What LotR Costumes/Clothes Have You Made?

[Encaitare]

Well... it's what the title says! Tell us all what spiffy wearable LotR stuff you have made.

I've made one shirt; it's black with the White Tree on it in fabric paint (my friend actually made a White Tree stencil...what does that tell you about how we spend our spare time? ) and the back says "seven stars and seven stones and one white tree."

I'm also planning another shirt, meaning I've got the pictures all set up, but I need to buy that special paper that lets you iron images onto fabric. So this one will be to honor my favorite icky guy ever *points at avatar* and the front will have the picture taken from the art/costumes book for TTT and it'll say, "I dig pale, skulking, bookish types." The back will have a picture of him looking reaaaal nasty and say "Grima Lives." And when I wear it no one will know who the ugly dude on my shirt is and I'll probably get asked lots of dumb questions but thats ok.

And I wrote some LotR book quotes on my shoelaces

Anyhow, I am sure you guys have better ones than this, so let's hear em!

[ninlaith]

Well I consider myself sort of skillful with the needle but whatever i've tried hasn't worked out one way or another. I tried making a Galadriel costume a few years ago but I found out I didn't have enough fabric. And I imagine it would be easy to make a Hobbit costume but the special fabric is so hard to come bye where I live. Silks, crepes, leathers, and organzas are some of the types of fabrics that are used in most of the costumes in Middle-Earth and you can't exactly come across most of those in Wal-Mart. I wish there was some sort of Middle-Earth tailor nearby.

[Morsul the Dark]

I'm attempting to make an ent costume...But the bark thing is giving me trouble but I think I can make it work I do however need to stop being lazy and get on that I also carved my own staff Although I forgot about it and it was out in the rain for a bit soo...now its all icky and soft and such...

I think I'll make a Sam costume that should be fairly simple

[Encaitare]

Ooh, an Ent costume? That sounds hard, man. Go for it though!

For all the gals, here's a dress I found online that looks somewhat Eowyn-ish: http://www.thedarkangel.co.uk/cogent/387.html

[Meela]

I'm not the best with a needle, so I tend to cheat and adapt an already suitable outfit. I own a lot of Eowyn-type gowns and Gondorian court dresses. A lot of my Elven outfits are pieces I found in weird shops.
A friend embroidered a white tree onto a black tunic for me, for my Gondorian soldier style outfit.

I did attempt to make an elven dress from scratch, but it's incomplete and not exactly making an effort to hold together.

[Morsul the Dark]

Im not good with thread either

Ent- make the bark out of that foam stuff and wear elbow and knee pads put "bark" on these this eliminates the problem of making the joints moveable while stiffening your motion to more entish movement face paint may be tricky but getting the bark on is the worst do you just strap it on over a brown shirt or do you actually glue it to said shirt and then there's the back How to make one of those branchy things strong enough to hold two dolls(merry and pippin) and yet light enough not to make you uncomfortable

and the feet they need o be big but you also can't be tripping over them as you walk

[Lyta_Underhill]

I'm working on what I call the "Thrift Store Frodo" outfit, except I haven't paid that much attention to actual fabric type. I never have any time or money, so I don't know if I'll have the time and stuff to finish it up. Scrounging is a talent, though, and I did manage to convert a bright orange satiny brocade 1970's long wrap jacket into a sort of dyed orange-brown frock coat, but it still looks a little silly! Also picked out some velvety fabric from a yard sale bin, but I don't know if there will be enough to cover pants and a vest. It will be verrrry tricksey!

Morsul, the Ent costume sounds really cool! Is anyone making costumes for events? My Frodo outfit, if I can get it done, will "premiere" at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia this year.

Cheers!
Lyta

[Sirithheruwen]

I'm not the best with a needle...

*hides mangled mess of ribbon, thread, and needles that are the point shoes I'm attempting to resew*

...so I tend to cheat and adapt an already suitable outfit.

Same here. For Halloween, I used one of my Mom's old bridesmaids dresses (a long and flowing purple gown...beautiful) and just altered it so it fit me. It wasn't very comfortable, sadly, so I didn't rush to put it back on.

I also tried to make a hobbit costume out of khaki capris and a light blue blouse, but I just looked like a teenage girl with her khaki pant rolled up so that her unusually large feet poked out.

[Encaitare]

If I had the cash I'd buy all the pretty dresses, and a sword, and both wizards' staffs (staves?), and everything else... but for now I have to content myself with a spiffy black dress I got for $5.43. V. happy-making.

