Kaylee is my favorite character from Firefly but her wardrobe is lacking when compared to Inara's. So after making a few of Kaylee's costumes, my attention has turned to Inara. I don't even pretend that I would make a good Inara but her costumes are just too pretty to pass up. =)

I didn't even start planning this one until I found the fabric. I was having the worst time finding the brocade and finally found one that was pretty good on eBay. The hunt was actually for the gold brocade for Inara's costume from Serenity. There is one lonely pic up in the gallery at the moment, I really should write a page for that... Anyway, I came across the brocade pictured below (bad pics, I know) but there was only one yard of it.



I drafted a quick pattern after emailing the seller to make sure that she wasn't rounding up to a yard, although I would be thrilled if she were rounding down. =) I got the exact measurements, cut a piece of muslin to those measurements and somehow managed to get what I needed out of it. It will have to involve cheats though. Ideally, this costume would be made in three pieces (excluding the sleeves). The underdress (shown in red pencil), the brocade overdress (blue pencil), and the sash with ties and tassels (green pencil). The lines show what I think are the actual seams of the costume, but I'm not completely sure. Once I found the brocade, I knew I would not be able to remain true to the onscreen version so I didn't pay that much attention to it.

Since I am limited in fabric and am somewhat obsessed with huge skirts, I'm planning a few changes. The underdress will be made of at least two layers of chiffon, the top layer will have the seams left open from the waist down so it will be more fluttery and the second layer will be sewn together like normal. Of course, it will all be lined. =) The brocade will be sewn to the sash in some rather complicated system that I don't think I could explain, mostly because I haven't figured it out completely yet. I also will be using princess seams for the top rather than darts, darts just don't work for me most of the time and princess seams actually fits in the layout better so I couldn't use darts even if I wanted to. So, this sketch shows that there will just be two pieces with different seam lines.

Now, onto the sleeves. These are going to be completely detachable for ease of washing, storage, ironing... I think I'm going to make the sleeve go down to the fingertips but I think Inara's prolly only went down to the wrist, it's always easy to cut off but not so easy to add so I'll go long to begin with. The elastic is probably attached at the elbow and wrist when her arm is hanging straight and then the elastic is put around her upper arm (exact location seems to vary) and the middle of the forearm. This allows the sleeve to puff a little, but elegantly of course, while remaining completely out of the way. I'm tempted to use an arm bracelet rather than elastic for my version but still pondering that one.



I'm planning on the beaded trim being attached to the brocade as well as that little bit of chiffon you see around the neckline. The underdress shouldn't be seen in the top, I'm just making it a dress because I don't like that much weight (it's a lot of weight because of my obsession with huge skirts) in a skirt and I like the idea that I might be able to wear the dress elsewhere. The beaded trim and chiffon will also help cover up the fact that I don't have quite enough brocade.

Well, I was going to post screencaps but after accidentally shutting down the program for the third time without saving the caps, I'm giving up. We could never get screencaps to work but apparently the new video card makes all the difference so maybe I can get some posted later.

                                       


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