Celebrían

     

This dress was inspired by my lucky find of lots of the embroidered chiffon for very cheap. It's not quite right for Galadriel, so I thought I'd try a Celebrían dress. It's similar to Galadriel, based on the same look, but beaded in silver. It has a small silver belt. The belt pictured below is just part of what can be done... it also has a bunch of spring ring clips sewn to the inside, to which can be attached twenty feet of silver chain.  Why silver chain, you ask?  Well, it looks pretty damn cool, for one thing... and it's also in honour of all the chain and bead strands used in the LotR stage musical.

When I began making this dress in early summer 2004, I started with the sleeves. All the fabric had to be beaded by hand. The sleeves are from McCall's 4491, though the lower part is cut larger and somewhat squarer than the pattern piece. I finished beading the lower sleeves in July 2004. All the fabric is beaded by hand over the embroidered flowers and leaves with glass mirror seed beads and bugle beads. As you can imagine, it took an incredibly long time.  Almost two years!

While the sleeves for this dress had a pattern, the rest didn't. The dress is a simple shift pattern with one front panel and one back, and no darts on either. The neckline is gathered very slightly to make it fit properly. I cut the chiffon in a wide A-line sundress shape, deliberately too large so I'd be able to pull it on over my head with no stress to the seams.  I didn't want to put any kind of zipper, lacing or fastening in this costume. The lining is cut smaller, to fit snugly across the chest and through the shoulders, though still wide enough at the waist that I can pull the dress over my head.  The lining is only attached to the chiffon around the neckline. The result is a dress that fits in the shoulders and chest, but drapes otherwise.  The belt is required to give it some shape.

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger pictures.

This is the dress without lining. It's made of embroidered chiffon, with hand beading over the embroidery.
  
The dress with lining. Only the body of the dress is lined; the sleeves are sheer.
  
A view of the dress from the side, showing the shape of the sleeves.
  
The seam between upper and lower sleeves is decorated with a band of silver glass bugle beads, crisscrossed with tiny white pearlized beads, and topped with small real pearls.
  
The neckline of the dress is edged in satin bias tape, which is has a zigzag pattern of pearlized and silver beads.
  
A closeup of the beaded fabric. Each flower takes 12 seed beads and 5 bugle beads. Each vine takes 4 bugle beads.
  
The fabric for the lining of this dress is a white poly-blend with a soft, velvety finish. It's embossed with a floral motif.
  
The belt is a triangular shape coming down to a point in the front. It has an eyelet on either side at the back for lacing. The top of the belt is decorated with an alternating pattern of a sequin with a silver seed bead and a silver bugle bead. Larger silver beads are staggered below, and a "flower" of sequins is in the centre.