The Margaery Tyrell Costume

Thursday, November 27, 2014

This semester's masterpiece: I recreated one of Lady Margaery Tyrell's costumes from Game of Thrones.
She wears this ensemble in the episode "Valar Morghulis" and repeats the vest and skirt with a different scarf and no sleeves in a following episode. She also wears a similar vest made of a different fabric in a previous episode. So, generally a fairly representative Margaery costume!

Here was my main reference image:

And my version of it!

This costume was a labor of love, let me tell you! Here is some info about the different pieces of it.

Skirt: I dyed six yards of 55" white rayon challis, using Evening Blue, Teal, and Taupe RIT dyes. I cut two almost half-circles (I was conserving fabric so I could make the blue scarf for another time) with a waist circumference slightly bigger than mine. I added a thin waistband and even thinner ties, let it hang overnight, and hemmed. This skirt is based on the one from a different one of her dresses, but I wanted to make them interchangeable so I can do other Margaery costumes in the future. 

It's soooo twirly!

Bodice: Again, dyed with those three RIT colors after much swatching. This started out as a white denim. I draped the pattern based on the photo and it underwent MANY alterations. I also draped an interlining pattern (which also served as the lining pattern) and cut the interlining out of a hideous polka-dot denim. There is zip-tie boning in the interlining. The embroidery is all by hand, sketched out based on the photo. I made up the back embroidery based on the front! It fastens at the center with a skirt hook and bar, with a tie to cover it. All the edges are hand-finished. 

Here's a picture of what I did on the back in case that helps anyone out:

Scarf: I already had this fabric (it was an old curtain) which is one reason I ended up making this costume. It was a sign! It's just two thin rectangles, French-seamed in the middle and hemmed on all sides.

Sleeves: I'm not happy with them, honestly! I wanted to use brown elastic cord to "lace" them up but I couldn't find any in time, so they are just tapered bias tubes with elastic at the top. They fall down all the time and I kind of hate them. But they serve their purpose, I suppose.  

I wear it with a rose necklace that was an heirloom (another sign that I needed to make a Margaery costume) and silver ballet flats. In that scene where Margaery visits the orphanage, we see one of her handmaidens lift up her skirt to step over a puddle, and the maid is wearing a ballet-flat kind of shoe, so I figured that was plausible. I've never seen Margaery's shoes.

Probably one of my favorite pictures:

And, finally, I had the camera on continuous shot so I made a GIF of me twirling: 

-Madame Taylor

Late-Summer Shorts

Thursday, September 11, 2014

I say late summer, but in reality today was the first that felt like fall. 

I've been back at school for nearly three weeks now, and this is what I've made so far!

 I bought the pattern (Simplicity 1464) with the intention of making the pants, because I bought some palazzo pants and adore them and I wanted to make some more. However, I wanted a nice swingy rayon challis for that and I didn't find any I loved. So, I got some slightly stretchy printed cotton to make the shorts version. They only took just over a yard, so pretty inexpensive. Plus, the fabric was on sale for $3/yd. Pretty good deal. 

This was my first foray into inset pockets, and I will admit that the actual pocket is way too small to hold much at all! A chapstick and some keys, perhaps. But it was more for looks anyway, and practice. I considered putting white piping along the edge but I didn't have any, so I did this feather stitch embroidery, which I quite like. (I basted two guidelines before I started.) It also serves as topstitching to keep the (contrasting) pocket lining from peeking out.

(Note: the pattern doesn't have pockets; I added them, which is why they were too small.)

The size 14 fit me perfectly, although I discovered halfway through that my needle had been to the right and I'd been sewing 1/2" seams the whole time! I might do that on purpose for the pants when I make them, because otherwise they might end up too small. 

Stats:

Time: 5-51/2 hours (under 4 for the shorts, the rest for the embroidery.)

Cost: $6 for the pattern on eBay, just over $3 for fabric, plus a stash zipper, interfacing, and thread.

Pattern: Simplicity 1464

Frustration: None with the actual pattern, just silly mistakes of my own!

