FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Goldberry
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
This dress is for Goldberry, a character in The Fellowship of the Ring. Not much is known about her other than that she is the river-woman’s daughter. She wears a dress ‘green as young reeds’ and a belt ‘of gold, shaped like a chain of flag-lilies set with the pale-blue eyes of forget-me-nots’.
I felt her probably ancient and certainly mysterious origins were a perfect excuse to make a dress similar to the Herjolfsnes dress only with less panels to save time since it would have to be hand sewn. The weaving pattern for the belt was also chosen as a nod to that chain of flag-lilies.
Outline the construction…
The materials I used were a green linen fabric, blue cotton thread and various linen yarns for the weaving. I drafted the pattern inspired by the Herjolfsnes dress, particularly as the blog Handcrafted History and LizCapism on YouTube present it. This was followed by a mock-up after which I improved the fit around the armpits.
The construction mainly consisted of a lot of long backstitched or running backstitched seams which were then trimmed and felled to finish. The arms were made separately then attached to the body. Likewise, the front and back gores, which were each made from two triangles, were sewn together then into the dress. I added small patches of fabric to cover the points of the gores which were beyond me to finish more neatly.
Around the neck and arms I folded the raw edges outwards and covered them with narrow tablet woven bands. The weaving patterns for both the belt and trim came from Mim’s Muddle though I read around too much to keep track of every resource I used to help with the process. Finally, I attempted to level the hem, folded it up twice and stitched it down.
Lovely!!
The trim and belt are just perfect for her! And it’s so fun to see a Herjolfsnes pattern in this context.
Yes ! I was hoping to see a Goldberry entry !! Great work, I think it fits the character, and the trims are lovely !
Love this color! And it has POCKETS❤
This is glorious! I love how simple it looks but knowing the amount of work that went into it. I love that you picked a background character and really filled out the world view of Middle Earth.
This is beautiful – a lovely colour and shape. The hard work definitely paid off! The woven trim is very impressive and overall it looks stunning 🙂
Simple and elegant, I love it!
Oh my….this is simply beautiful! very well done. Thank you!
This is so cool! I love the trim!