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Historical Hobbit
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Outline the story …
I chose to make my Historical Hobbit costume based off of Rosie Cotton in the Lord of the Rings books. With Rosie being the prominent female hobbit character, I knew I wanted to chose her as my inspiration because Lord of the Rings was a lifeline for me during the darkest time of my life, and has always been some of my favourite books. I love how the outfits the hobbits wear are depicted with historical correlation, which is why I chose my main piece of the project to be the 18th century stays for a historical twist.
In the first book Tolkien describes the favourite colours to be yellow and green, and since yellow is my favourite colour as well it felt perfect to use the gorgeous yellow fabric for the stays. Another influence for my choice of fabric is Rosie's name, so the adorable floral print is the perfect homage to Rosie Cotton. Overall I feel like the outfit came together perfectly, and it really channeled my inner hobbit with the personal historical twist!
Outline the construction…
My materials were all chosen with sustainability (and tight budget) in mind, so I thrifted as much material as I could. My skirt was made out of a thrifted curtain and was actually the first sewing project that I ever did.
I made the skirt many months ago and since I had never constructed a garment before in my life, I used as many of the already finished edges as possible to limit the amount of work. Although it is not of the best construction, I wanted to use it for this competition to show my growth over the past few months by comparing the skirt to my stays, them being my first and last sewing projects I have completed.
The apron and lining of the stays are both made from a cotton bedsheet that I thrifted, and it was so beautiful I didn't want to cut it. It has the most gorgeous stitching along the edges, so I tried my best to incorporate those into my apron which you can see in the green at the bottom.
My biggest challenge with this was that I was not expecting my yellow fabric to be stretchy, thin polyester when I bought it online, and struggled to work with the material that was so slippery and non compliant. Since I wanted to stick to natural fibres, it was not what I was hoping but ultimately loved the pattern and colour so much I knew I would never find anything I loved more.
Tolkein would be so impressed! This is really stunning. Exactly the picture of the idyllic countryside life that he always dreamt of getting back to. Im so inspired!!
LotR has been my lifeline in some dark times too. The contrast of the stays fabric with its edging really draws the eye to that lovely lovely fabric!
Ooo pretty outfit and pretty stays! And I love that you personalized it and made it a bit of a journey in your own sewing. I liked that part of your story a lot.
Yesss – fellow hobbit! Your stays are gorgeous and I never would have been able to tell that the material you used had some stretch. Thats a struggle that paid off. Great job! You look awesome!
I want a Hobbit outfit now. I love this the fit is really nice.
This is fantastic! I love the colour combination, it’s so beautiful!
Props for the thriftiness, and efficient, upcycled curtain skirt and apron. Great fabric choice for that skirt- lovely! The stays look well made. You overcame your challenge with the fabric very nicely. Very pretty work!
Oh, this is simple yet beautiful! Thank you so much!
You made a gorgeous outfit for Rosie Cotton! I love how you took inspiration from her name when choosing the fabric for the stays, and you handled the challenge of the polyester fabric really well, it’s a lot harder to work with than natural fibers (in my opinion) but you managed it beautifully! Well done!
Beautiful and fun! I love it!