 Front of dress - far away. |
 The side of the dress. |
 Upper part of the dress and the arms. |
 Front of the dress - close up. |
 Back of the dress. |
Front of dress - far away. |
The side of the dress. |
Upper part of the dress and the arms. |
Front of the dress - close up. |
Back of the dress. |
Buttercup, played by Robin Wright in the movie The Princess Bride, wears this dress on several occasions. It seems to be made of two fabrics: a light blue satin or silk for the body of the dress and a silver satin or silk with a geometric design on it for the trim and the "drapey sleeve things." I originally thought it was princess seamed, but it turns out that was just a fold of the fabric and weird lighting in one of the pictures. The dress has fitted sleeves, a scoop neckline and a long train. The dress has trim on it around the neckline approximately two inches wide and wider trim around the upper part of the arm. The neckline trim has small silver beads sewn onto it. The most interesting thing is the piece of fabric that hangs down from the trim around the upper arm. It's made of the same fabric as the trim, and appears to be a long piece of fabric in the shape of a "U" that hangs down to the floor.
5.22.04
I purchased my fabric for this dress! It came from joann.com. It's "Casa Satin," and the color is listed as being Teal-Turquoise-Aqua. You can see it here. I don't have the fabric yet for the trim. Unless I find something acceptable (unlikely) I might have to hand print some, which wouldn't be a big deal since it's not very much fabric. I decided to use a pattern for this dress. I'm going to use McCall 4490 and McCall 4491. Modifications will, of course, be made. I'm only using these patterns for a few parts of the dress.
5.27.04
Well, today I started sewing my dress together. I cut out the pattern pieces (and drafted out the princess seams) using McCall 4491. I haven't put in the sleeves yet or sewn up the back seam (I haven't gotten a zipper yet). I'm going to use the long sleeves on McCall 4490 for the sleeves. The fabric I'm using frays into oblivion if you look at it the wrong way; I finished all the inside edges with the zig-zag. I probably should have done french seams, but by the time I realized how much the fabric frays, it was too late to change. This weekend I'll go buy an invisible zipper for the back and look for possible fabric to use for the trim.
5.31.04
I'm quite close to finishing my dress. The invisible zipper has been sewn in; it gave me a little bit of trouble with the way the dress was fitting, but I fixed it. I've also put on the neck trim with some pretty silver satin I got at Hancock's when I went to buy a zipper. For the hem of the skirt I just did a zig zag over the edge. I'll probably go back later and turn that under. Today I sewed on the trim and drapey fabric onto one of the arms, which was a pain in the butt to do. I had to use an embroidery hoop and do it by hand since I had already sewn up the arms by then. That's okay though...at least one thing one all my dresses is sewn by hand. I think it gives it a more personal feel. Things I still need to do are sew the trim on the other arm, sew the beading on, and maybe turn the hem under.
6.3.04
My dress is finished! I will post pictures soon.
 |
 Shot of the drapes on the sleeves. |
 Don't know why, but this is my favorite picture of this costume. |
 Back of the dress and the train. |
 Close-up of the beading. |
 The fabric is not really that shiny. |