The Sewing Place

Queen Ravenna

elisep

Queen Ravenna
« on: June 14, 2019, 10:45:39 AM »
So each year in August the company that I work for puts on a gala dinner. The theme alternates between a black-tie-esque theme and a proper costume theme. Last year was James Bond, so this year, Comic-Con!  :D
Of course this makes me super happy as I love making costumes!
It's taken me about 3 months to make a decision, because I really just wanted to make everything! But I've finally decided upon Queen Ravenna - from Snow White and the Huntsman (also Huntsman: Winter's War).

This is my inspiration photo;

Though I am not doing a direct copy. I'd like mine to be black and gold (not silver).
I'm using Simplicity 1045 as my base to work from, with a few alterations.
Charlize's dress appears to me to be made from suede which will be much too heavy to wear for an evening of dancing! So I'm going for a black velvet and I'm going to have a play around with the devore technique to see if I can get it to work. And then use gold fabric paint to make some sort embellishment. I like the idea of gold stamped feathers all over the dress - she is a "raven" after all. If I can find an appropriate stamp that is.

I've also decided to make a bodysuit to wear underneath. Pattern for this is Simplicity 8670. I'm going to make it in skin colour powermesh covered in black lace - to get the idea of the black undersleeves, with a dual function of holding in all my lumpy bits!  :P

So the first step is to create the bodysuit! I've no idea how much negative ease will give me a reduction/smoothing out of my figure in the power mesh... and google is not really helping. The pattern appears to have a 1 inch negative ease at the bust for a C cup. So I think I'll start by cutting 1 size down, and do fitting adjustments on the power mesh as I go. I'm planning for a double layer of the mesh (at the very least, in the side front/back pieces) for extra sucking-in power! Hoping I won't have any issues using a stretch lace over the power mesh, too. 
Stash Busting 2023
Used: 4 metres

Ellabella

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2019, 11:00:30 AM »
Wow!!!

b15erk

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2019, 11:28:58 AM »
Looking forward to seeing progress on this!  :loveit:

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Nevis5

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2019, 11:57:47 AM »
Me too!  Amazing look! Good luck! x

Sewingforfun

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2019, 09:23:37 AM »
That's going to be amazing!

For negative ease, you want about -10-15% usually. If you are using a leotard pattern, this may be built in already, although some commercial leotards patterns still come up big!
Dancing too much and trying to remember sewing is for fun! Used to be CarolC.

Bodgeitandscarper

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2019, 10:56:40 AM »
Cor!  Good luck with that  0_0

elisep

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2019, 14:51:16 PM »
I've finally made some progress!
After playing around with the devore paste and not getting a good result, I've scrapped that idea and will go for a different embellishment on the bodice. I also played around with gold fabric paint and a stencil, and have decided on gold feathers all over the bottom of the dress, probably graduating up the dress. I used mum's Scan N Cut to cut my own feather stencil, it worked quite well. 
After some deliberation I decided not to make the bodysuit underneath. I'll still do the lace sleeves, but just join them into the dress. Instead, I'm planning to use boning in the dress to help smooth out my lumpy bits! I'll probably put the boning in each seam, stitching together the seam allowances to create the boning channels.
The sleeves will be attached at the top and sides only, letting them hang straight down. Not sure how I'll embellish them yet. I'd also like to make shoulder rolls (a-la elizabethan style) as I'm going for a mix of medieval/elizabethan style lines (and it's a costume, why shouldn't I go all out!).

The best part of not using the devore paste is that I've been able to use poly velvet rather than silk. Much cheaper, and so much easier to work with! The pile is much shorter and I've not had any issues with it shifting while sewing (except when I attempted to put the zipper in by sewing against the nap, learned my lesson). I don't even have to baste the seams. The shorter pile also works much better with the fabric paint. It's a great fabric, a heavy velvet with 4 way stretch. It's giving me a great drape and is forgiving on the fit!

I've put the dress together, side seams and shoulder seams just basted for now. I need the dress to be made up so that I can use the neckline to create the frame for my wired feather collar/ruff. Once the frame is together, I'll take the dress apart at the side/shoulder seams, then lay it out flat for stenciling the feathers on. The collar is going to be tricky - I'm following a tutorial on making an elizabethan wired ruff I found online. Feathers are going to be black painted gold (too expensive to order gold feathers!)



