One Bodice, Two Looks

A while ago I took out an old UFO, and decided to finish it. It is a hand stitched wool bodice lined with linen, fully interlined, and boned in front. It also laces in front over a half boned stomacher. (Meanwhile, that was a good invention – so easy to adjust to size!) The bodice is of good quality, but not quite historical. For other costuming adventures it would be perfectly fine though. As I don’t see myself having much use of it, I mean to sell it. Still, it is nice to have good pictures of the things you’ve made, and I hope that good pictures will make the bodice more desirable for potential buyers. To show that this simple bodice can work for a variety of characters, I've had two little photo shoots this week.

The Washerwoman

In Sweden there is a popular LARP series called Krigshjärta (War Heart). It has several different cultures, with very different religions/ideologies, social life, politics, and, of course, dress. Though I’ve never attended a LARP in my life (though I have lots of friends who do so frequently), I have always been a bit intrigued by one of the peoples, the Jorgaler. This people are a highly religious group, who see it as a severe faux pas to outshine what their god has created, and thus dress in a very simple way, keeping trim and decorations to a minimum, almost glorying in what is lowly as it where. Bodices and skirts/dresses are worn by the women, as are some form of kerchief on their heads. Tobias and I considered going to one of the Krigshjärta LARPs and play a couple of Jorgaler when we were newly-weds, but what with pregnancies, babies and life in general, that never happened. I was still interested in composing such an outfit though, to see if I could make plain look pretty.

So I had the bodice. The rest I was pretty sure I could dig out from my historical clothing and fantasy costume wardrobes, and my fabric stash. It worked rather well I think. I used the same old hobbit shift, an 18^th century linen petticoat, a raw silk skirt for the apron, and a piece of fabric for the kerchief. Medieval wool hose and leather shoes completed the outfit.

As props I used an old laundry basket that usually holds toys, an even older washing bat, an inherited copper tub, and several historical linen shirts, shifts, braies and aprons. I lugged it all out in the garden and took pictures using the trusty self timer, a dear friend when documenting my costuming adventures. 

I like how the bodice looks very plain and… almost boring really, when laced with a neutral cord. It doesn’t attract any notice at all worn like this. Actually, I love this outfit! It would have looked better with a wool skirt though, and a larger kerchief.

The Hobbit Larder

I keep exploring different ways to dress hobbit women. I have liked both the styles I’ve tried so far (the bodice/skirt and the dress), but as I have a skirt trimmed with the same fabric this bodice is madefrom, I just had to combine them for a hobbit to wear. My hair actually did get curly this time round – rolling it up on rags for more than 24 hours did the trick. I don’t think I like this hobbit look as much as the others I’ve tried, but it still looks nice. I think it’s the hair – I didn’t manage to get it quite hobbity, even though it was properly curly. It actually looks too frivolous, if that is possible for one of the merry little people. More experimenting is needed! (EDIT: I think I figured it out: the rest of the outfit has a vague 17th century feel to it, but the hair is more 1790's. A bun in the back and curls framing the sides of the face would have been the very thing here, I think.)

I wore an 18th century-ish shift, two petticoats that are hardly seen, the wool skirt, and some fabric from the stash in my hair.

For these pictures I transformed a corner of my sewing room to a larder – a very suitable setting for a hobbit. Good thing we have lots of appropriate bowls, jars, jugs, cups and baskets to use as props… 
 

Using a cord that matched the skirt made a really nice look for this outfit; it became a decoration in itself. It also makes the bodice quite versatile - get cords in the same colours as your skirts, and you have a bodice that will match pretty much anything :)

Conclusions: colours make a lot of difference; it transformed this simple bodice from being dreary to being delightful.

Winter in the Shire

The blog has moved and this post can now be found HERE.

The Elvish Maiden

Eleven years ago I made a dress to wear to the premiere of the final part of the LoTR saga, The Return of the King. I took my inspiration from the Elvish styles in the movies, but both the dress and the embroidery was my own design.

The dress is made from a semi stiff and rather heavy fabric with a woven in pattern. The sleeves are lined with linen. The neckline and sleeves of the mock under dress are made from raw silk.

It is a lovely dress, but sadly I never got any pictures of myself wearing it, and now I can’t fit into it anymore, as I have a rather more Hobbity shape than I had when I was twenty. I’ve been thinking for some time that my sister E might be able to wear it, being of a similar height to me, though a bit more slender than I was when I wore the dress. As she was staying with us for little over a week, and the dress fit her well enough, we took the opportunity to have a photo shoot.

She was wearing a piece of hair jewellery I made myself for the premiere of The Two Towers, twelve years ago, obviously based on Arwen’s beautiful one from Fellowship of the Ring. It was more striking against my darker hair (which back then reached passed my tail bone), but looked pretty against E’s fair hair as well. 

Her hair looked a bit like that of Legolas, so we thought that if he’d had a little sister, this might be what she’d had looked like. Or it could just be any young Elvish maiden.

