Tag Archives: harry potter

How to replicate a dress with zero reference images.

Hermione's red dress beads

This picture is from a few days ago, but the red dress is (almost) finished! I want to redo the flower thing in the middle to make it look less flat, and it’s lacking beads but other than that it’s done! I wore it the other night when Boyfriend and I went on a pre-Valentine’s Day date. It’s swirly and lovely and I completely forgot to take pictures. -headdesk-

I’ll get on that.

I think I have an unhealthy obsession with Hermione. In the past month, I have made two of her sweaters, one dress, a hat.

On top of that, I started a scarf the other day..

Hogwarts PoA Scarf

..and I’m in the beginning stages of a second dress.

Hermione's pink dress fabric

This dress is absolutely gorgeous but it’s driving me insane. It was handmade by Jenny Packham for Hermione to wear to Slughorn’s Christmas party, and since the entire scene lasts all of a minute and a half and happens in the dark, there aren’t a lot of reference images. In fact the only ones I could find online were about fifty pixels wide. So I’ve been watching that scene and saving screen captures in the attempt to find one that actually shows me how the seams are done on the bodice. I thought I had it figured out, but after two hours of attempting to recreate a pattern of it, I deemed it impossible and have added a stomach panel under the crinkled bust bit.

Like this, basically:

Hermione's pink dress pattern making

And I may have ordered more yarn to redo the Deathly Hallows Fair Isle cardigan in the proper colors.

I need about eight more sets of hands.

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Ruffles.

Hermione red dress progress 5

I’m getting the most odd collection of blisters on my hands. What’s even more sad is I can clearly distinguish which have resulted from knitting and which are due to sewing.

In other news, this dress is coming along quite faster than I had thought it would. The actual dress itself was pretty simple to put together, it’s all of the ruffles that have been a strange sort of therapeutic nightmare.

Next up: fixing/finishing the ruffles, and then beads!

As you can probably tell, some of the ruffles are crooked. I also don’t quite like the way they lie currently so I’m going to stretch them out to the edge of the skirt and then trim them inwards so they’re fatter at the waist and taper downward to the edge.

As for beads, I can’t decide what kind to use. In the reference photos I’ve been using, they either look like very small sequins or seed beads. I’m going with seed beads, but I can’t decide if I should get red opaque ones or the clear ones with red in the center.

Hermione red dress progress 3 Hermione red dress progress 4

Last night as I was getting ready to take a shower, I happened to glance at my reflection and noticed something red on my belly button. After a sudden panicking flash of “OH NOES I’M BLEEDING” ran through my mind, I looked down and realized that a tangle of red thread had taken up residence in my navel.

I feel like this indicates some underlying issues.

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Stripes.

Applications for graduate school are due tomorrow –most of them anyway. This has, of course, resulted in a lot of stress which has in turn led to a lot of knitting breaks to maintain a certain level of sanity.

And so I present you with a progress photo.

CIMG1017

I’ve got the ribbing done on the other sleeve. If I finish this today (and by “if” I mean “when”), I’ll have made 2.89 sweaters in three weeks. I think I have problems.

Andd here’s one of me wearing my cabled Hermione hat. I ended up adding some elastic to the ribbed part because it was really just too loose. Now it’s slightly too tight. Might have to adjust the elastic so my ears don’t fall asleep.
CIMG1004

Harry Potter apparently leads to knitting obsession.

Usually sewing is my thing. Usually knitting is something I do when I’m away from my sewing machine and so bored I can’t survive without making something, anything.

But then again before three weeks ago, really the only thing I knew how to do was knit, purl, and decrease. I had only a vague idea of how to cast on properly (I used to crochet a single chain and pull loops onto a knitting needle. Embarrassing, amirite?), a vague concept of something that slightly resembled k2tog, and not even the faintest clue how to add stitches. Needless to say, I mostly stuck to scarves and the occasional lumpy hat.

But somehow in the past three weeks, I’ve watched loads of online tutorials and read all kinds of diagrams, and not only can I do all of the above, but I’ve also mastered cables! (Seriously, cables were a bit of a mystical beast before.) I’m even dropping phrases like “k2tog” in a blog post, apparently I also gained quite a bit of coolness in the last three weeks.

Anyway, I place all the blame of this recent surge of inspiration on the latest Harry Potter movie. There’s no other explanation.