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Merry Brandybuck, a Hobbit Costume
by Seamstress Carol
(Raleigh NC)
Merry Brandybuck, a Hobbit Costume
It turns out it is very difficult to find wool and if you do, it runs about $45/yd; since both cloak and coat need more than 3 yards, that would have been over $300, way too much. However, I lucked into finding wool of a decent color at a thrift shop for the cloak for $3, but there wasn't as much as most patterns call for, so I had to be creative in layout and cutting, and completely make up the hood myself.
The coat was made from a faded sofa slipcover, but again, I had to be very creative in trying to fit the 19 garment pieces on the various pieces of slipcover, working around fading stains and tears. Outer vest material came from thrift shop also as well as the pants, which were modified from a thrift shop, simply cut find.
Shirt was made from a muslin that I washed and bleached to get to the right shade of white. The bag is made of a commercial faux suede with leather trim and a root for a button.
Tried to adhere to hobbit-details down to buttons etc as well as my particular hobbit's height and size. It was really difficult to copy the quilted/stipling design on the vest; I took photos, reversed to negative prints to pick up details, and sketched out several times. The vest stipling took over 40 hours; the whole outfit took about 300 hours of hand-sewing.
My hobbit wore it to his place of work, a famous video game company. When he came tromping through my woods with the hood up, my dog sounded a fierce hobbit alarm.
