Eilonwy- Travel dress, The High King

Hello! Today I am featuring another dress for Eilonwy. Be prepared, there are quite a few to come! Eilonwy is one of my favorite book heroines, and one of my dreams is to play her in a film version of Prydain:) Did I mention I love acting as well as designing?

Sorry the photos are rather poor- I don't have a scanner. I know a woman who will let me use hers- the problem is actually getting around to it. Well...

This dress is one of the few Prydain costumes I've designed without a specific sewing pattern in mind to make it by. And, I must say, this is one of my very favorite designs:) 
It is, I think, somewhat 14th century in style. I'm going by Dovers Medieval fashion coloring book by Tom Tierny to get that estimate. However, as Prydain is a fantasy realm, it gives you so much more liberty to mix eras. Generally for Prydain I try to keep the designs earlier in origin- 10-12th century. But this dress is one she has brought home from Mona, so I think its slightly later design fitting. Enough rambling- the Specifics!

The underdress is ivory muslin or linen, slightly gathered, peasant style, but with out the fullness. The over dress is a mustard-y, ochre kind of color. As for type of material... I'm not sure:/ I picture it soft, almost velvety, but sturdy, as it's a travel dress. Suggestions?? I'll keep thinking and update this post when I decide! The style is a fairly straightforward, closefitting, long dress. One of my favorite features is the lacing up the sides. Brown leather cording is used for this.  Where the lacing ends at the hip, there is a panel in the skirt to make it fuller. The neckline and sleeves are trimmed with brown. The lacing at the neck is also brown leather cording. She has a brown leather belt with a metal cap at the end and a simple buckle. It could be long or short- as you can see, my drawings vary. Her shoes are soft leather chukka style boots. Her cloak, seen in the topmost picture, is greens, gray, ochre and brown.I have a scrap of upholstery fabric that I picture it in... someday I may add it here. Her hair is braided- in a few of the pictures it is two braids, but I decided on one, more intricate braid. It's not in the pictures, but she would, as always, have her crescent necklace and fair folk ring.

Eilonwy wears this when she and the Companions are traveling in the begining of The High King. She may wear it in the battle too.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about this design! As always, comments and constructive criticism is welcome!

~The Damsel~

Queen Teleria, #1-Greeting Party-Castle of Llyr

Hello! Here in Maine, we finally have SNOW! Promptly on the 1st of Dec. Very obliging:)

Today I am doing a gown I designed for Queen Teleria from The Castle of Llyr. Click the picture to learn more about her!

This is the first dress she wears in the book, when she comes out to greet the arrivals from Caer Dallben. In the book, she is described as plump, with straw-colored hair, and wearing fluttering white garments. So, I gave her a empire-waisted gown, with a plunging v-neck and panel in the front. It has elbow-length sleeves, with sheer pendant-type sleeves that attach at the wrist. The upper sleeve is decorated with gold trim around the edge of the upper sleeve and up the arm to the shoulder. The neckline is decorated with the same gold trim. Over the ample skirt is a sheer over-skirt. The bodice is or a patterned or brocade white silk, and the upper-sleeves and under-skirt are plain white silk. The lower sleeves and over-skirt are of white chiffon or similar fabric. Her hair is in two plaits bound with ribbon-the same as the trim. For jewelry, she has a gold crown/circlet set with jewels, a heavy doubled chain necklace with a jewel pendant, and a large ring.

I am really sorry about the poor quality of the photos; I hope to be able to upload better ones:)

I hope you've enjoyed this post! As always, comment with questions, suggestions or constructive criticism!

~The Damsel~

Princess Eilonwy, #1- Return to Caer Dallben- The High King

Ok, so the pictures are backwards... Well, you can probably live with it. I can, so you'll have to!:)

This is a dress I designed for Eilonwy from The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander(he's an awesome author, by the way). She wears it when she returns to Caer Dallben in The High King. The topmost picture is the sketch I then transferred and painted(picture 2). The 3rd picture is just another painting of the same. The belt in the last picture is incorrect with the finalized design(picture 2).

Picture #2 reads:

The dress is white, both in accordance with the books, which mention Eilonwy wearing white, and o show the change in Eilonwy since The Book of Three. When Taran first met her, she was wearing a simple tunic of white; now returning as a young lady her dress is again white silk- but now in an elegant rich style.
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Now, for specifics-The over dress is white silk, the underskirt, belt, and trim is deep blue silk with gold and red embroidery. She wears, as always her crescent moon necklace, & her fair folk ring. She has a (uncomfortable:) gold circlet on her hair, red stockings and T-strap leather shoes. There is gold cord laced at the neck and on her belt, which has metal caps at the end. On the end of the cording on her belt are two red beads.

I hope you've enjoyed reading. My inspiration for this design came from Butterick Pattern B4827
 and Lloyd Alexanders The Chronicles of Prydain.

~The Damsel