Arwen sleeve, in progress
Technically, both costumes are done now. Pulled a marathon (for me; I stayed up past midnight 😉 sewing session last night and finished my gown. Designed sleeves based on, well, not much ‘cept the fact that I wanted to be able to eat in the dress yet still have a semblance of Floppy Elf Sleeve Syndrome. Cut, hemmed, trimmed, and sewed them up and on the gown. Sewed the !?*#$ invisible (my ass) zipper in the back of the gown. Hemmed the gown by sewing black satin quilt binding over the raw edge (I used quilt binding on the hem previous gowns and loved the way it gave body to the hem for proper flaring about as one walked). Added a hook and eye closure at the back of the neck. And hand-sewed all the neckline trim down that I’d left open until the sleeves were in.
So, ta da, it’s done. But… I want more. I think I do want the overgown, and instead of the non-matching silver, I’ll make it of the black panne velvet. There’s a black and silver trim that never made it onto my very first elf gown, and that trim looks spiffy next to the existing trim on this gown. And the Stash holds some black and silver twisted cord that could add another trim layer. With the overgown, the whole outfit would look more like a riff on the Requiem gown and less like Generi-Elf. The undergown is lovely, don’t get me wrong. I’m quite satisfied with how it looks. But the old princess gown, scoop neck with trim, two-part sleeves that are tight at the top and flare out, well… that’s kind of unoriginal. Not that a gothic version of the Requiem gown is the last word in creativity, but it’s still a little something more special. So we’ll see if I do get to that overgown and how much I trim it.
circlet
Also finished my circlet (see, technically, I’m done!). Forgot to take before pix, but the transformation is pretty cool, IMNSHO. I started with a silver bridal tiara, half off at Hancock’s. It’s all silvertone in a design of tiny flowers and leaves. The silver was pretty bright, so to match better with the burnished silver of the gown’s sari trim, I lightly spray-painted the tiara black. Then I immediately rubbed the paint off. Knowing how poorly most paint sticks to metal, I figured I could wipe off enough of the black paint to keep it from looking “black” and instead looking just more pewter or gunmetal colored. Which worked beautifully!
Next, I got busy with E6000 for an hour after dinner. I’d bought small round hematite beads and small black-blue faceted beads, and now I glued these around the floral design of the tiara. The result is more organic, definitely darker, and well-suited to the overall outfit. A lot cheaper than buying the fancy circlet I’d been tempted by. Sure, mine looks nothing like the expensive one, but it conveys the same feeling and mood, and for about $20 total.