Black Widow Phase 1
Anybody who doesn't like talk about dolls or costuming please feel free to skip this entry, if not read ahead.
This is going to be one of my most insane ideas ever I am going to try and scale up a costume designed for the Madra Lord doll to life sized and fit to yours truly. My goal is to have this done in time for the 2007 Gene Convention and wear it there. Wish me luck! Here are my notes to date-
Black Widow- Costume Notes
The Gown-
The gown is made from a mid weight black satin with a matte finish, it’s completely lined with mauve/nude colored lining. The gown itself is a simple sheath gown with a leg slit in the center front and has one strap over the right shoulder and a right sleeve, the sleeve is fitted with 3 small button and thread eye closures at the wrist for ease in putting on the gown; the left shoulder is bare, a series of hooks and eyes fasten the dress up the back.
The right sleeve has embroidery in a spider web pattern, at each intersection there is a crystal followed by a row of AB glass beads, the crystal is faceted, and the AB Beads are not.
On the left side of the gown is a train that runs from the left front of the gown, up over the left hip and down toward the center back seam, it’s a rough half circle shape lined with a metallic knit in gray/white/silver the outside is made from the same black satin as the gown with the same embroidery as the right sleeve, with the same beaded accents. It’s attached to the gown with tacking stitches that start at the upper thigh, go over the hip and down toward the center back of the gown, the rest of the train is loose.
The Shoes-
Clear acrylic soles with an over the toe strap made from a pale white net, the same net is used as ribbon ties to hold the shoe into place. The effect is something akin to a glass slipper.
The Jewelry-
Earrings are made from black and AB seed beads in rough spider web pattern, the necklace is made from two strands of black and AB seed beads with a center focal of one crystal stone ringed with more black seed beads and three small tails also made from black seed beads, the bracelet is a single strand of alternating black and AB seed beads.
The Headpiece-
A spider web made from AB Beads strung on bendable wire that is meant to be wrapped and formed around the back of the head.
Construction Notes-
The basic dress is very simple, consisting four pieces, a front piece, two back pieces and a sleeve. The Train is made from two parts with center seam that is mostly hidden under the embroidery. The dress is fitted thanks to darts in the front and back of the gown.
Differences between Prototype and Final Production Dolls
In the original sketches of the doll, she had on a beaded spider web snood, not the wired headpiece, she also lacked a necklace, the hairstyle pulled back into the snood with bangs in the front in the original sketch, while it was a French twist in the final version. Also she was pictured as a red head in the sketch while the final doll has black hair.
Conversion from Doll to Real Life-
The sleeve fastenings are more for getting an immobile doll arm though the fitted sleeve and only 1 or 2 buttons will be necessary for the full sized version.
The left side of the gown will need to be reinforced with horsehair or duck cloth in order to take the weight of the train, which will be made up of at least 4-5 yards of fabric/lining add to that the weight of the stitching and crystals. The train will also be detachable to make it easier to transport and put on, a Velcro/heavy duty snap combo?
The back fastening will be replaced with an invisible zipper instead of hooks and eyes to make it easier to get into and fasten the gown.
The Jewelry will be redesigned completely, with full spider webs in crystal beads and no black fill in beads will be necessary to bulk up the pieces.
Patterns-
Butterick B4343 is a good match with some minor differences-
Shoulder is on the wrong side, but I can just flip the pattern to get it right.
The leg slit on the side can be easily moved to the center front
Will need to move the zipper from the left side to center back thanks to the train.
Will need to add in a sleeve
I have several jacket pattern I can used to draft the sleeve from (B4732 and B4731 specifically)
Will have to draft by hand the train pattern, I have the rough measurements and used percentages scaled them from doll size to my own.
Fabrics-
Got all the main fabrics from denverfabrics.com, on thank gods for their swatches-
6 yards of mid weight matte finish black satin, dead on perfect match to the fabric used on the doll
http://www.denverfabrics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=31493&Category_Code=BR-sa&Product_Count=63
3 yards of this Silver knit fabric, it has the smoother look of tissue and a great metallic look, without the 40.00 per yard price tag (owie) they had a knit similar to the kind used it the gown but it didn’t have the shimmer once put against the black satin, looked flat and gray and no sparkle at all so I rejected it in favor of this one
http://www.denverfabrics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=27279&source=Search
3 yards of Lining, again a dead on color match to the real thing, however the hand is different, this is smoother and slicker than the original, close enough.
http://www.denverfabrics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=30360&Category_Code=LIN-Bem&Product_Count=21
The rest of the shopping list to be completed after I get the rough idea of amounts I will need.
Horsehair or Duck fabric- At least a yard to reinforce the left side
Silver ribbon and Silver Thread- For the embroidery on train and sleeve
Crystals and beads- Again for the train and sleeve
Will post more later!
