Sansa Stark Direwolf Dress: The Dress

I had a week-long holiday and decided to work on a few sewing projects: a backpack, and Sansa's direwolf dress from Season 6 of "Game of Thrones". I love this costume, partly because it is beautiful yet deceptively simple, and partly because of how it shows Sansa's character development. 

I happened to have a wig from The Five Wits that was ideal for this costume (http://www.thefivewitswigs.com/shop/wigs/lady-winter-sad-stark/), and a pattern that would work well for the base dress (McCall's M4491). 

I found a stretch velvet in the costume section. It isn't accurate: it's more dark green than teal, and has a subtle scale print. But I liked the colour and it was affordable. I bought 5 metres for about Euro 25.90. Side note, apologies for the photo quality. I used my phone, and the lighting wasn't very good. 

I started by laying out the material and cutting out all of the pieces. I altered the back piece to have a train. I ironed interfacing on to the seams to make it easier to sew, and sewed the front-side and back-side seams, leaving the side seams open. I finished the neckline using elastic because initially I wanted to pull the dress on over my head (though now I think I'll add a zip).

Next I started making the bib. I patterned it by drawing the shape of the front piece, then using the McCall pattern to make straps that go under my arms. In hindsight, I think the bib might have looked a little better if it were slightly longer. The bib has a zip in the back, but honestly the zip looks really ugly. I'd prefer to add a seam to the back of the dress, tack the seams of the bib to it, and add a zip to close both of them. For now I think my plait will hide the zip.

You can see that the zip is uneven here. Urgh. Not my best sewing :(  

 I had a basic sleeve pattern for the upper sleeve. I drafted the lower sleeve using this blog post as a guide  https://adamselindisdress.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/12th-century-dress-the-bliaut/ 

I sewed on the sleeves, and sewed up the side seams (I added a hidden side pocket on one side). I had just enough time to hem the sleeves by hand. The dress still needs hemming, but I think I'll need someone to help me with that. I found the fur scarf in a thrift shop. I need to open up the scarf and sew the sides to mimic Sansa's fox fur. 

Old versus new: Khaleesi Daenerys vs Astapor Daenerys

My first Daenerys costume was well constructed, even if I didn't have the correct leggings, and my wig wasn't the right colour. In hindsight, platinum blonde looks so much nicer than white for this costume.

I also managed to get much nicer photos of my costume this time around. I didn't have the problem of my hair peeking out from under the wig, because I didn't braid the fringe (also, my hair is significantly shorte0.

 Getting better shoes also helped. Those Uggs just didn't look right. I'm still very pleased iwth the construction of the top and skirt of the Khaleesi costume.

Daenerys Season 3 Blue Dress Part 2

Once the mockup was done, I cut out the lining pieces from a linen-type of material, then pinned them over a dress form to see what they looked like. I borrowed this form from my mum, and it was vital for this project. I then cut out the pieces from the shiny blue material (some polyester material, as I found it in the furnishing section). 

I overlocked all the pieces together, except for the back. This was because I wanted to make the back circle very smooth so there would be no raw edges. I used Addie Marie's tutorial and it worked brilliantly.

The next step was adding the decorative stitches on the dress skirt. In the photos they look like running stitches, but it was hard to be certain. I used a longer stitch on my sewing machine and sewed many straight lines in a darker blue thread. This technique also had the benefit of firmly attaching the lining and outer layer together, and creating a nice texture. Pippa cat helped by looking pretty.

 I then covered the hem with bias tape, and also turned over the top edge of the skirt pieces and sewed it down. One skirt piece is attached to the bodice, and the other is completely separate, and is held round my waist with snaps. 

 The next step was sewing the darts. The darts I initially drafted were not accurate, so instead I pinched the darts and pinned them until they looked right, then basted and sewed them. There are no darts in the back, only in the front.

