Finarfin
Finarfin's red
robe is partway there! What you see in the picture above is what I
call the 2/3 done pinned-together version, stuck on the dummy for a quick
photo op. The pictures were taken at night, so I'm afraid the flash
photos aren't great quality and make the fabric look shinier than it really
is. The fabric is a red-black silk. Difficult to describe- I've
never seen anything like it before.
As of right now, the front closure isn't done yet. It's pinned up in the top picture, but I'll be doing eleven small covered buttons. The button loops are already sewn on- just need to do a facing down the other side and put on the buttons. I was severely limited in the amount of fabric I had for this project, so I had to improvise with the pattern. My aunt brought it back from Thailand for me. I asked her to bring five metres, and she did, and the fabric was beautiful. Only when I finally got around to cutting this... I noticed it was only 32 inches wide. Trouble. My pattern was definitely drawn for at least 45". So I had to cut out all unnecessary flare (since the robe could only be the width of the fabric and the hem circumference ended up being around 60" instead of a planned 85") and do the front and back each in one panel instead of two. For the back, that's fine - I could just put in some darts if I wanted, though I decided not to based on the trickiness of the hang of this fabric- but doing the front in one piece when it should have been three...
What I ended up doing was to
cut the front panel with a wide gap down the front to hip-level, as you
can see in this really ugly photo. The button-loop side can then be
folded over to meet the button side, creating a pleat down the front (which
will be sewn shut across). It looks really awkward right now, but works
when worn. I could have done two panels down the front, I know, but
then I'd have a centre seam (which I hate, especially in something nowhere
near wide enough to hide it in the drape). This way, I get to preserve
as much of the fabric width as possible from hips down to the floor.
Originally, this red robe was going to have no sleeves (like the gold practice run below). Then I wanted little cap sleeves like on Finrod's jacket, then full petal-wrap sleeves. I have no idea what possessed me to try petal-wrap raglan sleeves. Especially when short on fabric. I admit it- this idea was just dumb, and I'm sorry I did it. The sleeves have been nothing but a pain in the ass from the get-go, because raglan sleeves REALLY aren't made to be petal wrapped without serious thought and care. And fabric width. Which I didn't have. It looks alright in the picture above, since I have everything pinned viciously into place. When everything else is said and done, I'll have to fix the sleeves so they stay as above permanently- maybe with a covered button or two holding things back. Right now, when not pinned in place, the front flap falls open and it looks sort of like... um... for lack of a better descriptor, female genitalia. Which I really, really, really didn't have in mind (you can see a bit of this happening in the third picture on this page). So, that needs fixing. What I DO like, though, is how the edging worked- I stretched as much as possible as I sewed the sleeve to its lining, so there's a little hint of a lettuce kind of edge going on there.
One other thing of note- instead of a collar, the neck is edged with half-inch piping. I didn't want to do a collar on this, since it's worn over the high-collar tunic, but I didn't want to leave the neck plain either. So this seemed like a reasonable option. It's not too visible in the pictures here, and unfortunately I couldn't get a close up with the flash. I'll try to include a better shot when the robe is done.
As of right now, the front closure isn't done yet. It's pinned up in the top picture, but I'll be doing eleven small covered buttons. The button loops are already sewn on- just need to do a facing down the other side and put on the buttons. I was severely limited in the amount of fabric I had for this project, so I had to improvise with the pattern. My aunt brought it back from Thailand for me. I asked her to bring five metres, and she did, and the fabric was beautiful. Only when I finally got around to cutting this... I noticed it was only 32 inches wide. Trouble. My pattern was definitely drawn for at least 45". So I had to cut out all unnecessary flare (since the robe could only be the width of the fabric and the hem circumference ended up being around 60" instead of a planned 85") and do the front and back each in one panel instead of two. For the back, that's fine - I could just put in some darts if I wanted, though I decided not to based on the trickiness of the hang of this fabric- but doing the front in one piece when it should have been three...
Originally, this red robe was going to have no sleeves (like the gold practice run below). Then I wanted little cap sleeves like on Finrod's jacket, then full petal-wrap sleeves. I have no idea what possessed me to try petal-wrap raglan sleeves. Especially when short on fabric. I admit it- this idea was just dumb, and I'm sorry I did it. The sleeves have been nothing but a pain in the ass from the get-go, because raglan sleeves REALLY aren't made to be petal wrapped without serious thought and care. And fabric width. Which I didn't have. It looks alright in the picture above, since I have everything pinned viciously into place. When everything else is said and done, I'll have to fix the sleeves so they stay as above permanently- maybe with a covered button or two holding things back. Right now, when not pinned in place, the front flap falls open and it looks sort of like... um... for lack of a better descriptor, female genitalia. Which I really, really, really didn't have in mind (you can see a bit of this happening in the third picture on this page). So, that needs fixing. What I DO like, though, is how the edging worked- I stretched as much as possible as I sewed the sleeve to its lining, so there's a little hint of a lettuce kind of edge going on there.
