My Anna costume

Hello everyone!! Today I am sharing a simple costume I wore to a Frozen themed birthday party last night! (It was super fun by the way!) It is a very simple one, and not based on one particular outfit she wears, but I am extremely happy with it! In fact I may wear it somewhere else just for fun! My mom again did the sewing... I am not very good sewist:( Yet:) Anyways, here is a sketch I did of the whole thing.

This shows how we put the ribbon on. It would be east to customize the shape and location of the ribbon if you were making one! Or even to tack on some "rosmaling"- applique:)

And here is a picture of the costume. (Sorry about the face, but for the present, I prefer privacy in that area! Thanks for understanding!) And if you notice the white streak... I bobby pinned some yarn up near my scalp and hid it under my hair and then just braided it in! I thought it a nice little touch:)

And one last picture! I hope you enjoy, and maybe this will be helpful if you decide to make your own! I hope to someday make more involved versions of costumes fr/Frozen. In the near future I hope to make over a old prom dress from the thrift store into Elsa's Let it Go gown. If I do, I shall share it on here!!

And while we are on the Frozen theme, check out this blog by a artist who contributed immensely to that film: Brittany Lee. As always, I don't take responsibility for all content, only the frozen related pages. But I enjoyed her post on the costuming very very much! Concept/Character design is a feild I am interested in, and Brittany Lee's art is a huge inspiration!
Here is the link!
http://britsketch.blogspot.com/2014/02/frozen-costume-design.html

Have a great day/week/month/however long before I post again:) I'm horrible I know:)
The Damsel

Viking Woman costume

Hello everyone! I am so sorry I haven't posted. I haven't really had anything pressing to post, although I have a few other costume designs that still need to be done... they'll come in time.

Anyhow, today I thought I'd give you something that is actually a fabricated costume!! I did not actually make it- that is, not on my own. My mom did, but I helped. It is a Viking Costume I wore for a little costume party a few years back. I was technically Leif Erickson's mother. It is, perhaps, not entirely authentic, but it is close enough, I think. It wasn't meant to be a historic replica or anything! 

So here it is. I think it looks pretty good! Sometime I'll put some pictures of me wearing it on here.

How we made it-
Underdress- was a simple, green tunic-style dress I wore while playing Mary in a Christmas program-around 5 years ago, I think!  It was a little big, so we took it in little, and gave it a keyhole neckline with trim. You could make something similar by laying on a piece of fabric and tracing around.

Overdress/Apron- two rectangles of fabric, with strips of the same for shoulder straps.

Brooches- two wooden pendants that were in the clearance bin at A.C. Moore, for a dollar, if I remember right. I had some metal ones too, that really would have been more authentic, but I just really liked these! They aren't actually brooches, they are stitched on, not pinned. Then I loosely stiched in some jewelry that I thought looked pretty authentic- glass and clay beads and a chain- in between the two 'brooches'. I wore it with a leather belt.

So there you have it! Is it totally authentic? No. Does it look like it could be? Yes! And thats all I really wanted at the time! As far as what it would take to authenticate it-

Fabric- esp. the overdress, which is some sort of synthetic stuff. It feels nice! It is what we had on hand. The underdress, as I recall, is muslin. I would think that is pretty authentic? Linen and wool would probably really be what to use. And the sleeves aren't really the right shape. Too wide, and short.And the brooches really should have been oval and metal. But overall, It has the basics of a Viking Woman's costume. It would be very simple to make even with the tweaks noted above! I hope you enjoyed this, and maybe find it useful if you ever decide to make your own! Do some research and customize!

And while we're on the subject of Vikings-
http://www.lwjbooks.com/books/viking-quest-series/

I highly highly highly recommend the Viking Quest series by Lois Walfrid Johnson! I won't do a full review because I am out of time, and there is a synopsis of each book at the above website. Also, check out my various pinterest boards about them! And if you are are already a fan, let me know, because I would love for you to become a part of our slowly growing fan'club'-actually just a pinterest board-for now!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day!
~The Damsel

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~

A lovely website!

Hello! I apologize, it's been several days since I last posted... been a bit busy.

I decided to tell you about a lovely webpage, instead of giving you a costume.

dolldivine.com !

Obviously I take no responsibility for this site, but so far I have encountered no problems with it!
It is virtual paper doll dress-up, at a whole new level! Some of the games featured here are simple, typical ones BUT-

Enter Hobbit and LOTR doll maker! It is one of the most fun things ever(that's pretty big:)! It has an incredible amount of options and customizeability- Ok not a word but I'm blanking on the word I want:)- and I've found it a great tool for costume design and also a lot of fun:) There are several other beautiful games as well- the Erte elegance is another personal favorite!

I hope you take time to check it out, if you love costume/fashion design and/or fantasy/medieval fashion. Or any other era, because there is a game for almost every one, including the present!
Here is a scene I made on this site, using The Hobbit/LOTR scene maker, linked above.

Aren't they lovely?

Again, I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY for this site or offshoots of it, BUT they say they are devoted to making a safe fun environment for all ages, and I have found this true!  Naturally the dolls are in their undergarments to start of, but that, to me, is to be expected! I hope you find this helpful and fun!
Until next time!

By the way, I may do an article on Norwegian Folk costume soon, in honour of Frozen. No promises, but...;)

~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