General Tutorial for Danaerys Targaryen Quarth Dress

The Lady Rogues -- Dragon*Con 2013

Salutations!

So about a month before DragonCon 2013 I decided I wanted to do one of Dany's dresses from Game of Thrones. I initially was planning to do Stahma Tarr from Defiance, but decided that body paint in the heat and high humidity of Atlanta was a bad idea...SO, since I already had the white wig and it looked a lot like Khaleesi BAM!

This dress happened to be my favorite color and seemed pretty simple to make...so I took a shot. I'll start off with how I made the shoulder pieces and the belt. These were the most time consuming parts and you need the shoulder pieces in order to start the dress. When I was researching the costume, I came across a lot of different ways that these pieces had been done, such as Warbla, laser-cut acrylic, craft foam, hot glue, leather, etc. Since I didn't want to wait for Warbla to get mailed to me and I've never really worked with craft foam or leather I got a little creative and dropped a whopping $2.99 on some plastic placemats at my local base exchange (aka the Air Force Walmart...). The placemats worked great, they are sturdy and hold their shape, and they took the spray paint really well.

First, I made patterns for the shoulder pieces on regular paper (I can scan them and post them if anyone cares...) and then traced them onto the placemat with Sharpie. Next, I used a Dremel tool and a steel all-purpose engraving bit (it's triangle shaped) to cut all of it out. ((Human Factors disclaimer: don't Dremel for more than 30 minutes at a time - take a break - because of repetitive stress injury from the vibrations and awkward sitting and hand positions etcetc.)) I also tried the 561 all-purpose drill-bit but it didn't work as well. Also, it's not shown here but I dremeled really tiny holes at the top and bottom for when I hand-stitched the pleated dress fabric onto the shoulder pieces. I used a ruler and evenly marked the distance with a Sharpie. The holes were about twice the size of my sewing needle.

Placemat material

Top: Plastic Placemat, Bottom: Foam

 
Also, just out of curiosity I had some light weight sticky-backed foam left over from something-or-another so I tried exacto knifing out the pattern and spray painting it. The bottom one on the left is foam and the top is the plastic placemat for comparison. Foam looked a bit too crafty for my liking so I continued on to the belt with placemats. I think needed 3 placemats for the whole project.

 Next, I started the "fun" process of drawing out a pattern to use for the belt. This took a few hours...cutting it out took a few more and was the biggest pain in my arse for the whole project. Again, if anyone cares or wishes, I'll scan and post the pattern to save some time.

I measured my waist and then sketched out ~17inches which was half. In hindsight I would've added some extra length to make closing the belt easier but whateves. I figured I would do half completely and then just mirror it for the other half...which appears to be how her belt is anyway since it is symmetric in the middle.

However, when I went to cut pieces out of the placemat I realized that I would have to do a front piece and a back piece due to the length (18in) of the placemat. So I changed the plan a bit...but it worked out great.

Paper belt pattern

Front belt piece, partially dremeled

Finished Dress at Dragon*Con 2013

 To attach the front and back pieces I stitched one side of the front to one side of the back with gold thread. To close the belt I used large flat hook and eye attachments meant for clothing. I dremeled tiny holes in the edges and sewed  the hooks and eyes onto opposing sides of the belt using gold thread again. This was super sturdy and really easy to get on/off...however I (like Dany) was lucky enough to have the help of handmaidens getting into and out of this costume :)


Fabric was cheap polyester chiffon from JoAnn Fabric (cost was ~$40 for 6 yards with 40% off coupon!). Edges were rolled hem with a serger...some were classy rolled hem with a hemmer foot - but that thing is evil and wicked hard with chiffon and therefore I didn't have the patience to do the whole dress with it lol.

Rolled hem with serger

I hand-sponged the fabric with gold 'soft' fabric paint using a few different small sea-sponge. In hindsight I wish I had been a bit more heavy handed with the gold paint. If I redo this costume with better fabric (actual silk chiffon), I might try hand-laying gold leaf. Just make sure to use something beneath the fabric when you're sponging it on, because it bleeds through like crazy.

The wig was super cheap, from eBay. Again, wish I had gotten a better quality, but for $10 it's pretty decent. I braided the wig to get the crimped look and then wetted and hairsprayed the braids. I should have boiled it to really make it set...but luckily my friend Kat was able to brush it out and style it amazingly <3.

 For the dress itself, I followed the tutorial here: http://www.idothingsilove.com/2013/03/how-to-make-daenerys-qarth-gown.html

The tutorial is amazing...and I probably would've way over-thought this dress without it. Yay for doing research on costumes before you start them! She also has a lot of other neat tutorials so check it out!

I think that's all for now...let me know if I've derp'd and have typos or if you have questions <3

MTFBWYA,
Mother o' Dragons ^_^

And more pictars because it pleases me....

Fit test...with dragon!