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Halloween Costume Contest 2014

Eagle: from Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit

Gwaihir, the Eagle from The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit

The Eagle, Gwaihir, from Lord of the Rings, is a noble and heroic bird. The daughter who wore the costume wanted something wearable, yet very like an eagle. I constructed the base coat from a gold taffeta fabric, in the style of a modified surcoat. Then I made hundreds of “feathers”, fusing a light gold or brown taffeta to the gold base taffeta, cutting out various sizes and sewing along the center of each feather to give it dimension. The feathers were sewed onto the coat in rows, with longer feathers in the back and lower edges, shorter ones towards the top. The sleeves have an added fabric piece so sew the wing feather onto. The outfit worn under the coat is a brown shirt and pants, with brown boots. The head is a soft sculpture eagle head, with a leather beak. The sculpture was formed out of upholstery batting, hand sewn to create the shape, and then covered with the same gold fabric as the coat. Then details were soft sculpted, feathers added, eyes added and lined. The head drapes down over the shoulders of the coat. The eagle also had a circlet crown, as Gwaihir is the king of the eagles.  My daughter was amazed at the weight of the coat with all thos feathers! A belt, that closes the front but goes under the coat in the back helps create a nice sillouette.

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