Its silhouette is pretty simple, but this costume was actually a beast to make. I did all my own patterning while obsessively referencing the show and every exhibit photo I could find, puzzling out seam placement, and cursing the show's constant color-grading the whole time. XD
I could not find a fabric anywhere local in the color of the blue gown and with the right raw-silk texture - not surprising, this is Game of Thrones we're talking about and no expense was spared in their costume department. Anything with the texture was prohibitively expensive and thus I was terrified of needing to dye it. I ended up having to compile the look by overlaying two fabrics, a sheer over a printed cotton, and flat-lining them together. However, the stripey pattern ran the wrong direction on the fabric, so I had to piece all of my long, patterned panels from smaller sections before flat-lining, and also randomize the pattern further with a great deal of hand-painting stripes in or out of it. The blue gown alone consists of 16 of these floor-length, multi-part panels. My inner Accurate Seamstress spent the whole time screaming but I had to be a Budget Costumer for this project. The one costly fabric I allowed myself was the delicate, open-weave silk for her exposed chemise cuffs, which are facade pieces affixed to the gown. The neck of the chemise is also a facade piece made of linen which matches the cuffs.
The coat, I'm sad to say, is the wrong color. It should be more blue and probably a fine wool, but once again neither local fabric stores nor the good ones 3 hours drive away turned up anything with the precise color and drape of Cat's coat. I had to settle for a large budget roll of unlabeled hunter green fabric which I suspect is flannel. There wasn't time to experiment with dye before my deadline so I gritted my teeth and made a green coat. The pattern for the sleeves was especially interesting to figure out. They are each a single pattern piece that looks like a mermaid's tail, with a strange fold to the cuff.
Their trim is rabbit fur (sorry bun lovers!), and I even matched the color and texture patterns of the original by piecing together many small parts of three pelts.
No one seems to sell wigs in Cat's shade of dark auburn, so I bought a lace-front wig from Arda in Dark Copper Red. I had to dye it darker and that was a week-long nightmare. I tried multiple types of dye according to tutorials for Arda wigs, and the one which tested successfully on trimmed samples behaved completely differently with the whole wig. Finally an extremely cautious dip in iPoly brown dye toned the copper down within tolerance, but I'm still traumatized by the whole thing. lol!
For all my nitpicks and stress about colors and textures, I am pretty happy with the overall cut of this costume. It feels regal to wear those soft, long sleeves and see the coat's hem trail out behind me at a walk. Our trip to take photos in the San was a wonderful experience Now if I just had Michelle Fairley's face.. :)
