2003

Eowyn's Travel Coat & Packing Gown

Images of Miranda Otto/LOTR © New Line Cinema Ltd.


New excellent pictures of Eowyn's costumes now available in the Appendices of the Two Towers Special Extended Edition DVD.

Latest Update:
Dec. 2, 2003

I ran the blue underdress through a couple of bleach washes to lighten it up a bit. It had the added bonus of also removing a lot of the green from the blue that I had, so it ended up with more purple hues, which is better.

I ended up getting some nice dark brown 'desert boots' which I was really pleased with - the kind of remind me of the little boots Eowyn wears with the white Edoras dress from the Two Towers. You can sort of see them in this photo.

Sept. 15, 2003

Bought outer coat fabric - a polyester paisley jacquard that I will have to dye - should be interesting as I've never dyed fabric before!

Bought blonde wig from eBay seller hairmenow :

I sent a request to the NobleCollection about a month ago, asking if they are planning to reproduce Eowyn's brooch from this costume, and they promptly replied that no, they are not planning to. Which I can't understand since they've reproduced all the other brooches from the LOTR films! Sigh. So I've been scouring eBay and jewelry stores everytime I'm out and about, and finally decided on this one:

Did mock up of coat. Still needs some tweaking to make the back skirt of the coat fuller and more bell-like. I'm satisfied with the sleeves though.

Sleeves:
Modified the lower sleeve from the pattern to make it much shorter and more rounded.

Coat:
Used this Simplicity pattern as it has the perfect neckline (just modified that to make it dip into a V), and a good silhouette. Used the underdress pattern, cutting up the centre front rather than on the fold, and modified the front for the shorter section that opens at the bottom. Added the A-line to the sides and back (pattern calls for a straight out perpendicular from the waist cut, to add a semi-circle yoke to each side. Eliminated the yoke).

I'm also using this pattern for the brown underdress for this costume.

Added yoke to centre back bottom, and that gave the desired "bell" hang to the coat skirt. Results and decisions from mock-up: need to widen the sleeves a bit and also the shoulder seams so there will still be some shoulder fabric showing after the fur goes on.

Finished brown underdress. When I cut out the sides on the mockup, they were exactly how I wanted them. Cutting out the same size cut on the actual dress, and then putting it on, the hole hangs much lower due to the heaviness of the rayon/wool suiting fabric. Oh well!

(Also please excuse the silly looking pose with my arms out in front of me - no sword to hold!)

Finished Packing Gown.

Finished mock up version of coat so I could wear it on Hallowe'en:

Finished coat. Ended up having to give up on trying to dye the polyester jacquard. I've dyed it 5 times now, and it never gets any darker, no matter how much dye I use or how much time I leave it in. Too bad, because the texture and pattern of it was so perfect!

No pics yet, but maybe this weekend if it ever stops raining. The new fabric is a rayon jacquard, with a beigey-brown mixed with a darker brown in a kind of tiny wallpaper floral pattern (hard to describe). I'm so in love with the fake fur I got though, it looks and feels so real, like mink or something!

Time to cut out and sew coat: 11 hours.
Time to hand sew fur onto coat: 14.5 hours.

Images of Miranda Otto/LOTR © New Line Cinema Ltd.
Theme graphics
Copyright © 1999 - 2000 by K. Furgerson
wig photos © hairmenow
All other Photographs  © CJM