At least part of the reason this costume took so long to create was because I couldn't make up my mind which direction I wanted to go with it. I just knew that in the end I wanted to look like an elegant Snow Queen. I had to laugh when Frozen came out because I knew similar costumes would gain in popularity and, had I finished in 2013 as I originally intended, I would have beaten the release of Frozen. Anyway.....
I wasn't sure if I should make the costume more elvish and woodsy, light and ethereal, or queenly and commanding. In the end I went with queenly and commanding because it was easier to envision and there were more costume patterns to choose from in that style.
Still, I wanted it to be as "realistic" and "authentic" as possible. It's hard for me to explain what I mean by realistic and authentic other than I was sure I did not want to use any fabric that had an actual snowflake pattern printed on it. Ditto for overly sparkly fabrics. However, I still wanted to evoke a little bit of an ethereal and natural element to the costume so I went for things that reminded me of ice, icicles, and snowflakes without being blatant. As you will see over the next couple posts my costume ended up becoming what I call Queen of Winter Goes to the Ball.
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| First pattern (bottom left style) |
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| Unfinished reject |
First, my early mistakes. I started this first dress while I still thought I might go in the elvish and woodsy direction. But when I was nearly done with the dress and tried it on I decided it just wasn't working for me. The white fabric was pretty much see-through. The silver fabric draped funny in the front, made my chest look weird, and didn't really work with the white fabric. Plus I thought the silver fabric kind of made for a space alien-looking collar. So I started again.
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| Too much like a wedding dress |
The next pattern was one I had actually bought before the elvish one. I went back to it after I realized the elvish dress just wasn't working. I thought long and hard about whether I should use this pattern and do a silver dress with white contrast or a white dress with silver contrast. Ultimately I decided a white dress would be more in line with my vision for a Snow Queen, and also that the silver brocade, although gorgeous, was too hellish to work with for an entire dress. However, once I finally made up my mind to go with a white dress and silver accents I realized this pattern would likely look too much like a wedding dress. So it was back to the drawing board.
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| Nearly finished crushed velvet cape |
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| Cape style (bottom right) |
One thing I was sure I wanted to make, no matter the style of dress, was a cape. I started with a pattern I had used once before which made a decent cape and by the time I was done I had made the same cape three times for this costume. Twice in two different fabrics and once for the lining. First I made it from a beautiful off-white crushed velvet which perfectly matched the fake fur I bought to trim it with. I nearly completed the crushed velvet cape before realizing my heart was set on adding embroidery, and as a beginner embroiderer I didn't fancy my chances of floating the crushed velvet in order to embroider on it without ending up with hoop burn. So, this got set aside as well in favor of another fabric.
These are just a few examples of things I did more than once for this costume. The necklace I did got remade three times, and the trim and beading on the final gown got redone twice with two separate trims. I was beginning to think I would end up doing everything more than once before I was done but thankfully that wasn't the case.
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| Final necklace |
On to the accessories. I started with the necklace, which I originally envisioned as a statement necklace, so I gathered beads of all kinds from tiny clear seed beads, to pearls, to large pendants. My original vision didn't work so I scrapped that and attempted a mishmashed twist of beads. That also didn't work so I went for something simpler and finally hit on the right combination. It was my first time working with wire instead of chain to make a necklace and I was pleased with how it turned out. I think the silver spikes look like icicles and the silver filigree looks like snowflakes (though I think they were meant to be flowers). Still, I love the combination with the clear glass beads.
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| Crown front |
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| Crown from the side |
Next I made the crown, which I felt was quite possibly the most important piece of the entire costume because it was needed to really make it clear what I was trying to be. Despite the pressure placed on getting the crown right it was actually one of the easier pieces I made. I found a couple great online tutorials
here and
here and I took the best of both to create what I wanted. The crown is mostly made of hot glue, then wire for the base plus silver nail polish, glitter nail polish and iron-on jewels (which I glued on).
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| The Mask |
Following that I made a mask which was the one piece I didn't end up wearing. I thought it turned out great but when I put it on I realized I made too many "icicles" and it wasn't delicate enough to give the effect I wanted. Instead it looked too solid and a little too much like a superhero mask from a distance. It is also made from hot glue, silver and sparkly nail polish, glued-on jewels and elastic for string. The inspiration and tutorial for it came from
here.
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| Belt |
Next I made a belt which was the easiest and quickest accessory I made. I took the pendants that I had originally bought to use for my statement necklace idea and just attached them to a chain I had bought. It took some experimenting to get everything even so it would lay properly as a belt and then it took me a while to decide which beads would hang on the very ends of the chain but otherwise I was amazed at how quickly it was done. The beads on the end aren't pictured here but they're the same as the clear glass ones in the necklace.
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| Shoes |
Lastly for accessories I quickly fabric-covered a pair of my mom's old shoes. I didn't need to be very creative with these as they weren't going to be seen. Still, I wanted something that matched with the theme. They are covered with the fabric I ended up using for my dress, then covered with more glued-on jewels, and hot glue icicles (which don't really show up in the picture).
I think that's a long enough post for now. To be continued.
