update to last post
Soooo.....I've been researching intensely for the past few days on how to recreate Arwen's coronation gown, and I realized just how difficult and time-comsuming it will really be. I've decided to forego the Simplicity pattern for the whole thing; I'm thinking I might use it to construct the underdress instead since all you see is the collar, upper sleeves, and a gap under each arm, and all of that is overlaid with heavily beaded lace. I've picked out a fabric to use for the overdress (which I'll make by eyeballing/pattern drafting @_@), and a pretty organza for the inner lower sleeves. I'm debating on what kind of fabric and color to make the underdress from as pictures show it as either pale green, true green, white, cream, and a mix of yellow and green. I believe the underdress was intended to be white, but I'm afraid a true, bright white would contrast too much with the soft green, so I'm looking at ivory and cream mostly. Maybe chiffon, maybe satin, maybe muslin XD
Then comes the truly hard part: making the lace overlay and beading it. There is a very distinct pattern in the lace, and since I want this to be as accurate as possible, I want to try to make it. I've got a couple of ideas on how to do it, and it looks like the basic outlines of each piece are actually strings of tiny beads. If that's the case, it'll make the construction process easier, but still that much more time-consuming. I've never beaded anything before, and I really don't want to mess this up as I hope to only make it once (maybe twice if I'm feeling that masochistic :3). I also found a cheap pair of slippers to cover with beaded fabric to match the ones Liv wore in the film (but we never saw), so that will be a fun experiment (hopefully). I've got a few scraps to test out everything, so I'll be occupying myself with that this week if I don't decide to jump into making the banner.
Speaking of which, do you know how insanely hard it is to find a good shade of grey at this time of year and where I live? -headdesk- Thankfully, I found a pretty velveteen fabric in light grey (everything else was far too dark or had a pattern in the fibers), and it was on sale! It's also 100% cotton, so I'm hoping it will take fabric paint well. I'm really excited to try this out as it will be my first prop and I've not really had a cosplay before that had the added bonus of a prop. Not to mention I can use it to beat off creepy people at cons XD; I've already got my poles to use (hooray for helpful people at Home Depot!), and I'll be combinging them together only at the very end so as to make sure the banner itself will fit and stay on and hang right. I'll need a couple small pots of primer and paint for them, but that can wait til later. The real banner is many feet tall (look at the position of the White Tree on the banner in relation to where Liv's face is and how tall she is @_@), but I'm only making mine about 6' or so so as to be more manageable when walking around and transporting it to cons, as well as a safety precaution for cons and other public areas; the last thing I want (other than the whole thing falling apart; I'd cry) is to have it prohibited from con areas because it's too tall and therefore a safety risk/violation :(
So! This will be my big cosplay project for about the next.....year and a half? Two years? Who knows. I don't have a set timeframe to have this done, so that will help with any stress I may feel from a deadline. But that also means my dumn little mind will have time to think of ways to procrastinate and never get it done XD
Eh, we'll see what happens. -fingers crossed it doesn't turn into an expensive pile of crap-
Then comes the truly hard part: making the lace overlay and beading it. There is a very distinct pattern in the lace, and since I want this to be as accurate as possible, I want to try to make it. I've got a couple of ideas on how to do it, and it looks like the basic outlines of each piece are actually strings of tiny beads. If that's the case, it'll make the construction process easier, but still that much more time-consuming. I've never beaded anything before, and I really don't want to mess this up as I hope to only make it once (maybe twice if I'm feeling that masochistic :3). I also found a cheap pair of slippers to cover with beaded fabric to match the ones Liv wore in the film (but we never saw), so that will be a fun experiment (hopefully). I've got a few scraps to test out everything, so I'll be occupying myself with that this week if I don't decide to jump into making the banner.
Speaking of which, do you know how insanely hard it is to find a good shade of grey at this time of year and where I live? -headdesk- Thankfully, I found a pretty velveteen fabric in light grey (everything else was far too dark or had a pattern in the fibers), and it was on sale! It's also 100% cotton, so I'm hoping it will take fabric paint well. I'm really excited to try this out as it will be my first prop and I've not really had a cosplay before that had the added bonus of a prop. Not to mention I can use it to beat off creepy people at cons XD; I've already got my poles to use (hooray for helpful people at Home Depot!), and I'll be combinging them together only at the very end so as to make sure the banner itself will fit and stay on and hang right. I'll need a couple small pots of primer and paint for them, but that can wait til later. The real banner is many feet tall (look at the position of the White Tree on the banner in relation to where Liv's face is and how tall she is @_@), but I'm only making mine about 6' or so so as to be more manageable when walking around and transporting it to cons, as well as a safety precaution for cons and other public areas; the last thing I want (other than the whole thing falling apart; I'd cry) is to have it prohibited from con areas because it's too tall and therefore a safety risk/violation :(
So! This will be my big cosplay project for about the next.....year and a half? Two years? Who knows. I don't have a set timeframe to have this done, so that will help with any stress I may feel from a deadline. But that also means my dumn little mind will have time to think of ways to procrastinate and never get it done XD
Eh, we'll see what happens. -fingers crossed it doesn't turn into an expensive pile of crap-