While taking the pictures we discussed elves and wondered how quickly they grow up. How fast do they mature, intellectually and physically? When are they considered being of age?  I like to know such things - even when it is a make believe people in a story….

A Hobbit Woman’s Outfit

The blog has moved and this post can now be found HERE.

Pre-Raphaelite Medieval-ish Dress

Many years ago, at the beginning of my living history days, I made a dress inspired by medieval ones. Well, it was quite a bit inspired by pre-Raphaelite and fantasy takes on the Middle Ages as well – it was made to be used at the premiere of The Return of the King after all.

It is an interesting mix of period construction (wool fabric; more or less straight panels for the front and back with all shaping in the side and back seams; width given by set in gores; hand stitching; hand made eyelets; felled seams) and not so period elements (a combination of cotton and linen thread; embroidery on a dress style that usually had none, with the embroidery design inspired from the margin of a manuscript – and made in linen, and, what irks me most; cross lacing at the back) that reflects the stage I was at then, having gained some knowledge, but still letting myself be way too influenced by make believe. Still, it’s a very pretty dress I think, worthy of a bit of recognition.

Even when the dress was new the sleeves were a bit too tight, making bending the arms uncomfortable. Several years ago I took them of intending to make them wider, but never got round to it. Now, finally, I made the changes by putting in a gusset in each sleeve seam – luckily I had some of the dress fabric left. Thus, this UFO/Make Do and Mend-dress was done in good time for the Fairytale challenge of the Historical Sew Fortnightly. 

The dress is still too small for me (my figure has changed quite a bit since becoming a mother) so I plan to sell the dress to someone who might give it a proper life – there are some very high quality LARPs and LARPers here in Sweden, and this dress might be perfect in a fantasy lady’s wardrobe. 

It is modelled by my cousin M, for whose help I’m very grateful, as I never had decent pictures of the dress before. 

We were both pleased with how her hair came out as well (especially the fact that her fringe did not show at all) – not very medieval to be sure, but good for the “1911-goes-medieval-Sleeping-Beauty”or pre-Raphaelite look I had in mind. 

The Challenge: #6 Fairytale

Fabric: Wool

Pattern: none, draped my own

Year: “1911 goes medieval” 

Notions: Cotton and linen thread

How historically accurate is it? As a medieval-ish dress – not very much as it’s a blend of period and fantasy. As a 1911 try at medieval – too period correct; it would probably have been constructed differently at that time.

Hours to complete: For the changes I made, maybe two or three?

First worn: Since changed - for the pictures

Total cost: none at this time as everything was in my stash

Hobbit Outfit - Part Two: The Bodice

As I wrote in my last post I finished the bodice for my Hobbit outfit last week. I’m tolerably satisfied with it, though I will make a change or two on the next one (lowering the neckline a tad in front, taking it in more so the back doesn't meet). I’ll also add some more boning in the back of this one, as it wrinkles in an unsightly way. I might very likely have made it slightly too long, and must remedy that at some point. 

I obviously won't wear a tricot shirt with the finished costume...

I wanted to go for classic Hobbit colours, green and yellow, but as blue is my favourite colour, I wanted that as well. All theese colours also look good with the skirt fabric. The bodice is made from five pieces: two in the back, two side-front pieces (all from herringbone woven cotton) and one centre front piece in a contrasting cotton fabric. That is decorted with a lattice from finger looped braids. All the sahaping of the bodice are in the seams, so no darts.

It’s lined and interlined with a medium weight, checked cotton fabric that can be glimpsed in the top of the above picture. The lining, interlining and fashion fabric are treated as one when stitched together. The bodice is boned in the back on each side of the hand sewn eyelets, at the sides, and at regular intervals on the centre front panel. The bodice is bound with straight strips of linen, and is laced up the back with cotton tape – the colour in this picture is not at all representative of the real one.

Most of the sewing on the bodice is done by hand, as I doubt Hobbits had sewing machines: “They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-billows, a water-mill, or a hand loom, though they were skilful with tools.” (The Fellowship of the Ring, Prologue I - Concerning Hobbits). Only some of the interior seams, that will never show, are machine sewn. 

All of the materials but the tape for lacing is taken from my stash, which is always nice. As for the rest of the costume, the first skirt is mostly done; I’m currently weaving tapes to tie it with, and when they’re attached the skirt will be ready to wear.

A Hobbit Lunch

This past Sunday, 22 September, was Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday, now more commonly known as Hobbit Day. I wanted to have a second breakfast party to celebrate - well, I wanted a Hobbit second breakfast and this was a good excuse…  Now, we always go to church on Sundays, so it wasn’t a good day. Tobias and I decided to have it on 21 September instead, which is not a bad day either, as The Hobbit, or There and Back Again was published on that date in 1937. 

Plums, scones and pickled gherkin.