But if I can make something or find something remotely LotR-ish, I'll wear it to see the LotR exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science... this will kick so much arse, though. I cannot wait to go... if you're interested in tickets check out www.mos.org

[Isowen]

My mother made me a dress which Galadriel wears (in the film obviously), the pretty white one when she shows frodo her mirror.......
My brother has a t-shirt which has written on it "Aragon = White tree, how appropriate"
I used to have a brace (the kind which goes on the top of your mouth), a retainer to all those from the USA. When I didn't need it anymore, i wrote on it "Teeth, but we only has six!"- a gollum quote. Now everyone thinks I'm messed up but I thought it was a fun idea at the time!

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Well, I'm definitely going to have to get a cloak and other Ranger-gear for this Hallowe'en. I am still ashamed of my failure to do so last year.

[Sapphire_Flame]

...and both wizards' staffs (staves?)

It is "staves", I believe.

With the ever-welcome help from my mom, I have made the Fellowship cloak (yeah, it's kind of a charcoal blue colour, but still!) and a Legolas-ish type costume. I have a hobbit costume as well, which is mostly composed of things I found while raiding my closet, but I really like it. I've even got a mithril shirt! ^ ^

I also did a screen-printed shirt, actually as an assignment in art class, that's black and says "smells-like-lembas action!" on the front. (You kinda have to have seen the "action figure" episode of Strong Bad E-mail to get that....) I get really weird looks with that one...

I was on the staff for my high school literary magazine last year, and, because of injustices done to me the year before, I got to choose the design for my hoodie-sweatshirt instead of just having to get what everyone else had. On the front, little bitty by my shoulder it had my name "Aranel i Pheriannath" along with the magazine name "Tabula Rasa" and my position "Copy Editor" and on the back... I had the Lofty Tree of Gondor!

The other Ringers on the staff were so jealous. ^ ^

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by Sirithheruwen

I also tried to make a hobbit costume out of khaki capris and a light blue blouse, but I just looked like a teenage girl with her khaki pant rolled up so that her unusually large feet poked out.

Toss the blue blouse if you're wearing khaki breeches. ( Breeches-- get capris at Elfmart for twelve bucks.) Be careful choosing your earth-tones! Hobbits go with all earth-tones & woodsy colors. Browns, green, cream or khaki seem to send the loudest "hobbit here!" message. ( Bilbo's red vest, Frodo going to the Havens in silver and blue, are major exceptions. Frodo was in silver-and-blue because that's what the elves wear on the way to the havens.)

Be on the lookout for (brown, green, cream or khaki) shirts that lace up at the throat or that have embroidered patterns on the chest, or both. Layer over that: hobbit-colored vest. (Thrift stores.) Over that: hobbit-colored jacket. (Mine are cuorderoy, one green, one brown-- & they look fine.)

Cloak is optional (mine's brown) but it does add a lot.

My other indulgences are:
Same shirt & jacket & vest, but with long brown pants, brown socks, brown sandals-- an added cloak suddenly makes the whole thing elvish. Maybe 'cause I'm tall...? I went to RotK wearing that and got enough compliments to make my head swell.

Elvish dresses. Shop judiciously. Most of mine were under thirty dollars, some under twenty. Jewellry-- same thing. Look for celtic knotwork (I avoid the satanic ones!) but even better: look for leaves and flowers. Brooches, earrrings, rings.

After that, it's all in your head. I come to work dressed as either an elf or a hobbit three out of five days. It's just the way I dress. If I wore the cloak, it would be obvious; but if I leave the cloak at home, not many people figure it out.

ps-- I daydream about a "real Mirkwood Tunic". I may have to break down and make one.
I also daydream about making elvish clothes of green and brown and grey so heavily decorated with (very pretty) leaves and trees that they are essentially camo.
But for now, I'll make do with ranger-ish greens and browns.

[Lalwendë]

Well, as I posted recently on the Insanity Reigns thread, when I was a teenager I got my school overcoat and embroidered the White Tree of Gondor on the back, which caused my poor Mum much trauma. What is it with the White Tree when you're young? Anyway, keep up the good work!

Recently I bought a little pond thing for my garden and it had a lid, a nice round piece of MDF on top. I left it in the shed and kept looking at it, wondering how I could recycle it, and had the mad idea to turn it into a painted shield. So I did. I can only describe it as kind of a cross between Pugin and Saxon in style. Of course, it would provide no protection against arrows (not that they are a common hazard in modern day Yorkshire) so it stands on my soot-blackened hearth.

