This dress was commissioned for SakuraCon 2014

I did a bit of research on traditional Norweigian dress before I started this project. Typically skirts are made of wool, shirts of linen or cotton, and bodices of silk or satin. With this in mind I chose my fabrics.

I tried to stay as true to the reference as possible (since the costume isn't mine) while still adding in tiny details that really make things pop. Rather than using plain brass buttons for the bodice, I chose antiqued ones instead. I also added some gathering to the shoulder of each sleeve and lace to the cuffs.

The Rosemaling was the most time consuming part. I took the pattern straight from the skirt into Photoshop and created a vector I could easily print. I then transferred this to a stencil and painted each individual piece by hand using 5 different colors of fabric paint.

Overall this costume took approximately 60 hours to complete.