We invited some friends, two families with one little child each, but due to other commitments amongst all, we decided to make it a lunch instead, which also worked better with all our young children’s nap times.

Anders and his family. Our camera didn’t co-operate, so nearly all pictures are from them. 

I’m very grateful, as this post would otherwise have been very dull.

My Hobbit bodice was finished, and the skirt was almost done as well, but not enough for them to be worn. We all improvised Hobbit-y clothing (I wore my livkjol), and looked rather well. 

Tobias and I looking very tired: he’d been helping a friend to 

move all the coming winter’s wood supply before lunch, and I’d been 

whirling around trying to finish the last food and make everything look nice.

My hair turned out in quite satisfactory curls (except for the hair in front), and for me, who have very straight hair, usually refusing all sorts of attempts to be curled, that’s saying something.

An attempt at Hobbit hair.

The only picture I've taken, and you might 

tell from the quality our camera is on it's last legs.

The party was Dutch treat, and we all made food we thought might suit a Hobbit lunch table. I made a field mushroom pie (with tomato, sweet pepper, leek and cream), rösti/hashed brown potatoes, some nicely decorated carrot bread and small cookies, and provided butter, whipped cream and raspberry cordial.

Carrot bread.

The others brought apple pie, three different kinds of sausages, jams and jellies, mustard, butter fried chanterelles with shallots, apples, plums, tomatoes, sweet scones, home made apple juice, cheese, dried bacon rand and pickled gherkin. 

Sausages and cheese.

The table groaned, and we almost did the same after the meal was finished.

In the foreground: home made apple juice, 

mustard, mushroom pie, apples and rösti.

It was a delightful little party, of a kind that we’re sure to host again. The only thing that I found to complain about was that it’s really too late in the year to go barefoot - it was rather chilly. 

The second mushroom dish; butter fried chanterelles with shallots.

You can't have a Hobbit party without mushrooms. 

I guess we just have to arrange a Lithe party. Lithe is the three Summer days outside the Shire calendar between the months of June and July, that were - together with the two Yule days between December and January - the “chief holidays and times of feasting” (The Return of the King, appendix D), an altogether much pleasanter time of year to go barefoot here in the North, and with the added advantage of being able to have it outside, which would be a much more suitable location than our flat.

Hobbit Outfit - Part One

I love Tolkien’s history and stories of Middle-earth, and since I saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy I’ve wanted a hobbit outfit. I made one try at it many years ago, but never finished – I was then too busy making pretty dresses and a coat with wide, hanging sleeves, inspired by Elvish and Rohirrim clothing. But I feel like a Hobbit at heart (and certainly look more like a Hobbit than an Elf...), much preferring a quiet life at home - sewing, baking, reading and spending time with my family - than going abroad seeking adventure and renown. A Hobbit hole would be the most lovely home imaginable.

For the past year or something I’ve been itching to make a Hobbit outfit, drawing many different designs, but have had too many other projects to work on to do this as well. But enough is enough – last week I finally began my outfit.

I’m basing it on the costumes in the "The Lord of the Rings" movies, as I loved them from the first glimpse. This is the design I’m going for this time (I have several others that I hope will some day be made up), based on materials I had at home. I’ve changed the colour of the binding, and I’m not quite sure what to make a shift of just yet, but other than that, this is pretty much what it will look like:

This is the first “mood board” of the fabrics I’ll be using, made the same day I did the drawing above. The checked fabric will be a skirt; the materials at the top are currently being made up into a bodice, with the blue herringbone as the main bodice, the green as the front panel, but with mustard coloured linen as binding instead of the green ribbon. I also made finger loop braids from cotton weaving yarn.

The braids are sewn on the front panel of the bodice in a lattice pattern – I love those. Here’s a close-up: 

I still have quite a lot to do on this outfit, but so far it's looking good enough. Yellows and oranges are not colours I generally like, or wear, but they are kind of Hobbit-y, so it'll have to do...

This costume is not copied from any one in the movies, for, beautiful as cosplays or movie reproductions often are, they loose their charm after seeing the same outfit in many different versions (I don’t know how many Arwen and Èowyn dresses I’ve seen, or how many Frodo/Sam/Merry/Pippin/Rosie Cotton-costumes for that matter. Now, not surprisingly, there seem to be a lot of Dwarf costumes showing up, and not so few cosplays of Thranduil.) I prefer seeing original Middle-earth costumes, influenced by the books and movies. I'm sure I can’t be the only one – there are a lot of nerds out there – so I talked to Sarah Jane about it. Her beautiful Hobbit outfit has been very inspiring, and not helping at all in my trying not to make an outfit for myself. We soon started a facebook group called “Taylors and Seamstresses of Middle Earth”. Anyone interested in making LotR costumes inspired by the cultures, but not copied straight of off movie costumes, are more than welcome to join the group. I dearly hope to see a Dwarf woman’s costume made up, beard and all…