Queen Esther, Round Two

Okay, so, I have an addiction. The costumes from the anime Trinity Blood are really, really gorgeous. Well, okay, the costumes in the artbook. Those are my true addiction. Thores Shibamoto, the artist who created all the pieces in the book, went all out with embroidery, beadwork, and crazy detail everywhere.

Years and years ago, I started the Trinity Blood craziness by recreating Cardinal Caterina Sforza's outfit. I managed to get Hellkitty into the craziness, as well, and I made Asta Asran's outfit for her. Now, I'm working on Queen Esther Blanchett's black and gold gown. It's going really well, but it's a slow process since I have to constantly order supplies, and, at this point, I'm waiting for the Christmas ribbons to come out, crossing my fingers that they'll carry the same stuff as last year so I can stock up on the one that I've been using on Esther.

So, in the meantime, I've started on yet another Trinity Blood costume. I've had this one in mind for a while. Hellkitty has made her own version of it, and it has really grown on me. It really has some amazingly lovely details.

I had gathered some of the materials for this quite some time ago. I wanted to get started on the embroidery as soon as possible, since I knew that it would take the longest amount of time. Unfortunately, the fabric, a heavy bridal satin, and the embroidery floss, just sat around in the project box for quite a while as I worked on commissions and other things.

But, since returning from TrekCon, I've decided to take a couple of weeks for my own projects. So, after catching up on the black and gold Esther, I dug out the fabric for this one and set to work.

I drew up some sketches based off of the artwork. Since there's only the one image of this gown, it's a little hard to tell what's going on. It's a bit frustrating, but it does allow for a bit more creativity.

I later sketched out a rough idea of what I wanted the bodice embroidery to look like. I've been doing Elizabethan embroidery for years, so I knew roughly what I wanted to do. After looking at some extant embroidery examples, and using the design visible on the sleeve as a base, I decided that the roses would be Tudor Roses, and the stems would be done in a Ceylon stitch. Originally, I had planned on trying my hand at a plaited braid stitch, but as it's generally reserved for goldwork, and it's apparently a complete beast to conquer, I decided the Ceylon stitch was a better way to go.

So now, I've transferred my finished embroidery pattern onto the fabric, and have started on the embroidery. The Tudor Rose design was found on Needle 'n Thread, and was exactly what I had in mind. This would go where all the circles were in the design that I sketched out.

The embroidery I did isn't nearly as complicated as hers. I used a chain stitch for all the gold parts, in a very fine thread that allowed me to get really small stitches. The pink was done in satin stitch, with the centre petals being done in a long-and-short stitch to get the colour fade effect. The red accents were all done in a double-running stitch.

I've been working on this for the past two days, and have made some good progress. I know this isn't going to be a quick project. There is a LOT of embroidery on this gown. Not only does it feature on the centre font of the gown on the false stomacher, but it's also on the sleeves, the gloves, the overskirt, and the standing ruff. Yikes! Still, all this work will definitely be worth it in the end, and I'm looking forward to seeing it come together.