First worn: Not yet!

I can only hope there will be another day warm enough to wear these, otherwise I'll probably just throw on some tights underneath because they're too cute to wait until next spring! 

-Madame Taylor

I made a TARDIS skirt!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Well, it's been a while! To be honest, I haven't really been making much, though. College keeps me busy! Over spring break, though, I finally made this skirt which I've been planning for over a year (I went back and found sketches of it in my notebook from probably last October) so that's good!

 It's made of cotton, with a pattern I drafted myself. The side seams are machine done but crazy me decided to spread the seams, turn them under, and hand-whip them down. I don't know what that seam finish is called but it looks nice! A lot of work though. I did the zipper by hand too because I needed to make it work easily from both sides. It's still a little awkward to zip from the plain black side, but it works! 

The TARDISes were stenciled with contact paper and acrylic paints. I put them on a separate piece of fabric so the paint wouldn't seep through, and then sewed it on. 

I'm quite satisfied with it! Hopefully, I'll be able to post some of the other things I've made soon.

-Madame T

Graduation Dress

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Several months late, I know. I'm at college now, but I thought I'd post about my high school graduation.

I made my dress which I wore under my graduation gown. Not many people got to see it but I think it'll be a good sundress for the future too.

And here is the back:

I used Simplicity 4070 for the bodice, and simply cut the skirt as rectangles. I also substituted a smocked back panel instead of a zippered one, cutting it about three inches wider. It's lined with muslin and it has pockets! Sadly I underestimated the size needed for pockets so I can't fit my hands in them but I can carry a chapstick! 

Bonus: my graduation cap. 

It's partially paint and partially fabric scraps! The girl is dressed in scraps from my prom dress. 

-Madame Taylor

18th Century Cottons

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

When making an 18th century dress (or any historical garment before the advent of synthetic fabrics) you have essentially four options: wool, silk, cotton, and linen. Of course, the most common of these today is cotton. But most cotton isn't appropriate for 18th century clothing because of the print. So what cotton prints are appropriate?

I did some research. All the gowns in this post are cotton.

First we have the most common kind of cotton print. White or cream background with some sort of floral, viney pattern.

From UK Fashion Museum

From Meg Andrews

From Historic New England

These are really the quintessential cotton gown. Some of the patterns are more dense but follow the same basic principle:

From Augusta Auctions

From LACMA

And here is another example of the floral-on-white pattern:

From MFA Boston

There are other floral prints that aren't so viney but are more spaced out. Prints like these are easier to find these days. These prints remind me of a garden tea party.

From the V&A

And there are also some ridiculously big floral splotches on white, like these two:

From LACMA

From the Met

That first one is a little ridiculous! It's like, neon fruits. Almost graphic! Also, check out the border print on the second one.

Then we have stripes. It appears that stripes, when used on cotton, were more for work dresses or for middle- to lower-class gowns. You probably wouldn't see Marie Antoinette at a ball in a cotton dress of any print.

This gown is the only cotton striped gown I could find online.

From the Philadelphia Museum of Art

It's hard to tell, but it's got tiny blue stripes all over. The pattern is: wide white stripe, narrow blue, narrow white, narrow blue, wide white, etc. The page says that it was a middle-class woman's gown.

Finally, there are some surprising prints that don't really fit into any of these categories. This is the weirdest 18th century dress I have ever seen.

The print looks way more 1840s-1860s to me than 1780s! Here is a close-up of the fabric;

Weird. But it's comforting because I can so see this being in a store today. These are from the V&A.

So, you ask, where can I actually get a moderately accurate looking fabric to make a cotton gown out of? There are online stores that specialize in that sort of thing.

-Time Travel Textiles

-Burnley and Trowbridge

-Wm. Booth

-Reproduction Fabrics

I haven't personally ordered from any of these so I can't really tell you which are good.

Some other articles on the topic:

-Fabrics for 18th Century Costumes at La Couturiere Parisienne

(She has fabulous articles on everything 18th C.)

-18th Century Printed Cotton Fabrics at Demode