FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Damsel’s Dragon
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Other Credits
Photographer: Michelle Lundquist
Outline the story …
The outfit I chose to construct is for the main character in the book "Damsel" by Elana K. Arnold. The main character is a dragon who is forcibly turned into a female human in order to marry a prince. At the end of the book the female exacts her revenge by killing the prince, eating his heart, and transforming back into her original Opaline dragon form. This outfit reflects her at the point of transformation. She still retains some of her human form through the bustle skirt and human top, but her outfit begins to have scales and reflects her home.
The beginning of the story shows the dragon in her cave with mountains of gems. “…the gem towers were not random, mercenary stacks thrown together without regard for aesthetics. They were carefully constructed dances of color, shape and light, and each of them told a story, called forth an emotion.” This was the main inspiration for the back of the skirt. I wanted to reflect the mountains of gems in her home by using gem toned scales to depict a flowering vine. It was a nice contrast to her opaline form and brought memories of her home.
Outline the construction…
To create the bustle shape I used Truly Victorian pattern TV101 bustle. The skirt itself was made using Truly Victorian TV261-R underskirt, but modified. I didn’t need all of the fullness it provided at the top of the skirt. I draped it over the bustle and added darts to remove the excess fabric.
I created countless scales by cutting out a scale shape, stitching two together, flipping it inside out, and serging the edge. Since the dragon is opaline in color, I used mainly white and off-white fabric with a splash of 7 other colors, excluding the four gem tone colors for the “sculpture” in the back. I marked the skirt with lines approximately one half inch apart and stitched the scales in rows. I left the front scales a bit more spread apart to retain the “transforming from the bottom up” feel. The front of the skirt is a single piece of fabric hand smocked from smaller to larger. I never smocked before and it took quite a bit of time, but I enjoyed the look and it reminded me of a dragons underbelly.
In my mind dragons don’t have female chests. To accommodate, I made Georgian stays from Redthreaded’s Georgian stays pattern to give me a conical shape and flatten the chest area. It was also a nice play on both human clothing and dragon shape. I ran out of metal boning so I improvised by using zip ties as recommended online.
I adore the textures you created by manipulating the fabrics for the scales and the belly. Wonderful
Wow! This is amazing! Really beautifully done!
Love the colours!
I’m a simple girl, you show me a dragon inspired, shifting scale, empowerement dress and I swoon. I love the details between the appearing simple white on the front with subtle changes in tones and the bright colours in the back !
Wow! This is a jaw-dropping display of exquisite work! The detail of patterns in the scales, arrangement, the translation of the story into the dress- so amazing! The care you took to lay out the design is so clear. Also, yay for zip-ties to the rescue! A truly inspiring work of art that I hope you’ll wear to your next special event!
I love this, wow! As huge dragon fan myself I can totally see the transformation from human to dragon. Chapeau!
This is so beautiful!
I love the whimsey and interpretation of the outfit. You transform beautifully.
This is a really creative rendition of your character. You have done a beautiful job of the construction. I love the bits of jewels.
THIS IS SO COOL!!! I can tell how much dedication and creativity went into this – it surely paid off! I love how you translated the imagery from the story into the garment, too. Fantastic work!
That is so cool and now I want to read the book! What an amazing dress!
So. Much. work. Amazing !
Wow, amazing job!!
This is fantastic, well done!!!!
This is brilliant! From concept to completion, I love it. The smocking, the iridescent quality of the scales, the way the scales almost “ripple”… it’s really effective.
You have breathed a beautiful fire into my heart. I cannot even comprehend how many hours those glorious scales took to create. Bravo!
Wow this looks amazing. It must have taken you forever to make all those scales, very impressive!
This looks amazing! It sounds like so much work, but it was totally worth it!
Fantastic job! I’m not familiar with the story but you did well at bringing it to life in your work!