FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Lady Aragorn
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
Entry inspired by Aragorn, from The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien. My best friend and I, before Christmas break, wanted to have a sleepover where we’d do a Lord of the Rings marathon. Because we ended up not having enough time, we decided to put it off until summer break, but we also wanted to prepare some sort of costume before then. For me, this competition was the perfect excuse to make a full outfit. Plus, I’d be ready for the sleepover.
Aragorn is one of my favorite characters from the book series, so I decided to make his costume, but more feminine. I really like 18th-century clothing, so I thought I’d add that twist to the costume. Thus, I made a petticoat for the feminization, a men’s shirt because the original character is a man, and the cloak since Aragorn has one. The style of the costume is relatively simple since no one in their right mind would go traipsing in the dirt with finery. The clothing must be practical. The nice thing about the cloak is that it's a multi-use portable blanket, and I like that.
I wanted to keep a neutral color scheme since Aragorn, a Ranger, is in the woods a lot and wants to keep a low profile. I ended up using white, beige, and brown.
Outline the construction…
The petticoat and shirt are both completely handsewn. The cloak is mostly machine sewn - the seams, neck edge, and hood - and the rest is done by hand. For the hand-sewing bit, I did my best to use historical techniques: flat felling seams, back stitches, running stitches, and stroked gathers.
The petticoat is a medium-weight linen blend; the shirt is lightweight linen; and the cloak is worsted wool. It was my first time working with wool, and I enjoyed it. I liked that it’s springy and very forgiving to work with.
When I was stuck, I consulted 18th century costuming Facebook groups, my 18th-century sewing book, Bernadette Banner’s video on making a “pirate shirt,” and the Metropolitan Museum’s online archives. Figuring out the gathers on the back of the hood of the cloak was mind-boggling until I saw a picture from the Met.
Some other challenges I overcame were estimating how much I could get done in a certain amount of time, and making sense of the cloak construction directions. I tend to underestimate the amount of time I need to complete a sewing project, and then I’m left in a time crunch, especially if all I have left to do is a lot of hand-sewing. Furthermore, I had never worked with the cloak pattern I used, so trying to understand it took a little brainpower. The instructions came with a pattern diagram, so I ended up drafting the pieces onto paper to help me.
That looks ridiculously comfy and extremely accurate to the character
It is absolutely amazing! Very impressive that you hand sewed so much!
This is incredibly appealing to me… Love everything honestly but this style of shirt and cloaks are my greatest weaknesses
Love the natural look of it all, and your stitching is very neat and delicate! Great job♡
I love this!
Perfect gathers. Muah!
Great outfit! I can totally see a lady Aragorn wearing this! The details of the shirt look gorgeous and the cloak is beautiful, I can definitely see it working as a wearable blanket too, it looks so warm and comfortable! Well done!