Here's the base dress. I've pinned the hanging sleeve to see how it looks. It ends in a point which I'm not sure I love, I might make it a different shape. I've got plenty of off cuts of fabric due to how it was cut out!
Stash Busting 2023
Used: 4 metres

b15erk

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2019, 14:54:16 PM »
It's looking wonderful!

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

annieeg

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2019, 17:18:46 PM »
Lovely shape!

Catllar

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2019, 19:47:36 PM »
That's looking good!
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

elisep

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2019, 13:54:28 PM »
More progress! I'm normally too tired to sew in the evenings after work, but I had time today to go and buy some wire, so I was excited to work on the collar frame!



Please excuse the terrible lighting, I couldn't get that to not-happen.
Wire is 12 gauge aluminium wire I found in the floristry section at the sewing & craft store. It's a bit more pliable than I think I really want, but I don't want to have to purchase online (and hope I'm getting the right thing). It will bend out of shape if it takes a bad knock, but it only needs to last 1 night anyway, and I won't keep it on all night. If it does get bent out of shape it'll shape back relatively easily.
I've stuck it together temporarily with masking tape and will go over it tomorrow with black electrical tape, and thread where the wires cross.
The plan from here is to cut organza to shape, then stitch the feathers in rows onto the organza. I'll then stitch the organza into place on the frame by hand. Then for the back, I'll glue black lace in place to cover up the messy areas. I'm hoping if I soak the lace in glue prior to placing it on, it'll dry hard and provide a little more stability.
The collar will attach to the dress using loops + snaps so that I can take it off when I get sick of it. I'll sew in a channel inside the front of the dress for the front wire to slide into - underwire casing will probably be perfect.

I'm still waiting on the feathers to arrive from ebay, so once I've taped up the frame I'll move back onto the dress. It needs to come in on most of the seams as I decided that I'd like it a tad more fitted through the waist and hips. So I'll make those adjustments next and then sew the boning channels in. On reflection today I'm probably going to leave the side seams until the week or two before the function, just in case I lose more weight (been steadily losing so it'll probably happen).
Stash Busting 2023
Used: 4 metres

elisep

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2019, 12:00:31 PM »
Another progress report!

My feathers arrived today (earlier than I expected) so I got to work painting them gold;

There's about a hundred there, I have another 50 unpainted. I think this will be enough though. I've painted them all differently, some with more gold than others, some only a whisper of paint. I didn't want them to look too uniform, I also didn't want them super super gold, I like how they've turned out mostly black with the light catching the gold.


I've wrapped the frame in black organza, and cut it down to size. I've removed that and once the feathers are dry, will stitch the feathers in rows on the organza. I'll probably need to use a little glue to hold them in position for stitching. I'm thinking that 1 layer of organza isn't enough, I'll probably do 2. I thought about iron on interfacing but you need to be able to stretch the organza around the curves of the frame so I think the organza will be better.

I've got a wedding this weekend so probably won't get much costume time, but if I'm back early enough on sunday I might be able to make some more progress. I'm so excited to see how the collar turns out!!
Stash Busting 2023
Used: 4 metres

Sewingforfun

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2019, 14:57:29 PM »
Oh my, that's going to be amaaaazzzziiinng!
Dancing too much and trying to remember sewing is for fun! Used to be CarolC.

elisep

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #13 on: July 16, 2019, 13:21:07 PM »
Progress update!

Feathers have been sewn onto the organza, then organza hand sewn back onto the frame.
I used strips of organza gathered up to cover the bottom of the feathers on the collar and will have them coming forward to the front of the collar;


I decided the feathers needed a tad more gold to make them pop;


Now to finish the collar off I need to wrap the front wire in ribbon to hide the ends, glue lace onto the back, and sew down the final ruffles. Hopefully only 1 more evening of work there.

I've laid out the front and back and stencilled the gold feathers on;

(photo is of the front. forgot to take a photo of the back!). They're currently hanging to dry, I'll get a better photo once I've sewn the dress back together.

Still needing to do; the boning channels, the lining, the sleeves, and then the embellishment of the bodice of the dress! Phew!
Stash Busting 2023
Used: 4 metres

b15erk

Re: Queen Ravenna
« Reply #14 on: July 16, 2019, 13:27:19 PM »
WOW! @elisep Amazing work.

Look forward to seeing the finished outfit!

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.