[Calathanien]

i'v never made anything (other than sords out of card bored does that count?!?!?!?) buuut my sister made a galadriel costume for her tech courswork it was really good, i wore it to a costume party aaaages ago

[Gorwingel]

I have tried to make an Eowyn dress, but right now it is just hanging in my closet in an unfinished state.

I was a person who took a ton of sewing classes when I was younger, but I am still not the best seamtress at all. I am also a perfectionist, which means I'm very hard on myself. So if I don't get it perfect, I am just not right with it.

But I could see myself buying custom ones in the future. Maybe just one or two good ones

[Elennar Starfire]

I made a nice elf-dress for Halloween last year...it's blue and pretty...I want to sew some silver beads on...then it'll be like Luthien's dress!

[Mithalwen]

I am not gifted at sewing but I bought a galadriel style dress for £20 in a GHOST factory outlet clearance but it is a "petite" and I am 5"10 so I finally admitted that I would not get the bodice to button in this lifetime and passed it on to my cousin..... But I found a quasi elf outfit in the next clearance that fitted alas no floaty sleeves ( I might just have enough skill to add them if I can find the right material) ..... but not far off.... floaty dress.... floaty long coat ..... just need the right occasion.... keep threatening a LOTR party ...... and make every one else come as orcs.... lol and I have a black rider mask for bad hair days...

[Saraphim]

I want very much to make an Eowyn dress, but I have no patterns to do so. I have a slight sewing ability, and would be capable of making one if only I knew how.

I also want to make a ranger outfit, but I still have the aforementioned difficulty.

Other than that, I just have:

~My Barrow-Downs shirt, of course.
~A baseball hat that says "Frodo Lives" (yes, I made that myself )

[ninlaith]

Saraphim, I don't know if you live near a Wal-Mart but they have a pattern for what looks like and Eowyn dress. It's not called Eowyn or anything from the LOTR collection but it's a white dress just like hers. I don't know if this helped or if anyone was even able to understand it. It's just hard to explain without a visual. The also have patterns for Tunics like Aragorn's. And Mithalwen I don't know of your sewing abilities but what you could have done to that dress that you gave to your cousin is you could have added a piece to the back of the bodice just enough to help it fit. Or you could have ripped out the seems and possible boning and let it out a little for yourself. Once again I don't know if this helped but I hope it possibly did. Just remeber nothing is a lost cause.

[Lyta_Underhill]

I admire those of you who even attempt the Eowyn and Galadriel dresses! Butterick #3648 is the hobbit pants pattern I'm using; hopefully it will work! The thing I love about hobbit pants is that, like mark12_30 above, I'll probably wear them as everyday wear! Maybe that's why I like hobbitwear. It is just so comfortable and you can do anything in it! I can't imagine going on my Walk to Mount Doom in an Eowyn dress (although I think I'd have lots of roadside admirers if I tried, as well as an inadvertent mud-hem!). I think I would like the whole Eowyn armor look though! (Although I prefer Pippin's Gondor armor) But my sewing skills are minimal at best. As I've often said, I sew by using the Force!

Just remeber nothing is a lost cause.

A wonderful thought and great attitude, ninlaith!

Cheers!
Lyta

P.S. Goodwill stores have lots of capri pants these days and a whole lot of vests and even odd almost-elfwear dress thingies, as well as material...I love secondhand stores!

[Encaitare]

I have these greenish-navy blue-ish (actually I can't think of any way to describe the color, it's bizarre but subdued) capri pants that end a few inches below the knee. No drawstrings or anything, so I find them rather hobbity.

[Mithalwen]

Hmmm...well partly it was only later that I realised I had tried to wear it back to front.....(I am so thick ) and that would have made the "surgery" less radical.... aslong as I sacrificed some of the many tiny buttons and lowered the back but really it was such beautiful material I would have been scared to cut it... and my cous is my god daughter and she looks so much better in it ...being a good ten inches shorter ..... and it was such a change to see her in a dress.....lol ....and I love my dress.... which has lovely embroidery in gold and silver thread... butit is just that the other one .....had embroidery and sequins like gally's and G-D ..s mother is fab with a needleso I think she will be able to do what is required...... basically it is a chiffon overdress... you would need a slip dress underneath so it wasn't quite so dim of me to try to wear it back to front (no darts to give clues ..)