 Once the main dress was finished, I had to make the cross over straps in the front. This meant a lot of smocking. It took about 2 or 3 days to finish all the smocking just for these pieces. I followed Michelle Carragher's tutorial, and it worked beautifully
http://www.michelecarragherembroidery.com/How-to-create-dragonscale(2880143).htm

I cut out 4 cross over pieces. I added interfacing to 2 of them, but I didn't need to, as the smocking makes the fabric stiffer. I hand-sewed the smocking to the non interfaced pieces, then faced them right sides together with the interfaced pieces, sewed, and turned them right sides out. I actually advise not adding smocking near the seam allowance, as this is bulky and it will be difficult to close if you use an invisible zip.

My cats "helped".

I then added the sleeves. They stick out  bit too much and are a little too stuff, but look quite nice.

I made two versions of Daenerys' dragon claw necklace. One was made from a random pendant I had. I painted the top with gold acrylic, then blended the gold into the black.

 The other was made from a shell. I painted it, and filled the middle hollow with hot glue and pushed a loop of cord into the glue. This is quite fragile and a bit too small, but still looks good.

Daenerys Season 3 Blue Dress: Part 1

I've wanted to make this dress for quite a while. Daenerys is one of my favourtie characters from both "A Song of Ice and Fire" and "Game of Thrones" (even if both occasionally grate at me. Like the awkward awful dialogue written for Tyene in Season 5. Or the stupid change to Dany and Drogo's wedding night. Urgh). 

The costume is beautiful but also practical and modest. 

 It looks simple but is actually quite detailed and complicated. Dany has many costumes featuring dragonscale smocking, which is beautifully explained here http://michellephan.com/new-tutorial-daenerys-from-game-of-thrones/ 
This dress also has some beadwork and a net applique decoration.

Trousers

 I started with this pair of linen trousers. They were much too big, so I knew would have to remake them

 Firstly I removed the beads and embroidery until I was left with a plain pair of linen trousers.

 I took the trousers apart and cut out a new pattern, using a Burdastyle pattern.

 I'm pleased with these trousers. They have a lapped zip and front pockets

The Dress  

I wish I'd had a pattern to use. I tried to make my own pattern by altering an existing one, and it didn't work as well as I thought it would. Simplicty and McCalls both have useful patterns; Simplicity has a pattern which is almost a replica of Dany's gown (Pattern 1246). Andrea Schewe, the pattern designer, wrote about it http://www.andreaschewedesign.com/blog/all-about-pattern-1246-tv-fantasy 

It took a while to get the pattern to look exactly how I wanted it too, and my lack of expertise shows in the finished dress

Daenerys Targaryen

Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.

So Game of Thrones is back and Daenerys is still awesome. I like A Song of Ice and Fire; I finished all the books up to Dance of Dragons. At the rate the TV series is going, we'll probably see Season 6 before we get book six. 

Regardless of the media, Daenerys is one of my favourite characters (along with Arya, Sansa, Tyrion, Brienne, and DAVOS ). The series did make some changes with her character that I didn't like (why pray tell, change her wedding night scene with Khal Drogo from how it was in the book? WHY? Whine whine), but I think Emilia Clarke is superb in her role. 

And the costumes. Oh wow, the costumes. Daenerys gets some of the best (though Sansa's black dress and wedding dress are damn stunning). My favourites are her Season 3 and 4 "dragon" dresses, which all have a dragon-like scale texture, created with smocking, beading, and embroidery. 

For more information, I recommend looking at Michelle Carragher's website http://www.michelecarragherembroidery.com/Game-of-Thrones-Gallery%282829575%29.htm

I love all of these costumes, and would love to replicate them. I have a few metres of a white silky material, which sadly seems to be synthetic. I will test it to see if it can be dyed. If not, it might work for one of these pleated underskirts, though I found some promising pleated material in a local shop.

I'm thinking of using a material called India Cloth for the blue parts of the dress, as it has a slight sheen to it. I also found it in just the right colour for Dany's first dress.

I really like this midriff baring one, but not sure if I am confident enough for it. Still, I keep meaning to get fitter, so maybe this should be my incentive.

