FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Enter Inkworld
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
Meggie is a character in the book trilogy Inkheart by Cornelia Funke; which includes Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath. In Inkheart, Meggie is introduced as a twelve year old girl in a nonspecific modern world living in Europe with her book binder father, Mo. Mo, and later Meggie, has the unique talent to read things out of books and into the real world. Years before the events of Inkheart, Mo reads three characters (Dustfinger, Basta, and Capricorn) out of the book within the book, Inkheart, referred to as the Inkworld. Meggie’s mother, Resa, is transported to the Inkworld to take their place and is trapped within the book. Throughout Inkheart, Mo and Meggie are tangled up in the story that was brought into their world. By the end of Inkheart, Meggie is reunited with her mother and the story is saved. But Meggie can’t stop thinking of the Inkworld, especially when Resa tells her stories about her time there. At the beginning of Inkspell, Meggie reads herself into the Inkworld. Inkworld is a magical Medieval world with Fire-eaters, warring kingdoms controlled by crazy Princes, fairies, and giants. I took the loosely Medieval world as direct inspiration for the dress I made with some specific color details from the book. While telling Meggie about the Inkworld, Resa makes Meggie a simple red dress, so my dress is red to match. Meggie always carries a notebook that Mo bound for her in blue linen, so I added tiny light blue details.
Outline the construction…
My competition entry is a Medieval kirtle based on Meggie. I drafted the pattern based on Morgan Donner’s video and did about three different mock ups. I think I watched 50 different videos on drafting and constructing kirtles during the process. I did not use a commercial pattern for this project because I really enjoy the mathematical puzzle of drafting. I used two thrifted bed sheets for my fabric. I hand basted and flatlined the pieces together before sewing the long straight seams on my sewing machine. I hand sewed the tops of all four gores into the dress with a back stitch. I also back stitched the sleeves in place. I felled down all of the seams and whip stitched the neckline and sleeve cuffs. Felling down the seams took over 20 hours crammed into four days. I used a small awl then a knitting needle to open up the fabric to sew eyelets. I have 18 eyelets on each side of the front opening, off set from each other for spiral lacing. I created a five strand finger loop braid for the lacing, creating a self-enclosed aglet by wrapping the top two inches in waxed thread before coating it in Elmer’s glue. I did a double fold hem for the bottom of the dress and whip stitched it in place. I had a difficult time with the hem, it took three days to get it pinned evenly. I made a tablet woven belt to go with the dress.
I love that you did this!! Inkworld was one of my favourites growing up. You look like you just stepped out of the pages 🙂 Gorgeous job, well done!!
Thank you 🙂 I love the series, but usually do a quick reread of just Inkheart because it can be a stand-alone story.
I need to read the books; I am SUCH a huge fan of the movie! This dress is lovely and I simply adore the red you chose! And Meggie is such a good character, too. Well done!
I love the books!! If I remember the movie correctly, they’re different. Thank you 🙂
This looks so good! And that inside picture is so satisfying x) Great job❤
Thank you <3
Thank you for this. I really loved books as kid and your beautiful dress brought back some memories. It’s perfect!
Yeah for memories! The Inkworld holds onto good memories 🙂
Oh, I love this. That red…ooof! Beautiful! Thank you so much!
Thank you 🙂 The red is (chef’s kiss) and was an old bed sheet I found at a thrift store.
I loved these books growing up too, and I’m really enjoying your interpretation of Meggie! Well done for all the hard work that went into making this, it came out wonderfully!
Thank you! 🙂
Beautiful! And the belt was a great idea!
Thank you! The belt was super fun to try making. I’ve only done tablet weaving a couple times, but this pattern ended up being really easy to follow.