[ninlaith]

It sounds like a really pretty dress. I know what you mean by not wanting to cut beautiful fabric. I was the same way when I made my prom dress. But hey at least your cousin appreciates it that is a plus.

[Lady of the Pants]

I tried to put together a Galadriel-like costume for Halloween last year. It was awful. I used an old dress from one of my dance recitals. I also got an awful long, blond wig. It was so awful. Maybe I should try hobbit this year because I have some good hobbit-like wear. I have to go with my friend and raid the Goodwill.

[Morsul the Dark]

along with ent and sam I think I shall attempt a balrog All red devil horns billows on my back to ake me slump over and make fire design on the nack fairly simple...but do I put on wings or not?

[Laitoste]

Originally Posted by Encaitare

I've made one shirt; it's black with the White Tree on it in fabric paint (my friend actually made a White Tree stencil...what does that tell you about how we spend our spare time? ) and the back says "seven stars and seven stones and one white tree."

I love this idea! It's awesome!

I also made a shirt. I wrote my name in Quenya Tengwar on the back and drew a really cool-looking fish. Why? Because I'm weird.

A few years ago, I went as an elf for Halloween. I bought the dress at Kmart, but it was too short and I didn't like the way it fit. I'm going to try to lengthen it and make the skirt fuller and mess with the sleeves so it'll be a Goldberry dress (at least, what I think would be a Goldberry dress...). Or maybe I'll make it into Eowyn's green dress. Oh, and I found a pattern at Hobby Lobby that is exactly like Eowyn's green dress, although it doesn't say it on the package. It's part of some fantasy thing. They also had Pirates of the Carribean. I think it was from Simplicity, but I'm not sure. I don't really sew, though. I made a duvet cover for my bed last year. I couldn't even sew a straight line!

[Encaitare]

Laitoste-- Thanks! Heh heh, I write my name in Quenya Tengwar *everywhere.* My hand, my bag, my notes, my school desk... destruction of public property? No, I prefer to call it "beautification."

::claws desperately at screen:: No, Morsul! No wings! NOOOOO!

But they sure look cool in the movie

[Elennar Starfire]

Ye have to decide if ye want to put up with having two large things sticking off your back...and figure out how to keep them in the right place...a mouse tail that doesn't just hang down in back is enough of a pain...wires and such...

[Morsul the Dark]

Originally Posted by Encaitare

Laitoste-- Thanks! Heh heh, I write my name in Quenya Tengwar *everywhere.* My hand, my bag, my notes, my school desk... destruction of public property? No, I prefer to call it "beautification."

::claws desperately at screen:: No, Morsul! No wings! NOOOOO!

But they sure look cool in the movie

Alright for you Ill refrain from using wings they would be hard any way

[yavanna II]

HEHE... my mom made a pattern for the White Tree using graphing paper... I did that, it was about 144ft^2.... then i displayed that...

If you're not good with needles, I highly recomend cross-stich... the needle isn't that sharp... and you've got a pattern.
To all embroiders out there.... SALUDO AKO SA INYO! I easily get annoyed with that stuff....

[Elennar Starfire]

I discovered a book of Celtic cross stitch patterns at the library...muchly pretty...I'm going to put them on my plain shirts!

[Encaitare]

I do cross-stitch; I've been working on this one with dolphins on it for the longest time because it's slow work and I only do it while watching movies...

I really want to make a shirt dedicated to Boromir. It shall be as such, three pictures with captions in a row:

1. "See Boromir." [Picture of Borry at Council of Elrond, preferably while doing the Great Eye hand motion )

2. "See Boromir die." [Boromir getting shot.]

3. "Die, Boromir, die." [Dead pasty Boromir.]

Sick but lovely

[Isowen]

destruction of public property? No, I prefer to call it "beautification."

