The Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #26-Celebrate!

This is a post concerning the two dresses I made for seeing the first and second HOBBIT movies. The blue one (an original design, since I went as Gilraen, Aragorn's mother) was made last December for "The HOBBIT: An Unexpected Journey" and doesn't count for the HSF challenge, but I'm including it just for fun. But first, the Challenge gown. Then, I promise you'll get more photos of the blue one below :) 

This here is the gown I made for seeing "The HOBBIT: Desolation of Smaug" 2 weeks ago. It's mostly a self-drafted pattern...which explains why I spent most of my time altering it! It's made of Wine-Colored Velveteen and Soft Pink Silk. The Velveteen dress has cap sleeves with double Princess-Seams (like Susan Pevensie's green archery gown from LWW). The pink under-sleeves are attached to the cap sleeves and end in a point at the knuckles. It's medieval-inspired but I'm not entirely sure how historically accurate it is. As for the shoes, they were a miracle of a Goodwill find from this Summer and I couldn't resist their charm! They go really well with my Regency dresses!
What's that? Oh! You like my new haircut? Why, thank you! I think it will go with my 1930s and '40s plans for the HSF 2014 very nicely!

Sleeve Detail

Yeah, I'm a foot and ankle model like Black and Tan

Shoe detail

Marley (My sister/photographer) was jumping up and down with excitement over how well this shot turned out!

The Challenge: #26-Celebrate! I am celebrating the release of The HOBBIT films!!!

Fabric: 3 yards Velveteen, 1 yard raw silk

Pattern: Hand-Drafted

Year: 1200s?

Notions: Thread

How historically accurate is it?: Not sure so...not very...I suppose ;)

Hours to complete: 4ish

First worn: December 14th to "The HOBBIT: Desolation of Smaug"

Total cost: Stash Fabric so $0!

Now, on to my Gilraen gown! It's made of about 4 yards of an unknown rather sparkly dark blue fabric (a rayon/cotton blend, perhaps?) with a yard of stretch lace for the sleeve extensions. There is a separate shirt underneath made of another unknown fabric (I'm really bad about the proper names! It's ribbed with a silky quality to it. If you have any thoughts, please comment!). This dress is also self-designed and self-drafted and I purposely made it too big so that it would gather underneath the girdle that is made of the same stretch lace as the sleeve extensions. It went really well with the red cape I made this Spring (Oh, the blessings of being a costume designer for the stage and screen!) The cape is made of red velveteen and is (you guessed it) a self-drafted pattern. 
I was inspired by the Renaissance gowns of the 1500s and thought that Gilraen's age of Middle Earth might have reflected a different time period than that of her son's.

It was SOOOO cold this noon!

Closeup of the bodice and the tricky fabric

Lace details

There you have it! Two Lord of the Rings/Medieval/Renaissance-Inspired gowns. Perhaps something you might find straight out of a Waterhouse painting, if I do say so myself. Which do you like better? And do you have any ideas as to what the mystery fabrics really are? I wish I could give them a title! Please comment below if you have any thoughts on the matter or if you want to give me a virtual pat on the back for the blood, sweat and tears that is the life of any seamstress!