Some Old Costumes

Well, in going through my pictures of past costumes, most of them end up disappointing me. While I was quite delighted with them at the time, they're well below the level of fitting, finishing, and embellishing that I would insist on today. Which of course is fine -- we are talking about patterns I made 10 or more years ago. So rather than giving them each their own post, I'll lump a couple together at a time.

I called the first one here my Evenstar dress. Now, I believe I conceptualized this costume well before the Lord of the Rings movies came out (I was always a huge Tolkien fan) so I'm a little amused at some of the similarities in styles compared to the costumes for Arwen Evenstar in the movie. (I should note that I've since created another Evenstar dress, specifically based on the movie costumes, but I'll give that one its own post. I need to get some proper pictures of it anyway.)

Anyway, the dress was basically me just following the McCall's pattern 3010 (making it a whole size smaller, because good lord, McCalls patterns were huge at the time. Maybe they still are, but I no longer use them at all because of too many bad fitting experiences when I was younger).


A very melodramatic looking dress. I think, if I recall properly, I ended up finding a $3 lining that happened to be a satin, and a $2 clearance-section sheer drapery, so my fabric costs were probably something like $15 altogether. (And really, you can tell. The "satin" is obviously thin in the photos.)


Looking at it now, I think I deliberately shortened the waistline to make it a true empire waist rather than the longer waistline in the pattern. That would have been the extent of my fitting skills at the time, anyway.


You'll have to pretend there isn't a chain-link fence in the back of that photo. I was trying to be dramatic.

I did make an attempt at a bit of embellishment -- there are three marquise-shaped jewels at the center front under the bodice. I recall being quite pleased with that little addition at the time.

My next exhibit is made from Simplicity pattern 8623:


and it is a fine example of a dress that needs a crinoline to look good in any way. It's reasonably graceful looking, if you're kneeling down in a rose garden:


But as soon as you stand up...


All you really notice in the picture is the lack of a crinoline! (And I'm not sure how I ever ignored the horizontal wrinkling. The dress is big enough to go on without a zipper and just laces up at the sides to gather in the excess. The wrinkling is pretty much inevitable.)

It's okay, though, because as long as you pose the photo with the sunset aimed at just the right angle to overexpose much of the dress, it looks excellent!