Lord of the Rings - Eowyn's funeral gown

Original costume

I'm not a Lord of the Rings fan, but my aunt is. When she turned 50 she decided to have a LOTR-themed birthday party. I think that's quite cool for a 50-year old. As my birthday gift for her I decided to make a gown of her choice from the films. She wanted Eowyn's funeral gown, so I made it. I did some alterations though, for example my aunt has a very small neck and she simply looked really bad with the original collar. She was also happy to have gown made of plain cotton velvet, rather than the original patterned velvet.

McCall's 4491

 The pattern i used was McCall's 4491, without alterations. The only thing I changed was to leave the front/side seams open from the things down to create slits. I then added a simply half-circle skirt in gold crepe backed poly satin under it.I also added undersleeves, I think those were simply tubes that I attached at the seam on the middle of the sleeve.

To me this costume marks quite an important step in my development as a costumer and as a seamstress. I paid a lot more attention to details, and I finally understood what a difference it can make to properly measure everything, to use the right stitches and to press all the seams.

Status: My aunt still has it, but she doesn't use it. 

April 2007

doll version, Christmas 2008

Out of the leftovers from the fabrics I also made her a doll version of the complete costume, with cape and veil as well. It's been a while now but I think I simply copied the pattern pieces from the envelope of the pattern and then freehanded them to make them fit the doll frame that I had.

Many of the details were so small that I had to sew most on this version by hand.

This doll is more correct since it has the collar, the veil and the full cape. I even managed to find little round sequins to make the belt. I gave the doll as a Christmas gift to my aunt in 2008.