SW
This is going to be one of my most insane ideas ever I am going to try and scale up a costume designed for the Madra Lord doll to life sized and fit to yours truly. My goal is to have this done in time for the 2007 Gene Convention and wear it there. Wish me luck! Here are my notes to date-
Black Widow- Costume Notes
The Gown-
The gown is made from a mid weight black satin with a matte finish, it’s completely lined with mauve/nude colored lining. The gown itself is a simple sheath gown with a leg slit in the center front and has one strap over the right shoulder and a right sleeve, the sleeve is fitted with 3 small button and thread eye closures at the wrist for ease in putting on the gown; the left shoulder is bare, a series of hooks and eyes fasten the dress up the back.
The right sleeve has embroidery in a spider web pattern, at each intersection there is a crystal followed by a row of AB glass beads, the crystal is faceted, and the AB Beads are not.
On the left side of the gown is a train that runs from the left front of the gown, up over the left hip and down toward the center back seam, it’s a rough half circle shape lined with a metallic knit in gray/white/silver the outside is made from the same black satin as the gown with the same embroidery as the right sleeve, with the same beaded accents. It’s attached to the gown with tacking stitches that start at the upper thigh, go over the hip and down toward the center back of the gown, the rest of the train is loose.
The Shoes-
Clear acrylic soles with an over the toe strap made from a pale white net, the same net is used as ribbon ties to hold the shoe into place. The effect is something akin to a glass slipper.
The Jewelry-
Earrings are made from black and AB seed beads in rough spider web pattern, the necklace is made from two strands of black and AB seed beads with a center focal of one crystal stone ringed with more black seed beads and three small tails also made from black seed beads, the bracelet is a single strand of alternating black and AB seed beads.
The Headpiece-
A spider web made from AB Beads strung on bendable wire that is meant to be wrapped and formed around the back of the head.
Construction Notes-
The basic dress is very simple, consisting four pieces, a front piece, two back pieces and a sleeve. The Train is made from two parts with center seam that is mostly hidden under the embroidery. The dress is fitted thanks to darts in the front and back of the gown.
Differences between Prototype and Final Production Dolls
In the original sketches of the doll, she had on a beaded spider web snood, not the wired headpiece, she also lacked a necklace, the hairstyle pulled back into the snood with bangs in the front in the original sketch, while it was a French twist in the final version. Also she was pictured as a red head in the sketch while the final doll has black hair.
Conversion from Doll to Real Life-
The sleeve fastenings are more for getting an immobile doll arm though the fitted sleeve and only 1 or 2 buttons will be necessary for the full sized version.
The left side of the gown will need to be reinforced with horsehair or duck cloth in order to take the weight of the train, which will be made up of at least 4-5 yards of fabric/lining add to that the weight of the stitching and crystals. The train will also be detachable to make it easier to transport and put on, a Velcro/heavy duty snap combo?
The back fastening will be replaced with an invisible zipper instead of hooks and eyes to make it easier to get into and fasten the gown.
The Jewelry will be redesigned completely, with full spider webs in crystal beads and no black fill in beads will be necessary to bulk up the pieces.
Patterns-
Butterick B4343 is a good match with some minor differences-
Shoulder is on the wrong side, but I can just flip the pattern to get it right.
The leg slit on the side can be easily moved to the center front
Will need to move the zipper from the left side to center back thanks to the train.
Will need to add in a sleeve
I have several jacket pattern I can used to draft the sleeve from (B4732 and B4731 specifically)
Will have to draft by hand the train pattern, I have the rough measurements and used percentages scaled them from doll size to my own.
Fabrics-
Got all the main fabrics from denverfabrics.com, on thank gods for their swatches-
6 yards of mid weight matte finish black satin, dead on perfect match to the fabric used on the doll
http://www.denverfabrics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=31493&Category_Code=BR-sa&Product_Count=63
3 yards of this Silver knit fabric, it has the smoother look of tissue and a great metallic look, without the 40.00 per yard price tag (owie) they had a knit similar to the kind used it the gown but it didn’t have the shimmer once put against the black satin, looked flat and gray and no sparkle at all so I rejected it in favor of this one
http://www.denverfabrics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=27279&source=Search
3 yards of Lining, again a dead on color match to the real thing, however the hand is different, this is smoother and slicker than the original, close enough.
http://www.denverfabrics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=30360&Category_Code=LIN-Bem&Product_Count=21
The rest of the shopping list to be completed after I get the rough idea of amounts I will need.
Horsehair or Duck fabric- At least a yard to reinforce the left side
Silver ribbon and Silver Thread- For the embroidery on train and sleeve
Crystals and beads- Again for the train and sleeve
Will post more later!
SW