, 2007:
The side seams are now sewn, and I have a few more photos to share.
June 8, 1007:
Sherri has forwarded to me a short bio as an introduction, along with a photo of herself with Paul, and some photos of the belt she is working on to go with the gown.
So! On to the introductions!
Hi all! I'm Sherri (and this is Paul). We're getting married on July 7, 2007 (cool, huh?). It's my first wedding and his third (third time's a charm, honey!). I'm a huge Tolkien fan and loved the movies, so when I started researching dresses I knew I wanted something medieval and unique. I had originally planned to make my own dress and started my pattern research on the 'net when one afternoon I stumbled upon Yvette's site and was completely bowled over by her interpretations of the LOTR designs. "Wow," I thought to myself. "I wish she could make my dress, too." I drooled over the site for hours until I finally figured out that she and I lived in he same part of the state, and that she would consider commission work! I contacted her immediately, thinking that on such short notice (it was March) there was no way she would be available. To my delight, she graciously agreed to meet with me and take on my task. (Yvette, you are a delight to work with and I would recommend you to anyone who wants quality, professional costuming!)
With the huge undertaking of making a gown handed off to a true pro, I turned my focus to making the trim and a belt (also called a girdle in period costuming). I decided to do a loomed beadwork piece for the belt, and this is the middle 36'' (48 to go!) of the piece. I'd actually been planning the design for some months, practically since the proposal. It took forever to design the 7-strand braid so that I was satisfied with it and then another chunk of forever to figure out how to begin and end the braid. The dragons are from a pattern book that I've had for a couple of years called "A Beader's Reference", by Janet Davis, and I had been looking for a reason to use them on something. I'm now working on the rest of the belt and when I get enough to photograph, I'll have Yvette post pictures of it too so you can see how it looks on the loom.
The trim is going to be beaded netting and won't take long. It will go around the neckline and the sleeves just above the elbow. When I get a good start on it I will get pictures of it, also.
Now a little about me. I'm a beader, quilter, knitter, needleworker, pretty much anything that will keep my hands busy while I'm on long drives, plane fights, or just sitting on the couch watching TV. I love doing small, precise work, and my day job as a draftsperson is right up my alley. I also very much like the process of creating the design I am going to make. The limitations of working with little squares on graph paper fascinate me, and have since I was in grade school. Instead of using the graph paper for doing mathematically graphs, I would draw mazes and letters and all sorts of other doodles. I started doing cross stitch in my late teens, and that progressed to quilting, then to beading, and then to knitting. I think it is important to have different obsessions/interests so that when I get a strange, creative idea, I can follow up on it and keep myself challenged. My newest challenge is starting a small craft business with my friend Cheryl called Fae Fantasies. And in case anyone was wondering, yes I will consider commission work. I can be contacted at faefantasies@aol.com for further information.
Bright Blessings,
Sherri
June 10, 2007:
Sherri has forwarded me the link to her wedding blog, here, where she will continue to post photos of the girdle and the beaded lace trim she's making for the gown.
June 12, 2007:
The sleeves are sewn in, and the sleeve seam is french seamed.
June 13, 2007:
Today I cut out the bias tape, and sewed this into the neckline, finishing it inside by handstitching it to the lining layer. I have a few photos to share. Next I will be starting the hem. The gown is almost finished.
June 17, 2007:
Sherri uploaded some photos of her trim on her blog, set upon some swatches of the fabric...
June 18, 2007:
The hemming is completed; now all that remains of my portion of the project is some internal finishing. Here are a few photos:
He can't help himself; Seuss is in love with this gown.
July 5, 2007:
I did a few of those invisible tasks on the inside of the gown, and sewed the toggles in the back so Sherri can hitch her train... Sherri came by today and started sewing in the trim to the neckline and sleeves... Here are a few detail shots.
Sherri has slipped one of the arm trim pieces around one of the sleeves; it is not sewn in here...
July 6, 2007
Sherri has sewn in all the trim to the neckline and the sleeves, and draped her belt around the dress; a few final shots of the finished gown:
There is Sherri, in the background... :D
The final fitting check...
Hitched! :D
July 7, 2007:
Today is Sherri and Paul's wedding day: I hope they have a blessed day, and a blessed marriage.
It was a great pleasure working with her...
I hope, after she is back from their honeymoon, she can come by, and we can take some portrait photos... We shall see.
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
Arch Dress Inspired
Wedding Gown
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.
