G A R N E T " D A G G E R " T I L . A L E X A N D R O S
Final Fantasy IX
L A D Y . A M A L T H E A
The Last Unicorn
The Inspiration
So sometimes, I do Impulse Costumes. The Last Unicorn is one of those movies from my childhood that continues to hold a special place in my heart (despite it's all-over-the-place artwork and awkward animation), for being so different. Lady Amalthea has been one of those costumes that has not-quite-seriously drifted in and out of my brain for years, but I never wanted to spend the money on it. When I was browsing a local Hancock Fabrics during it's closeout sales, I stumbled upon a chunk of lovely lavender satin -- 5 yards, 60" wide, and all of it for only $8. I had to have it. I couldn't argue with the cost, and it would provide me with another costume I could wear to SciFi/Fantasy/Comic Cons.
The Build
I totally borrowed the idea of a blended wig from BreathlessAire's Amalthea costume, but I went for a simple Silver-White and Smokey-Grey mix. The white wig served as the base, and I sewed wefts of the grey in between the white layers for some depth. I ordered both wigs on ebay and they were a bargain at $10 each - not the greatest wigs, but for her style, it worked out just fine. Once both wigs were sewn together I trimmed the bangs, and some of the frizzy bits at the ends.
The dress was based from the Hancocks "Value" satin, which I picked up on a STEAL during their going-out-of-business sale. Originally I was going to use just the satin, but as I became more invested in the project, I decided I'd like a shimmery overlay to give the whole thing a more 'magical' feel, so I picked up some crystal organza at Fabric For Less. I flat-lined each piece of organza-to-satin before sewing the whole thing together. I used a simplicity medieval dress pattern and modified it to suit my needs; I widened the neckline to off-the-shoulder, and adjusted the sleeves to be slight leg-o-mutton style. I put metal eyelets into the front of the dress, to thread the custom laces through. The dark purple accents for the pockets and front lacing were made from leftover brocade pieces from my WCS 2010 Mytho costume. I chose not to make the pockets functional, because I knew that putting anything in them would have just pulled and ruined the line of the dress.
Under the dress I created a short bustier structured layer to accommodate the fact that I couldn't wear a bra with this, and also to help hold the dress up. It's made of pieces of duck canvas with heavy duty plastic zip-ties for boning, and sewn directly into the dress lining. The dress lining is an cheap, thin orchid-colored satin I got by the bolt from BBCrafts. The pink lace trim was another item I picked up during Hancock's Going Out of Business sales, and was sewn to the dress by hand. The dress isn't very full to begin with, but I added 1" horsehair braid into the hemline to give it a little bit of floating body. The shoes are a pair of flats I bought at Walmart, then covered in a mix of purple and iridescent-white glitter.