Arwen's Chase Dress

I am giving this outfit some thought and have been wondering if any parts of the dress would be faced.
For example, is the collar faced with a second piece of suede or is the roll we see with the lace attached merely the backside of the material. If it is just a single piece then I imagine part of the purpose of the lace would be to disguise the quality of the material, as often suede will have a good side and a rough side. The lace would break up any imperfections.
Furthermore, I would assume that the lace could be copied as there is an almost complete pattern in this thread. I wonder how much it would cost to get a little old lady from one of the many pillow/bobbin lace craft groups to make up a few metres of it - they can work pretty quickly when they know what they are doing.
 
From what I've been reading the collar has been one of the hardest parts for costumers to figure out how to replicate. So unfortunately, me in my beginner sewing skills (and knowledge), can only go based on what I've read online. Not saying that the collar couldn't be faced, but I haven't read of anyone who's seen the original costume say so. But you do bring up an excellent point about the lace possibly being a disguise and not just decoration.
 
OK. I have given the collar some more thought (I haven't looked at this project until today). I have concluded that the collar is indeed faced. In fact if you look at the close-up of the collar at the top of this thread you can see a fine line on the edge where the collar has a simple seam joining it to the facing. I am also going to suggest that the collar is actually further reinforced with adhesive interfacing. It is only by creating tension between these three layers that you can get the collar to hold its particular curve. This would have to be done very carefully while the costume was positioned over a manikin to get the curve of the collar perfect. This is why costumers would be having trouble with this detail. Once you have the two layers of suede stuck to each other via the interfacing layer the curve should hold perfectly. The lace could then be laid onto the collar and fix on the inside and along the edge. Because of the tension in the supporting collar the lace would not have to be fixed in numerous places and could mainly "float" as I think was mentioned previously.

I also think the body of the costume is probably lined with a fabric like coutil. There is probably boning in the six seams which join the various panels of fabric around the waist. I imagine that the lacing down the front of the dress would distort the shape of the garment if there was no reinforcement of the seams with boning. They wouldn't have to be very stiff - just stiff enough.
The boning would probably be slid into the sort of slim pocketed material that is used for corsetry. If the body is lined with something like coutil, as I have suggested, then the boning could be sewn to the lining rather than to the outer body meaning the boning would be more or less invisible from the outside.

The upper part of the arm is probably also lined for comfort (I can't imagine that raw suede would be very pleasant against the skin) but clearly the lower arms and the skirt are unlined falling away to raw edges. With the edges being raw and unreinforced the skirt and sleeves are able to flow like a much lighter fabric.

Anyway, these are my first thoughts on how the suede part of the dress may be constructed based on what I have read on this thread and having just watched the scene on the FOTR. If you have any feedback please let me know as I have only just started thinking about how I am going to get this done today and I could be totally barking up the wrong tree.

In case you haven't heard of coutil before here are some links.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coutil
http://www.lovesickcorrectiveapparel.com/images/terminology/coutil.jpg

Coutil is a wonderfully heavy and rigid fabric but is still very comfortable against the skin.
 
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Would anyone be able to estimate the colour of this costume as a Pantone colour? I read on the alleycatscratch.com site that it is similar to DMC Floss #318.
 
My memory of the costume from seeing it person at the traveling exhibit, was that it seemed to be slightly dyed a very, very pale purple/lavender. I'd steer towards greys that have that cool under tone to them.

Pantone colors that are fairly close: PMS 550, PMS 557, PMS 451 or slightly darker: PMS 452.
 
Ack! I completely forgot the front buckle! It's an intricate piece for sure.

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Shadow Dale Creations made the buckle in the last picture. While I think it looks perfect, I've also heard alot of negative things about the company. Has anyone here had experience with them? I was tempted to put in an order, but a friend of mine didn't get her own buckle order (for a different costume) til months and months after it was supposed to arrive. With there being an actual deadline to my costume, I don't want to risk not having an important part of my costume before I leave.

Are there any other companies or any sole person who could make Arwen's buckle?


Ordered a Belt Buckle and a Rank Bar ( Star Wars) from them in november, STILL have not Received it.
 
Alright so...HOOMMGG did I take forever to finally start working on this. A month out from Dragoncon...yep.

Anyway. I've got the pattern fabricated and mocked. Time to cut fabric.

I never got a response back from the company that had the Italian lace. They just never responded after the lady said "I'll check". She never did :|. SO, because of their lack of customer service, I've decided to just embroider the collar in the dragonfly wing pattern. I've already sculpted the buckle, but need to take pics.

I did style my lace front wig though.
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I'm on the look out for the ultimate grey/purpley blue ribbon or fabric to make ribbon from in town. I found some shantung in a pretty amethyst/grey at JoAnn's that I may go back and get this weekend. The color contrast against my grey suede is a little much though. The purple comes out too much, so I may just end up going with charcoal grey satin ribbon.

More pics soon!
 
Buckle needs to be sanded and painted...second time making this. The last time was '02/'03.

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One sleeve embroidered...second one is up next!
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Woohoo! Look at you and your bad self Nadine!

I'll keep up research of anything I can find, but I've had to stop my costume build. Ran out of money and know of no friends who can sew the suede for me. *sigh*
 
:p!

I just ended up getting a faux upholstery suede. It was a good color and a good look about it. I'm also on a tight budget. So at this point, I'm getting it as close as possible.

Will it be 100% accurate? Noooo...but I can half try :p!
 
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Alright, got one side of the collar embroidery done! Who needs Venetian lace?
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Also got my boots in today. Not perfect, but they do have ties in the back, so semi-right! Gonna seam rip those weird-ass gathers out.
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Nicely done! Way to go on the collar. I think embroidery was definitely the way to go with that.

Though I wanted to know what in the world they were thinking when they made those boots. :confused
 
I agree, that collar looks perfect the way you did it. You are working so quickly on this! Very impressive.
 
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