I have no idea what the material here is; some kind of amazing cutwork stuff with beading on the shoulders, as far as I can tell. I sort of want to make all these outfits, but be lazy and make only one pleated skirt and use it for the two long blue dresses (the white midriff outfit would need it's own skirt, because there's a little v-shape cut into the front of the skirt).

Theories about making the pleated skirt:

Daenerys often wears pleated skirts like this one. As far as I can tell, these are sunray or sunburst pleats, which look like this:

This would be very difficult to do at home. I did some reading, and you need a pleating board to make these pleats. Due to the length of the skirt, the board has to be absolutely enormous. It would be a big hassle to make at home. Theoretically I could create a pleating board from card, but it would be very tedious due to the circular shape. 

There are companies that will pleat for you, but that would be a little expensive for me, mostly because of shipping costs. There are a few cosplayers who have used pleating services and gotten lovely results, such as stephwallsz 

One idea I had for the skirt is to save myself time, hassle and money by buying a pleated maxi skirt, like the ones below. 

This might not be so good if you are tall, as most of these skirts aren't even a metre long. I need at least a metre of material to reach from my waist to the ground.

If you are willing to sacrifice a bit of accuracy, you can buy pre-pleated material and make a gathered skirt instead.

Walkthrough: Daenerys Targaryen

Medieval Mdina happened this weekend, and I (typically) decided to go at the very last minute on Friday evening. And then I decided to also go in costume. But what costume? I've sold Merida, the only really Medieval costume I had, so what could I make in 24 hours?

And then I remembered:

I have had most of the materials to make Daenerys' costume since January. The only thing I didn't have was a pair of good boots, but Uggs would just have to do. didn't have the leggings either - oh well. So I spent Saturday sewing like crazy to create this costume:

Not bad for a day's work/ The wig was already styled, which saved me some time. I used a video tutorial from Threadbanger:

I highly recommend this video if you want to sew Daenerys' Dothraki clothing. I did make a few changes: I tended to sew instead of using hot glue, and I added bra cups to the inside of the top, to give it padding and structure. I put an old bra on the dress form, and put the crop top over it, then pinned the bra and top together. Once I got them positioned correctly, I sewed the bra to the top by hand, though I think hot glue would have been faster.

My dress form: not the prettiest, but very useful. The top is just a square of material, folded in half to make a triangle. It knots closed at the back, and there a plaited trim/neck tie and a gathered sweetheart neckline. I did a little bit of distressing, which just involved making little cuts with my scissors and pulling at the loose threads. 

I didn't take many progress pictures because I was working flat out. The skirt, loin cloth and over skirt (or whatever the lighter coloured piece round the waist is) are made exactly the way they are in the video. The material looks great, even if the colour isn't quite perfect. 

I think the wig needs work though. It was very hard to hide my hair under the wig, and dark hairs kept peeking out. There has to be a way of hiding them! I had to plait sections of the fringe, which may be a reason why some of the hair at the front is visible. Thee was also visible hair near the ears. I was thinking of using this wig for Elsa, but I might have to reconsider, or at least alter the wig significantly.

 And then it was off to Medieval Mdina! And I scored in terms of photos, because the Herpetological Society had a tent there, and were showing off their great collection of snakes, lizards and one red-kneed tarantula. I actually got to hold a Bearded Dragon: Mother of Dragons for the win!

There was also this gorgeous yellow-morph Burmese Python; she weighed about 7 kilos, but was very pleasant to hold. Snakes feels gorgeous: mostly smooth and sleek, with slight bumpiness when the scales are, and surprisingly soft. The Herpetological Society were all very friendly and helpful, and let me hold a lot of animals (3 or 4 different snakes, the bearded dragon, and a red-kneed tarantula) and answered my million and one questions. If you're in Malta and come across one of their events, I recommend saying hello-you may just get to have a 7 kilo python round your neck. 

This was a very lucky photograph. There were two mounted re-enactors, and they let me take a photograph with this Lipizzaner (I think that's the breed. The spell-check doesn't think this is a real word, and is suggested 'Pizzeria'-weird). They also had a stunning Friesian that I very much wanted to take home and keep in the garden.