Will Turner

Character: Will Turner
From: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Made: 2003

During my sixth viewing of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, it occurred to me that my friend Dan would really make an excellent Will Turner-- he was tall, had the right build, and his hair was quite long as the result of a bet with a co-worker. One day in September 2003, while we were over at his house, I floated the idea of his dressing as Will for Halloween. He wasn't opposed, so I dove right in, and when I presented him with the costume in late October, he liked it so much he wore it home, and then wore it to work on Halloween!

This costume actually does double duty-- with the addition of different pants, and the removal of the stockings and shoes, it becomes a passable hobbit outfit.

Halloween 2003

Trying on the completed costume, October 2003

As a hobbit, headed to Trilogy Tuesday, December 2003
(socks and shoes because it was cold!)

Construction

Girl Hobbit

Character: Girl hobbit
From: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Made: 2003

This one was for my friend Debby! I'd already made her husband a Will Turner costume that doubled as a hobbit costume, so she was totally up for being a hobbit lady. Like me, she loves the color blue, so we used Rosie Cotton's party dress from Fellowship as a jumping-off point.

Release of Return of the King (Trilogy Tuesday), December 2003

Aragorn as Strider

Character: Aragorn
Costume: Strider
From: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Made: 2002, with many additions and improvements over the years

"He's one of them rangers..."

Ah yes, Aragorn, the manliest of manly men. After I decided to make Arwen's chase dress for myself, Rogue declared that he wanted to be Aragorn. Though I really liked Aragorn's Council of Elrond velvet outfit, he far preferred the grittier Strider costume. My involvement's been limited to the shirt and the Fellowship cloak; he came up with the rest himself. Oh, and I bought him his vambraces. But I didn't make them. That level of leatherworking is still a bit beyond me!

SoCal Renaissance Pleasure Faire, May 2010

King Richard's Faire, September 2003

Construction

Eowyn's Shieldmaiden Dress

Character: Eowyn
Costume: Shieldmaiden Dress
From: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Made: 2002

This beautiful dress first appeared in promotional images for The Two Towers and was almost immediately dubbed the "Shieldmaiden" outfit. Unfortunately, it didn't make an appearance in TTT, but we finally got to see it in Return of the King! Ngila Dickson, the costume designer for the LOTR trilogy, has said that this outfit is meant to convey a "sense of [Eowyn] fighting in her underwear." I think it does a good job of that, and it's very pretty besides!

I didn't make this dress for myself-- I made it for my best friend, Amy, whose favorite LOTR character is Eowyn. After making my Arwen chase dress, I was eager to get my friends to start dressing up as well. Amy liked the idea, so we looked at all of Eowyn's outfits, and she chose this one. This was my second full recreation, and in some ways it was harder than the chase dress, because at the time there were only a few good images of the dress and no tutorial to help me.

Someday I'd love to make this one for myself! I've still got a fair bit of the cream silk left, and it's such a beautiful dress...

Going to see The Two Towers at our college, spring 2003

Construction

Arwen's Chase Dress

Character: Arwen
Costume: Chase Dress
From: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Made: 2002
Awards: Judges' Choice (2004 ConDor Masquerade)

This was the first movie costume I ever tried to recreate, and it remains one of my favorites. It was (mostly) completed in time for Halloween 2002, and improved for the premiere of the Fellowship extended DVD in November 2002. All of Arwen's dresses are of course beautiful, but I think this one is the most functional, which makes it pretty easy to wear for long periods of time (except for those pesky sleeves!).

The dress is based on Simplicity 9891, everyone's favorite generic elf pattern. I literally could not have created this costume without the amazing tutorial from alleycatscratch and their associated mailing list.

Condor XI Masquerade, February 2004 (Winner, Judges' Choice)

GenCon Indy, July 2003

Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition DVD Premiere in NYC, November 2002

Construction