One other thing of note- instead of a collar, the neck is edged with half-inch piping. I didn't want to do a collar on this, since it's worn over the high-collar tunic, but I didn't want to leave the neck plain either. So this seemed like a reasonable option. It's not too visible in the pictures here, and unfortunately I couldn't get a close up with the flash. I'll try to include a better shot when the robe is done.
This is the gold
tunic for the Finarfin contest so far. It hangs about six inches above
the knee and has slightly bell-shaped sleeves. For the sleeves I used
an altered version of the sleeves in my "Artanis" dress, rounding out the
points to make a less feminine shape. The pattern otherwise is the
same one I used for the gold robe below.
The fabric for
this tunic is a thin metallic jacqard, gold and copper, that would have been
really expensive had I not found it at a miraculous 70% off closing-out sale.
Because it's so thin and doesn't like to stay in place, I was a bit
worried about how it would work out at first, but after sewing the first
seam I was very happy. It hangs beautifully and irons as easily as
pure cotton (the tag said 100% unknown fibres, and even after burning a bit
I still have no idea what it's made of, other than at least part synthetic).
The colour in this picture is much more accurate than above.
This is the gold
sash for the outfit. The red fabric you ssee underneath is the red
silk of the long robe. It's a gold-red cationic dupioni silk edged with
pinkish seed pearls along the top and bottom. Because of different
lights, the colour changes in each photo. The above picture is closest
to what the fabric actually looks like. The picture below makes it
look much pinker than it is.
This sash is the first thing I made on my new sewing machine (apart from a test stitch sample). The new machine has all kinds of quilting capabilities, so I decided to try a free motion quilting design. I'd never tried this technique, so I did a test square on the same fabric I'd be using for the sash: a piece of leftover silk and polar fleece. The test turned out perfectly, no hassles at all, so I went ahead with the sash and did what you see here. I'm pretty darn pleased with how it turned out for a first try at this kind of quilting!
This sash is the first thing I made on my new sewing machine (apart from a test stitch sample). The new machine has all kinds of quilting capabilities, so I decided to try a free motion quilting design. I'd never tried this technique, so I did a test square on the same fabric I'd be using for the sash: a piece of leftover silk and polar fleece. The test turned out perfectly, no hassles at all, so I went ahead with the sash and did what you see here. I'm pretty darn pleased with how it turned out for a first try at this kind of quilting!
To make the design,
I quilted a piece of cheap polar fleece (green layer) between the silk upper
and a taffeta bottom (red layer), then attached the silk backing after the
quilting was done. So there's no stitching visible on the back of the
sash.
What I have in
these couple of pictures specific to this costume is just the gold over
robe thing. It started off as a practice run for the pattern I made to use
with the red silk robe and the gold tunic, since this fabric was really
damn cheap (cheaper than muslin!). It looks nice, but really it feels pretty
awful. I think it's 100% nylon, or close to. But the practice run went pretty
well, so I continued on and added a couple bits of trim I had lying around,
and I have another costume piece on my hands. I've put ivory bias tape around
the neck and arm holes, some angular gold stuff on top of the bias tape,
and an ivory and gold flat braid on top of the gold. There's a row of gold
beads along the front hem line. The robe laces up the back, with 22 hand-finished
lacing holes down each side. The costume may have been cheap (materials
in total cost me less than $10), but I might as well take the time and make
something useful out of it.
I had a lot of
this cheap fabric, so in order to use it all, I cut the lower half of this
robe in an odd design. Instead of being seamed from the waist down,
the front panel just hangs down free. The side panels continue around,
under the front panel, and fasten together. It's a bit of a pain to put
on, but makes movement (even karate kicks- yes, I tried) way more practical
than in an otherwise fitted piece. The back is seamed normally like a gown,
from hips down, and laces from hips up to neck.
Right now most
of my costume pieces are in the green and gold range, which means they
work in a mix and match. So Thranduil's robe looks pretty good with Finarfin's
practice gold too. When I can afford it (that means when the velvet goes
on sale) I'd like to make a copy of Elrond's rust-red and gold council velvet
robe to wear over the red version of this costume.
The last thing I need to do to finish the gold robe is stitch a knotwork design in ivory cord onto the upper chest. I've drawn the design out and pinned it onto the dummy to give an idea of the size and shape of the finished pattern. In this picture you can also get a bit of a better look at the arm and neck trim and see how the fabric looks in real light without the camera flash.
The last thing I need to do to finish the gold robe is stitch a knotwork design in ivory cord onto the upper chest. I've drawn the design out and pinned it onto the dummy to give an idea of the size and shape of the finished pattern. In this picture you can also get a bit of a better look at the arm and neck trim and see how the fabric looks in real light without the camera flash.