I made this dress for the Premier of The Lord of the Rings: The return of the King. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of me in the dress at the theatre because I wasn't aloud to bring my camera. As per my habit, I had been planning to wear the dress since about February (for an event in December) and I started it 3 days before the Premiere and finished it about 4 hours before leaving for the theatre. I also wore it for my first ever Mascarade at Con*Cept 2004.
I am very proud of this dress. I did a lot of research to get it just right, though in the end there was no way I was going to find the exact paisley fabric and the antique trim. So I went for fabrics and trims I liked and thought were just what I needed.
Fabrics
For the bodice and sleeves, I used very fancy and expensive Chinese satin brocade. It is red with small gold and black flowers and Chinese letters (I suppose). Now this kind of fabric frays a lot so I lined the bodice with polyester lining (cheap but very hot!).
The lower sleeves are a red strech velvet which I found on sale in July and have never seen again afterward. When I saw it, I just knew it was THE fabric I needed.
The under dress's skirt is made of black satin (the most inexpensive one I could find. It makes for an under dress that could actually be worn alone.
For the over dress, I used black stretch velveteen. I know the original was a midnight blue colour but I didn't think it would look that good with the red fabrics I had. The stretch velvet has 2 advantages: I can pull the over dress over my head (with some help for the lower sleeves) so one less zipper, and it is much cheaper than real velvet (I kind of busted my budget on the Chinese brocade, but it was worth it).
The trims I choose were not perfectly accurate, but I thought they were perfect. For the sleeves hem, the under dress' neckline and the overdress' shoulder pieces, I used a 2 inches wide gold Christmas ribbon with tiny diamond shaped shiny red contrast. What's great about Christmas ribbon is that you can get a whole roll for a decent price. Around the arms, I also used some leftover gold lace trim from my Cinderella gown. The over dress' neckline trim is also a Christmas one that is ¾ of an inch wide, red with a gold vine like design.
Patterns
In order to use only a little of the Chinese brocade fabric, I decided the under dress would be an empire waist type of dress. I used McCall’s 4213 view B for the bodice and sleeves, shortening the sleeves and adapting the neckline.
For the skirt, I used Butterick 5540. The length is mid calf, because it had to be long enough to balance out the wait of the lower sleeves, yet I did not want it accidentally showing from under the over dress.
The lower sleeves is what defines this dress. After much thinking, I decided I wanted to make them full circles. In order for them to reach my anckles, they would need to be 150 cm long. Unfortunatly, the fabric I bought was only 115 cm wide and I did not want a seem in the sleeves so i ended up making them sort of an egg shape. The egg is 265 cm in length an 115 cm large at the widest point.
The over dress is made with Simplicity 9103 view B which I lengthened. I also modified the neckline so it would ressemble the original more.
Advice
When working with trims around a neckline, iron it first to start giving it the right curve. It makes for a much nicer neckline because it’s flat on you instead of pulling out.
