Hobbit Lass outfit

made and designed by Luinel
inspired by Danielle's work dress in Ever After

As a child, we never celebrated Halloween. I never went trick or treating. There was one harvest fest at are church where i dressed up (i think as Laura from Little House on the Prarie) and one homeschool book report (with other homeschoolers where we dressed up as our favorite character) where i dressed up as Abigail from Ten Kids No Pets. Until i was over eighteen i never wore costumes. That sort of changed when we moved to Colorado and began helping with the Harvest Festivals at our church. The first year i threw together a Hobbit costume that was decidedly lacking (but pretty good for two hours planning). When i joined the NC Fellowship i knew that would no longer make the cut.

So i decided to make myself a costume. Unlike most of my peers i didn't have anyone i wanted to emulate. I only knew that i am mainly a Frodo and Gandalf fan (and i didn't want to dress like them, particularly because our mod already had a good Frodo outfit). Luinel was only beginning to be born deep in my mind and, at this point, was only the alias i used in the group. I didn't have much time to make a costume. I decided to watch Ever After for inspiration (one of my favorite Drew Barrymore films). Almost instantly, my Hobbit lass outfit was born.

Danielle's work dress is the inspiration, but as i have no one to lace me up nor the budget for the fabric to make so many layers i found a pattern that was slightly similar but not identical and used it. I wanted to use all natural fibers (the obvious exception is my cloak) so i scrounged for 100% cotton (i shopped at Mary Jo's Fabrics, Wal-Mart, and Hancock Fabrics), and dyed the overdress blue myself. For the undershirt i was sort of inspired by Eowyn and made a v-neck, for the colors i was inspired by Gandalf and chose a dark grey courderoy. I always intended to sew arm bands or wear cotton yarn wrapped around my sleeves (like Dannielle and Eowyn respectively) but never got around to sewing the cuffs or braiding some cotton. The shirt's fabric is a natural linen instead of strongly bleached, the overdress' less finely woven and even more natural with brown flecks. The skirt was only a yard of fabric: i cut it with a slight A-line shape, designed my own button flap, and used these beautiful grey buttons that i found at Hancock (plastic, but beautiful).

The result is what you see before you. Very little modification, buttonholes for the laces (which i swore never to do again, particularly because the buttonholer was broken on the machine i was using and i had to do it myself with zigzag and a four point turn), and a quick costume in time for the Renaissance Faire in Huntersville, NC. All in all: looking back i would have done things differently, but i learned a lot, and now have no desire to stop costuming.

patterns
Simplicity 7756 B overdress (modification = buttonholes instead of eyelets)
a pattern of my aunt's for the top (an old one that i borrowed and would not recommend to anyone)
no pattern for skirt
the cloak was made from a pattern / tutorial at Alley Cat's LotR Costumes

fabric
100% cotton muslin, loosely woven, with brown flecks throughout
100% cotton muslin, natural
100% cotton courderoy, dark grey (not historically accurate from a Renaissance pov, but pretty, none the less)
i don't remember what kind of fabric i made the cloak from, though it was definitely artificial in origin and semi-melted when ironed; it has a rough texture on one side and is soft on the other side and is very warm

notions
light blue thread
white thread
white cotton cord for lacing
four dark grey buttons (for skirt closure)
non-fusible interfacing (for lacing reinforcement)