Dressing Ophelia – Part 1

I’m so excited about this project!  Ophelia is my absolute favorite John Williams Waterhouse painting, and one of my just plain old favorite paintings. I’m a big fan of the Pre-Raphaelite painters in general; I love the source material of classic legends, fairytales, and myths, and the deliriously beautiful figures and ladies.  I think this was fantasy art before fantasy art existed.

I’m going at this in a very specific manner.  I wanted really to work in ‘period’ fabrics, but as Pre-Raphaelite costume design has little-to-no real historical basis, I’ve let that one slide a little.  I was very interested in going with a dupioni silk (a rough woven, slubbed silk) in a pale gold and blue crossweave, but the color and style I wanted was very expensive.  I was willing to pay for it, until I came across a wonderful synthetic dupioni at a wholesale clearance at Wesco Fabrics.  It was only $3 a yard, had the crossweave colors I wanted, and was actually a little better that the dupioni I’d been considering – less shiny! - so I couldn’t pass that up!

The second fabric I went hunting for was the gold for the trim throughout the dress.  This was difficult, too, as I wanted a color well suited to the blue-gold dress fabric, needed something lighter that would be appropriate for appliqué, but wasn’t a shiny plastic metallic.  Here too I checked out a few more expensive silks, but finally came across this synthetic charmeuse in a warm, rich gold that went perfectly with the dress fabric.  It has a bit of a metallic sheen without being SHINY.

So I’m great for materials at this point!  I’ve ordered gemstone chips for the beadwork on the cuffs and hem; I still need seed pearls for the sleeves.  I’ve also completed my alterations to the pattern… here’s how that went!

This medieval style of dress would typically be known as a cotehardie, a closely fitted garment with sleeves.  There are LOTS of patterns for this style of dress, commercial patterns included.  I started with one – the Butterick 4827 – that has a good look, the fitted bodice and sleeves and flared skirt I’m looking for.  It also had the style of neckline I was looking for; while it’s possible to alter for that, it’s of course easiest to start closer to your final product.

However, one thing about the pattern I didn’t like… the super princess seams.  These are clearly absent from the painting (alas, there is a lack of seam lines at all, but I digress), and as princess seams are considered a more modern application, I wanted to avoid it.  For me, the simple answer was to draft them out!  I did this by carefully folding and laying out the pattern pieces until the seam was matched up, much like one would while sewing them together.  Then I traced over the combined pattern pieces using tracing paper to create an entirely new pattern piece.  I did leave the princess seams in the back; while it’s only partially period, it’s also serving to keep that fitted appearance that I wanted while still being somewhat hidden in the back.  The curve of the side seams were deepened to accommodate for the fitting that was drafted out by removing the princess seams.

As you saw from yesterday, I did some additional fitting using some scrap that later got turned into a cute apron!  I wrapped the waist with a spare piece of fabric to check how the fit would appear with the belt on; it serves a great purpose of helping to cinch in the waistline for a better fit, as well!  I’ll also be adding a wider flare to the skirt at the hips to get that extra, dramatic fullness!

Next time: Dun dun dun!  Finding and creating the lion rampant appliqué.  Whew!  Lots of cutting.

I’m also thinking Tuesday posts will be costuming oriented… I do love a theme!

Tags: costumes, ophelia, art, sewing