I like the word there, Encaitare. Very nice

[Lyta_Underhill]

Alright for you Ill refrain from using wings they would be hard any way

Morsul, maybe you should try making them from "shadow and flame" in only a rough shape suggestive of wings! That way you could satisfy both the "has" and "has not" contingent of Balrog theorists!
I have realized just how difficult making hobbit pants is, but that is probably because I am out of practice with sewing. I went in vain search for rust colored velvet fabric (this is unfindable here!) and settled on red with some brown dye. Hope it works! While I was waiting for the person in front of me to have 6 bolts of fabric cut out in tiny strips for quiltmaking, I saw this year's run of Simplicity costume patterns, including the Jack Sparrow and an obvious Arwen riding dress. My husband is going to be Jack Sparrow for Dragoncon in September, but we've managed to put his costume together out of virtually nothing! An old shirt, black pants, a ripped up long vest from Goodwill, some colorful fabrics from various yard sales, and a really bizarre looking handbag (it has FRINGE!). I hope to have pictures, but, more importantly, I hope to be able to finish my costumes in time! If anyone is interested in the mad confluence of costumed freaks in Atlanta, Georgia, here is the site: http://www.dragoncon.org and the more relevant Tolkien Track at the One Ring: http://www.theonering.net/events/dragoncon/
I hope to see some other Barrowdowners there in really cool costumes!
Cheers!
Lyta

P.S. I'll be on the lookout for those White Tree T-shirts! I'm almost positive I'll see some there!

[Lalwendë]

Well, I had a mad whim and I've set out to see if I can make my own cloak, just for the challenge. I'm beginning with some cheap black fabric, and if it works I might go on to make a woollen one, although I don't use the sewing machine as trying to thread it makes me swear. In John Lewis (UK) you can buy some crazy patterns; I selected one for cloaks and robes (it also includes one for a Gandalf hat) from the Simplicity range, but you can also get a wide variety of medieval style dress patterns which look quite simple, and Butterick also do a lot of good ones - it's worth a look. I also went into a sari shop and saw some beautiful fabrics, which might make stunning dresses.

I did also see some sewing patterns for dragon costumes for dogs?!

[Encaitare]

Lyta-- Conventions rock! I'm going to a Renaissance Faire in a couple of weeks, and I have every intention of dressing up. My boyfriend says he will too, so huzzah! On Halloween a girl at my school dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow also; she had a wig, the bandana, beads in her hair, even the coat. I didn't even know her but I went up to her and congratulated her on her awesome costume making. Okay... this is going OT. Time to stop.

Lalwende-- Hmm... I think the only fabric-selling store near me is Wal-Mart, so I don't know how great the selection will be, but perchance I shall scour the area for nice patterns. Threading the stupid sewing machine is terrible, though. I can never remember how to do it.

[StarJewel]

I've already made one Elvish dress. I used Simplicity pattern 9891 (the one with the really drapey sleeves). Just be careful with that one...the sleeve faric rips really easily. I am also makig another dress (pattern 9450, I believe) from Simplicity. It looks a little like one of Arwen's dresses.

I am also trying to sew and ebmbroider a purse. All this has amounted to is me repeatedly jabbing myself with the needle while trying to sew a leaf desig.

[The Perky Ent]

At one of our schools dances, it was a movie night thing. Everyone was dressed in Tuxs (Producers <_< ) but I dressed up as a hobbit. It's simple. I took a green fleece of mine, and folded it so it looked like an elvish cloak, then, with the elvish broach i bought, i cliped it on. Then, I got my one ring from a bookmark, and a ring chain, and woar the ring. I also had a string sword, so i brought that And the best part: I cut up a brown afro of mine, and taped it to my shoes, giving the effect of furry feet!

[Nurumaiel]

I was at Wal-mart just recently buying fabric and I stumbled upon a pattern with potential for a Hobbit costume... for only $1.74! Needless to say I bought it, and with a few color modifications it could make a nice Hobbit lassie costume. The pattern can be found on simplicity.com; #8855. There are two different dresses you can make... I would choose Dress A for a Hobbit lass costume. As far as modifying the colours, I'd choose a bright colour for the skirt (green, blue, etc.), a darker shade of the same colour for the vest, and the blouse could remain white or you could make it the same colour as the skirt. The hat I would discard, and the shawl could or could not be made, depending on personal preference of the maker.

I'm anxious to be making my Hobbit lassie costume, but I need to find time to run down to Wal-mart, and aside from that the pattern does take up quite a little bit of fabric. Nevertheless...

I made an Elvish costume once, as well, but I didn't devote very much energy to this and I just went by a thrift store, picked up a dress that was very Elvish-looking save the puffed sleeves, and when I got home I replaced the sleeves. The fabric was a lovely green, which seemed appropriate for an Elf, and while the costume turned out all right I fear it looked more like the green dress Eowyn at one point wears in the film in oppose to the Elvish outfit I wanted!

Alas, I never had the courage to go to one of the films dressed up.