Legolas of Mirkwood

for Return of the King, Christmas 2003

This is another costume I made for the midnight showing of Return of the King. I had no patterns to work with, so I just made it up as I went along. The sleeves were undoubtedly the hardest part of the costume. It's a good things Elves are immortal...it would take a good century to get their clothes right! Rim hennaid to my lovely friend Sabrina (Sirani�l), for all her advice on this costume. Without your emails this mightn't have gotten off the sewing-table!

The undershirt is made of ice-blue silk essence, a fabulous fabric with a great sheen and texture to it. It has the same bell sleeves as Legolas' standard "Fellowship" shirt, not the Return of the King version with the lacing on the sleeves, as I didn't find out about that in time. The collar fastens with a standard hook-and-eye.

The jerkin is made of two shades of stretch green suedecloth I found on the dollar-yard rack. I had to make this pattern up as I went along, and my Elf grew two inches taller on me during the making of it, so it's slightly shorter than I wanted it to be, but in my mind it's close enough. (I'm never, ever making another, though.) The under-part of the jerkin is a light, almost-sage green, which contrasts beautifully with the dark olive of the upper parts.

The bracers are black felt, stippled with two shades of brown paint. This stiffened the felt to allow for shaping, and gave it a mottled look that resembles leather. (It was also inexpensive!) The bracers were then stencilled with metallic gold paint in a vine pattern. They close with Velcro straps.

 

 

  The sleeves are two parts: the under, wraparound "petal" sleeve and the upper "flap" with the stencilling. These sleeves were quite possibly the most difficult bit of sewing I've ever undertaken. Blood, sweat, and tears went into the making of this thing. The vine pattern on the jerkin was done freehand with metallic silver fabric paint. (Stress=freehand painting on a jerkin that's taken over twenty hours to get right.) I'm quite pleased with the result, though.

The trousers are made of a stretch grey cotton blend with a slight "heathered" look to it, giving it a better overall appearance than one plain colour. They're standard trousers with an elastic waistband and tapered leg; nothing fancy, but quite serviceable.

The black suede boots are purchased from the clearance bin at Wal-Mart, as is the black belt.

The cloak is a fabulous grey-black heather wool that I got for a steal at $2 a yard. It has the traditional "Fellowship" pointed hood, and comes approximately to the knee. It's lined in black crepe because my Elf didn't like the feel of the wool against his tender skin. Picky!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's closed by a heavy-duty hook-and-eye which is then covered with a replica I made of the Fellowship brooch.

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