Alicent Hightower Costume

Description

My project is an Alicent Hightower costume from House of the Dragon. The goal was to make my version as close to the original as my skills would allow.

I initially tried draping the pattern, but my dress form wasn’t similar enough in size and build to me. Another costumer wisely told my math challenged self “Any one or two dart bodice pattern is a sloper.” I picked up a simple darted top pattern at Goodwill for about $.50. It fit reasonably well, and I made a mockup that I repeatedly put on and removed to pin out excess fabric and draw new seam lines until it fit the way I wanted it to, then used a ruler to add a flared skirt to my bodice pieces.

I took a similar approach to patterning the upper sleeves. I cut a basic sleeve pattern and adjusted the seam allowance and shape until it fit my upper arm comfortably and fit the armscye of my dress mockup. From there, I cut the shape at the cuff and moved the seam from the underarm to the outside of the arm. I realized that I wanted to embroider the sleeves while flat, so I added a new underarm seam. I cut my first mockup of the lower sleeve with no flare and an outward curve where it gathers to the cuff. This was too bulky at the bicep, so I cut a flared shape. While my second mockup wasn’t “poofy” enough, I was happy with the shape. I widened the flare on my paper pattern and cut the silk chiffon.

I rotary cut each piece and flatlined the silk with a synthetic taffeta to give it a little more body. I basted the pieces together by hand and then finished the edges on my serger. I sewed the bodice center front seam and pressed the pleat before assembling the dress. I basted the invisible zipper by hand and then sewed it by machine with my invisible zipper foot. The silk and taffeta fabrics did not stretch the same way my muslin mockup did, so the sleeves had to be eased and basted by hand before machine sewing them.

I initially drew the central motif for the neckline and sleeves by hand, but it was too large. I took a photo of this drawing and opened it in my Bernina Creator software, where I manually traced it and scaled this down to the size I had settled on for my dress. I saved this as a single outline stitch with a 6mm stitch length.

I opened an image of the screen used costume in my software and scaled it down until the central motif was the same size as the one I digitized. From there, I traced the other shapes around the neckline as closely as I could. I placed my sleeve on a cutting mat with a grid and took a photo, which I scaled to make the grid match a one inch square in the digitizing software. I placed the traced neckline embroidery on my image of the sleeve and changed the angles to better align with my sleeve cuff. I did the same with an image of my neckline. The embroidery around the central motif was broken into two files for the sleeves and three for the neckline. I printed templates for each file and used them to place the embroidery on my neckline and sleeves. I floated the sleeves and neckline on sticky tear away stabilizer. Once the machine embroidered outlines were done, I used a plant dyed wool thread to stem stitch over them. The beads were sewn with silk thread.

Although I chose to use a serger to finish my interior seams more quickly in my mad dash to be ready in time for a convention, I still wanted to hand finish some parts of this costume. The beaded trim around the neckline, cuffs, and chiffon sleeve openings was sewn by hand, as was the gold soutache trim on the cuffs. The cuffs and top of the zipper are closed with metal hooks and thread loops. The raw edges on the neckline and upper sleeve openings were tacked down by hand, taking care not to go through the silk layer, and then covered by hand with bias cut silk facings cut from scraps. I did this to create a nicer finish and to protect the back of the embroidery and beadwork.