a start on Fire

I started on my Fire costume today - yay! I thought about making it a secret project but decided I wasn’t really in the mood. :> So the Fire will be a Pre-Raphaelite/LOTR inspired fancy dress costume. *throws confetti*

I'm excited. This is a chance to re-visit a style I love. I'm not reinventing the wheel here so, first, I might actually get this done in time and, two, I can focus on embellishment and textures. Novel idea that. Or rather I should say B can focus on embellishment as she is all ready to add lots of sparkle. I'm going to just let her have at - a last project before she moves to the other side of the country!

As with my Green Rohan dress I'm going for a romantic Pre-Raphaelite silhouette, hence the need for a Victorian corset. :> I ordered some steel boning to re-enforce the Frederick’s (thanks for all your advice!). I'm basing my frock on Eowyn's Funeral Dress, with it's split skirt and big sleeves. The gown will be made out of orange faille. The underskirt and inner sleeves will be made from the original china silk that was too flimsy for my Federalist gown. I need to dye it red... I may even try for an multi-shade effect.

After trying on my Indian jewelry I decided that it wasn’t really me, at least not worn the way it is meant to be worn. So I started playing around and found that I loved the way it looked when draped along a neckline so that is the plan! B will embellish the neckline all the way around to blend the jewelry in a bit more and I'll be taking it a part a bit to get elements for new, simpler, earrings. We are still working on hair jewelry ideas but I definitely want a Mid-summer's Night Dream type hair style so some hair pieces are now the pre-CC list.


Let's see, today, after going over my old diaries and trolling through AlleyCat, Maggie's site La Cotte Simple and Michaela's pages, I pulled out my old LOTR patterns and went to work. I made up a mock-up, using the leftover $1 fabric I bought for the Rohan mock-up (glad I kept the extra round now!). I cut the arm holes and neckline generously as I knew those areas needed serious re-working.

With B's help my first fitting went well. I'll have to get it on Narcissa to finish working on the armholes, neckline and fitting tweaks I think but it's looking good so far. Looks like I'll have to keep those little side bust darts but hopefully I can fit the arm for better movement. The Fire necklace looks a bit silly with the neckline untrimmed I know, but I couldn't resist a glimpse at the effect... :>

Tomorrow it's on to more fitting and hopefully sleeves.

notes for myself

Observations from the pics of last night...

The gores need to be wider/more fullness.
The neckline might need to be lower (to better place jewelry).
Add band of silk there to make up difference?
Ending slits at the side seam is preferable (aka Michaela Funeral).
Front panel needs to be shaped slightly at top to avoid pulled/stressed look.
Bring gores/slits up to waistline (instead of hip)?
Bodice needs to be lined in twill, to cover corset bones - flat or bag lined?
I like the higher neckline in back, looks more "medieval".
Take in at lower back (account for curve).

a tweaked toile for the Fire

Took me a while to get going this morning but just finished my second fitting and everything is looking good. I ended up taking out most of the seams to tweak where I had marked last night. Better than starting from stratch I guess.

The biggest change was to take out the center back gores and start them at the waist instead of the hip. Making room for the natural bumroll. :> I also trimmed the neckline (which ended up more off the shoulder than I was going for but hey it's pretty) and the arm hole (movement is such a lovely thing). I also decided to make my life easier and take out the wide gore overlapping gore at the side (like the green gown) and just put the slit up the side seam (Michaela's Funeral). I think the effect will be quite pretty.

Against B's counsel I'm going to make a separte underskirt. She wants everything more stationary (for the embelishment) but I'm going to go for easier. I think it will be just fine. The skirt I was wearing under my toile is a McCalls bias cut that I've made up many times. I don't want anything terribly full or it will ruin the line of the dress so bais is good. My fabric is narrow though so I'm not sure I want to deal with bias piecing. I may go with the gored Butterick 3418 - another skirt I've made up multiple times and love. That already has a sweep on it which would look nice with this too. Ponders...

On to the sleeves!! Depending on how much of a pain they decide to be I might actually get this thing cut out tonight. That would be cool! :>

ready for the fun part!

The sleeve is all mocked up, the outer sleeve anyway. The toile has been taken apart and a master pattern traced. I did an approx layout and with a 20" train I'm using little over 6yds. That means I have 5 yards left. I may shorten the train a bit so I have more leftover to play with.

Trying to decide what to do for the lining. I'm tempted to line in twill to give some weight to the frock but with the slits it will show so I need a second lining of I don't know what. The twill is tan so I don't know if i could dye a close color. There is always cotton, bought or dyed to match. I could self line as I have the fabric but it would be fun to have a second chance with this faille. :> I have such a hard time using a pretty-could-be-used-for-something-else fabric for a lining. Like I have a hard time paying money for pjs no one sees. So bad!

I don't trust myself to cut this late so I'm off to bed.