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Arwen
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
jewellery: Catherine Martin
Outline the story …
When the theme was announced, I immediately thought of my favourite book, "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, which I read about once every other year. My dress is for the character of Arwen Undómiel, who marries the newly crowned king when the main adventure of the book is over.
Here I am imagining her as queen, living in Minas Tirith. We know from the book that she prefers a simple dress and I have therefore kept the decoration fairly unobtrusive. I would like to think that in her home of stone, she would surround herself with images of nature wherever possible, including on her garments.
Rather than going for the usual vaguely medieval long sleeved style often found in fantasy images, I took inspiration from the artistic reform dresses and art nouveau decorative arts from the turn of the 20th century, to create a light and unrestricted dress that she might be comfortable in at leisure on a warm spring day.
Outline the construction…
For the pattern I combined a princess style with dolman sleeves to achieve the flowing unrestricted style of the artistic dress with a more feminine, less angular, line. The material is a cream coloured chiffon with a chartreuse cupro lining and piping.
Some months ago I purchased a tambour hook on a whim and was therefore happy to have an opportunity to try this new technique on a project, using rayon embroidery thread with glass beads and sequins. Unfortunately, the fabric in my stash that I had earmarked for this project turned out to be unsuitable for any kind of embroidery and I had to find something else at the last minute, losing about two weeks that I had counted on thanks to the current lockdown and backlogs at the shops after Christmas. I improvised an embroidery frame that could take the whole width of the fabric and embroidered each panel separately, which then required careful matching when sewing everything together.
It also took me a while to figure out a suitable finish for the seam allowances of the centre side seams in this sheer fabric - not something I would normally work with. The front and back panels were assembled separately and edged with piping, then hand sewn together at the shoulders and along the top of the sleeves in intervals, giving a slashed effect. The hem is also edged with piping.
This is so ethereal, and the embroidery is so delicate and beautiful!
Thank you, I wondered if anyone would actually notice my creation among (expected) much flashier pieces 🙂
The details on the sleeves are absolutely gorgeous!
Thanks! This was actually a last minute decision, when I saw that my original design (alternating half circles across the top) would have distracted from the embroidery.
A lovely design and interpretation of character! The embroidery is beautiful.
Thank you, I really appreciate that!
what a pretty sleeve! this armen is a vision of spring! good luck from icarus!
Arwen is one of my favorite characters, and you really captured her natural grace and elegance. The embroidery also feels so organically elven!
Thank you! I‘ve always felt that Tolkien‘s elves and Art Nouveau go hand in hand.
I particularly love the stunning view from the back!
Thanks. I made sure the embroidery would not be covered by my hair (which saved me some work on this rather large task).
Wow! What a dress!
Many thanks!
I love the simplicity of the shape with the lovely embroidered details, it’s very elegant! Well done.
So lovely and elegant!
Fantastic job! I love your concept to use an art nouveau gown for a character like this, and you’ve done a great job bringing it to life!
I can envision your character wearing this. When I saw your title, I wondered if it was Hobbit related…I am not disappointed at all. I love the simplistic embroidery – although I don’t imagine it was easy matching placements. Great job!
It’s an elegant piece. I love the floaty quality of the fabric and the delicate embroidery.
I loved that flowing embroidery up the back and the detail shaping on the sleeves – especially the end bead. Also, the art nouveau is a brilliant flip from the medieval and totally works.
I love this so much, it is exquisite and truly elegant! Lord of the Rings was my favourite series growing up (I definitely wanted to live in Rivendell!) and Arwen was probably my favourite character too. I adore the art nouveau style and this interpretation of her is just gorgeous, the embroidery is beautiful and I love how you incorporated the floral imagery, so characteristic of art nouveau, into the design. I feel like it is a style is perfectly suited for the elves!