FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Lady Bilbo Baggins
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
Entry inspired by Bilbo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings Series by J. R. R. Tolkien. I have always thought Bilbo Baggins should be a woman. Whenever I listen or read The Hobbit, I imagine everything the same but I just know that Bilbo was wearing a dress, one consisting of stays, a comfortable blouse, and a sturdy skirt. I based my outfit on how I imagine Bilbo would dress after returning from the adventure, something well and nice but not too showy, because even though Bilbo became rich, they stayed fairly humble and spoiled family more than themself. With that in mind I chose to use an ornate fabric for the stays, linen blend for the skirt, and a simple cotton for the blouse. I feel the mix of pretty but practical suits Bilbo quite well. Whether the design is accurate to the books description, or lack of; this outfit is exactly how I always imagined Bilbo, and I think when everything is said and done, it is accurate to my imagination and feelings of the character and books is what we are trying to achieve in this competition, or at least that is how I interpreted the theme. And I am certainly glad this competition gave me a chance to finally become one of my favorite characters of all time.
Outline the construction…
I made a pair of stays, a skirt, and a blouse for this entry. I do not like to make waste, so I only make things I know I would wear outside of the costume. The stays used a thrifted pair of pillow cushions and thrifted chiffon like fabric and a duck canvas innerlining, using the two to make the stays reversible getting more than one use out of the item. I used Butterick B4254 for the stays, but did a custom boning pattern, and cut the back neckline down about 3 inches. The skirt was a simple pleated rectangle skirt of 4 yards of linen blend, connected with french seams and bias tape for the waistband. The blouse was self drafted taking inspiration from shifts and kirtles to make a short but comfortable blouse, all seams hand felled down. My biggest difficulty was time and pain. I only thought of joining the competition 5 days before it closed, I started work on 1-29-21 and finished 2-1-21. I am proud that I only snapped 1 needle in half during my hand stitching for the whole project. Overall enjoyable project that I'm extremely proud of and I can't wait to wear these pieces as both costume and daily wear.
This is really beautiful! Well done!
Perfect outfit for a female Bilbo. Beautiful stays!
Beautiful pattern placement on the stays!
(Greetings from a fellow hobbit!)
Love the stays on you! They look very flattering♡
The whole outfit is very pretty and very fitting for a hobbit, but the stays are especially beautiful.
Oh I love the red colours and the fabric you chose for the stays, the way you positioned the pattern of the fabric was artfully done! SO pretty and a beautiful fit! I can’t believe you made this all in 3 days! I’m gobsmacked! Well done!!!
Holy hell (pardon my French) you made this in the span over a few days?? That is super impressive!! Also please decide to join earlier next time, I’m getting stressed on your behalf haha 🤪 Fantastic job, the fabric choice for the stays is spot on for Bilbo!