Who is Grimilde Malatesta?
Daenerys white fur coat
Well, you know THE coat.
I knew I wanted to make it the moment I saw it, and I was like “please please, don’t wear anything better in the last episode” and so it was.
You know I’m against making a costume right after the show aires, just because there’s not enough info to make it accurate. But this was not the case. The internet went mad for that coat, and many interviews and closeups were released just a week after the show.
I will leave you to the usual page, for the costume study:
The main problem, besides the chain, is the cost of good faux fur. I have bought two meters of excellent ones, and the one for the back, but then I purchased a lower pile one to make the more detailed parts, the one with all those tiny stripes too close to appreciate a good long pile.
The problem is that the shorter fur is a bit shiny, but I think I can get that away with some talcum powder.
I ordered from Mohair Bear. It’s not cheap, but it’s good quality. I would never trust aliexpress on something like this.
here are my samples:
I have started from the easy part: the back one.
The pattern is drawn on the back, then sewed, then the fur is cut and painted, as I wasn’t able to find some long pile fur so dark on the inside.
Now I am studying how to blend the white parts. The longer pile white fur is very thick to sew through, maybe to much to leave the pleather stripes live.
Here you can see the progress on the back part. The technique for the white parts is similar: count the number of lines, and draw them on the pattern piece with a grid. Transfer the drawing on the reverse side of the faux fur, then sew on each line from top to bottom, to get a precise line on the front side.
Then I have added the stripes of pleather and trimmed the fur. I trimmed the fur with embroidery scissors, I have tried with the electric razor and beard trimmers, but they don’t seem to be as precise as scissors, at least in the small parts.
The back was then painted. On the white parts there’s a complex game of pulling out some hair from under the pleather stripe to create the right amount of hair, and the fading parts. And here is the artistry, here’s where you can really play and create some shades that can flatter the figure with a wise placement of darker parts, as in the original one.
Here there’s some more pictures of the work in progress. I have painted the lines on the coat in a different photoshop layer to have the same proportion, and then I have drawn them on the reverse side of the faux fur with a grid, as it’s easy to make less or more than needed otherwise. Some parts are cut, others just pulled out of the zigzag stitch, but the process is the very same described above.
The following pictures with the panels on the mannequin were with the panels only pinned, once assembled the gaps between panels, especially the back top and bottom, will be worked so they don’t look like separate pieces.
Once the panels were ready, I cut the lining, in gray, and did a fitting test with just the outer panels assembled. Once lined (the back part and the shoulder joint will be tricky to line) and added the hooks, at least the coat will be done. Still need to complete the chain, to color the gloves and complete the boots. And restyle the wig, of course.
When assembling, the innerm collar and the lower shoulder parts were lined with pieces of fur. The edge has been kept sharp by using an other pleather stripe.
Shoulders could be a bit wider, but I’ll see once it’s done if I need to unpick the outer pleather stripe and add some fake fur to improve proportions.
I almost fainted when i saw again the picture of me trying the coat on: it’s on the wrong side. Then I realised it was mirrored, of course. I checked three times before cutting.
In the end, I made this in a very short time frame, compared with the amount of work. I had to force myself not to stop, in order to complete it on time, and to keep the right amount of time to complete costumes I’m working on for others.
I have switched to an other faux fur entirely, for the white parts. Less shiny, softer and not bulky, but always lmedium to long pile, I have not used the shiny short one. The new one is not as snow white as the first one, but it worked just as well. And it came for half of the price I paid for the first one, and it’s not a cheaper quality.
I have lived for a week with faux fur hair everywhere. All over the living room and kitchen. I have found white hair on my clothes as if I had ten white cats. I have eaten faux fur hair, I have found them in my tea, in my nose, in my lashes. Using adhesive tape helps, but there’s just nothing you can do, even if you sew with the vacuum cleaner beside you. I am considering wearing a mask, if I ever have to make an other one.
I am now waiting for some professional photos to show you. In the meantime there’s a little preview made with mobile. The photographer of these frirst pictures is Nicoletta Bologna.
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