Trystan's Costume Closet

Two embroidered streamers, plus the pattern

I’m done! I spent all weekend embroidering the sash, and, boy, was that a trial. I started Saturday, and I can’t remember the last day I said “f**k” quite so often. Machine embroidery is tough! And metallic thread doesn’t make it any easier — even winding the bobbin was a pain in the ass! The thread would break or the metallic part would shred off. I was using the Sulky brand and had heard this was a better quality metallic thread, so maybe it was my machine that was off. Just kept having problems, had to rip out countless stitches, stopped and started constantly. It was beyond frustrating — I just don’t have the words to describe how pissy this embroidery was. This part was definitely the most challenging costume project I’ve ever taken on.

Then, after I’d spent all day working on it and was about a third of the way through the design on the first streamer, I ran out of thread!!! I was about to burst a blood vessel, plus it was too late to go to the store, so I gave up for the day. Decided to go running, and the three-mile route really cleared my head (not to mention lessened my back ache). This must have been my first experience of Runner’s High, because, when I returned, I glanced over at the table where the embroidery was laid out next to the pattern — and I realized it looked pretty good. Not perfect by a mile, but nice.

Next day, I bought more thread (plus buttons for the overgown). Everything went ten times more smoothly on Sunday. It’s like I hit a wall on Saturday, and then broke clean through it on Sunday. I finished the first streamer and liked it so much, I decided to embroider the second one. Originally, I thought I might only do one streamer, the front one, since the back one doesn’t show as much. I’m more of a lazy costumer than a perfectionist ;-).  But the embroidery was going so well, I felt like I had the hang of it. Thus, the second streamer came out much better than the first, and I used it as the front streamer.

I even figured out how to make some of the small curly bits of the design on the machine, so there was no need for hand-embroidery. To do this, I made a few wide, sideways stitches and stopped at the far side of the sideways stitch. Then I set the stitch width a little narrower and made the end-point of the curl, narrowing the stitch width a smidge more as I went. I also discovered the trick to tapering a line of machine embroidery down from wide to narrow (as on the very top of the design). The key is to stop in the center of the wide area, then adjust the stitch width a tiny bit. Repeat this every dozen or so stitches. This will narrow the stitch smoothly. If you don’t stop in the center or you adjust the stitch width too much, you’ll get a jaggy, stair-stepped effect.

I interfaced and sewed up the sash belt and streamers, then attached them all together. Sewed in the hooks, added silver knot buttons to the bodice, and the whole thing was done! Also I got an email notice from UPS that says my wig will arrive the day before BayCon. Still don’t have anything for the circlet, but otherwise, this costume is complete!

Arwen Rivendell gown, progress

I finished sewing the basic outfit. Need to hand-sew the hems of both the under- and overgowns. Need to sew the placket into the overdress and sew on the hooks and bars.

Next weekend, I’ll start the sash. I am going to try to embroider the design — very ambitious for me! I’ve been practicing machine embroidery, and I think I can do the main lines of the design on the machine. But the design has lots of small curved tips that I can’t replicate on the machine. I will try to complete those little bits by hand, and hopefully the start and stop points between machine- and hand-sewing won’t show too much. If I entirely fail this, well, I can fake it with fabric paint like others have done (not that paint will be all that easy either, plus it requires another trip to the store).

This costume is really coming in under the wire for me. I am trying to finish enough of it to wear to BayCon on Memorial Day weekend. That’s only one more weekend away! I know I won’t have it fully complete. There’s embroidery on the bodice that I may or may not do. I don’t have buttons for the bodice. The wig I ordered may not arrive in time (because I delayed buying it till after C9), plus I’ll need to style it. I don’t have the circlet at all — and while I would love to splurge on myself and buy the Noble Collection’s reproduction, it doesn’t even ship in time! So all I have in the way of accessories is ear tips (just the cheapo style) and the makeup.

My version of the sash pattern

I started with the underdress, which has long darts in the front and back to give it a fitted shape. It had been years since I’d made anything with darts (I’ve been loving princess seams for quite some time ;-). This was a bit of a challenge, and I mucked it up. Even transferring the dart lines with carbon to the fabric was a mess! If I’d had a refresher course on darts, if I’d bought an invisible zipper instead of a regular one, and if I’d used a less fussy fabric (satin kills me!), the underdress would have come out a whole lot better. But my saving grace is that only the sleeves below the elbow and a little wedge of the front skirt actually shows. At a later point, I’d love to make a new underdress, preferably in a washable silk. The pattern is a great fit and has such lovely, simple lines that I could use it for other costumes too.

Foolishly, I wasted a whole evening making the embroidery pattern for the sash. Started with a movie still, then fiddled around in PhotoShop to create a black and white drawing of the pattern (pictured left). Little did I know that a better graphic was right on the ACS page for this costume. Ah well, call it creative procrastination. I know PhotoShop better than embroidery ;-)

Alas, more travel interfered with this costume! Convergence 9 was in April, and that took me out of sewability for more weekends (one before to prepare, one for the convention itself, another afterwards for recovery).

Then I started the overdress. The pattern fit is exquisite, just like the underdress. But there was a triangular yoke in the back that was very tricky to sew. Also, where the collar and shoulder seams meet was difficult for me to sew, and I’m afraid it didn’t come out as smoothly as I’d hoped.

But the collar itself turned out beautifully! It’s exactly the right shape, and with heavy interfacing, it stands up just right. The diagonal seams over the chest are gorgeous and very true to the movie costume. The pattern-maker did a fabulous job!!! Pity I can’t sew quite well enough to justify her work.