This was my second recreation of a costume from Lord of the Rings. This is the Traveling Coat worn by Éowyn in The Two Towers as the Rohan refugees go to Helm's Deep. She wears it over her refugee dress. Éowyn has a gold brooch that pins at the top of her coat. When I wear mine, I use a small pin of a horse galloping. Click on the thumbnails below to see the pictures.
 Éowyn walking next to Aragorn. |
 Miranda Ottto getting her hair fixed. The only full length picture I could find. |
 High res closeup of Éowyn. You can see the detail of the fabric very well. |
 A picture of the refugee dress that Éowyn wears under the traveling coat. |
Research
Here are some quick notes on the original coat worn in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers:
The orginal coat was made out of a silk with a floral pattern on it. The sleeves are fitted to the elbow and then flared. There are cords that tie around the top of the sleeve. The original coat has button down the front for decoration purposes, the coat probably was stretchy enough to fit over Miranda Otto's head. The skirt of the coat rises up in front.
Materials and Patterns
I drafted my own pattern for this one. It's pretty basic. I made it in three pieces: the main body (the same pattern piece can be used front and back), the sleeve, and the piece that I cut off the bottom of the front of the coat. Here's a picture of the pattern pieces. The outer fabric is wool that I bought off of Ebay. Five and a half yards for $15.00! I'm using flannel as an interlining.
6.18.04
Recently returned from New York, where I bought China Silk for the lining of my coat. The store was going out of business - it was only $1/yard! On a recent trip to Joann's I also bought the remainder of supplies that I need: buttons, an invisible zipper, and fabric to make piping with. For the front closure I'm going to install and invisible zipper up the front with the buttons sewn over it. I've been experimenting dying swatches of my wool. The tan it is right now is too light (in my opinion). I'm trying to find a happy medium between the dark brown I got when I dyed some this morning and the really light tan the wool is right now. I have a picture of all my supplies:
6.27.04
Almost finished! The lining has been sewn into the coat...the entire thing is bag lined. I ditched the piping idea; I think it would have been too bulky with a zipper and piping. I just used strips of dark brown fabric down the front of the coat. I put the invisible zipper in today. I don't have a zipper foot, but it turns out I didn't really need one. I was just very careful and sewed as close to the coils as possible. I also started sewing the buttons onto the front. I'll probably finish either tomorrow or the next day. The only things left to do are sew on some buttons and the fur trim.
7.1.04
I declare this coat finished! I underestimated the time it would take to whipstich on all of the fur, but it's finally done. I will post pictures soon.
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 Closer shot of the front. |
 Back view and the sleeve shape. |
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