New Baby Hobbit Dress

Over the last couple of years I watched, with anticipation and increasing excitement the release of three new movies by Peter Jackson depicting The Hobbit  by J.R.R. Tolkien. I was really excited to see the costumes and although the movies left me less than satisfied (yeah. . .to put it mildly. . .) I really enjoyed the costumes worn in the scenes from Hobbiton (and Thranduil was awesome. Oh, so awesome).

Actually all the costumes were pretty good. The dwarves, the Laketown residents, the attire of the elves. Beorn. And yes, that sentence was purposely one word. Beorn deserves his own sentence. ;) It was interesting to see how the costume designer made the hobbit costumes look different from those worn in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. Since The Hobbit is set earlier, the costumes reflected the difference in time and had a more 18th century vibe. The clothing was also more diverse, instead of the rather standard chemise-bodice-petticoats outfits worn by women in The Lord of the Rings. 

girls costumes from The Hobbit

Awhile ago I made some baby dresses based on hobbit costumes from The Lord of the Rings. I just finished up a new one that is similar but has some design differences that are inspired by the costumes in The Hobbit. 

I used the same pattern but made the stomacher a bit wider, and made the overskirt split down the front to reveal the under petticoat. 

The back is drawn up as a nod to the polonaised gowns of the late 18th century. To keep with the earthy, organic feel I used natural cotton cord for this instead of ribbons. 

This dress was a complete pain to sew because of the material used. Brocade! Upholstery brocade! It not only was thick and hard to manage, it also raveled like crazy and liked to magically grow and shrink on me. I had a rather big amount of this material at one time and this was the last of it. For that, I am thankful. It did make a cute dress though!

This is also available in the shop. Now to turn my thoughts to the striped 1860's dress. Although now I kinda want to have a reason to make a hobbit dress for me. That can wait though. No more movies coming out. :( Boo. Although I'd definitely watch a mini series based on the residents of Hobbiton if anyone ever decided to make one. 

Love,

Sarah