My good friend Shawn agreed to go as my "husband" to add another level to Bellatrix and I made sure to recap the character beforehand and make sure he understood the role. Like I needed to worry. The pictures show it all, but he was the biggest pretentious bigot you've ever seen. He held his nose up at everyone and refused to touch or talk to anyone who may be contaminated by Muggles. It was awesome.
Anyway.
Rodolphus' costume was probably the most complicated of the outfits:
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| loose white shirt, ascot, vest and jacket (plus pants and shoes) |
For the shirt, I used Butterick 5008:
I chose pattern A (top left) since it had the straight collar instead of the fold and no ruffles to deal with ignoring. I lengthened the sleeve cuff to the elbow, but cut the sleeve the regular length so I would still get a nice poof. The collar, shirt and sleeves were white linen and for the wrist cuff, I used the same black as Bellatrix's dress, with a black lining so it was nice and dark and kept the interfacing so it was nice and stiff. Since I left off the ties (cuz they just weren't classy enough for Roddy), instead, I used these to secure the wrist cuffs:
For the vest, I used Simplicity 2346:
This was an incredibly easy pattern to follow, which is good because I had no idea how confusing it is to add lining to a vest ><.
I used pattern B (the orange one in the top right) and left off the pocket. Aside from that, I just followed the pattern. The lining is a silver satin (also used for the ascot) and the outer fabric is a textured medium grey. In the photo, Rodolphus is wearing a dark grey/black vest, but I wanted something that would contrast a little better since we would be out at night.
I wish I could find pictures online of the buttons I used... I may have to take some and edit this post because the buttons I found for both his vest and jacket are just spectacular. The vest buttons are small antiqued silver buttons with little flowers engraved on them. I found them at Joann's and they were on like black cardboard packaging or something. I could find out if anyone really wants to know.
The jacket was a lot of fun and a real challenge. I used Burda 7523:
I used pattern A because it had no belt or extra fashion seams. I left off the sleeves and the pockets, but followed the pattern from there. For the jacket back, front and upper collar I chose a textured dark grey suiting fabric. I did the lining and lower collar in the same black as the wrist cuffs on the shirt.
The purple sections were pretty much a free-for-all. I cut out two long rectangles for the chest and four kindof sharp ovals the width of the arm openings for the shoulders of the dark purple I used for Bellatrix's corset. I sewed the oval pieces together so I had two pieces that looked something like a straight seam that curved up in the shape of a curly bracket {| <like that, where the straight line is the seam and the curly part is open and I attached interfacing to the part that would be the bottom to give it a little extra shape.
I sewed the rectangles onto the chest so they lined up with the points on the lower collar section, folding the edges over and using a slip-stitch so there were no unsightly seams. When I attached the top edge, I folded over a piece of the black fabric to makeshift piping and sewed it under the purple section.
Once that was all secure, I laid the curved pieces so the seams lined up with the sleeve edge and slip-stitched them on so the point of the { lined up with the shoulder seam.
Again, the buttons I found were perfect. They're rather large, but again antiqued silver and they have these intricate carvings that look like vines or something. They're beautiful and I really think I'm gunna borrow a camera and add them to this post cuz they totally make the outfit.
The ascot was a guessing game. I couldn't find a pattern, so I cut two curved pieces on the fold of my silver satin and four rectangle "paddles" (thin on one end, wide on the other) about a foot and a half long and six inches wide at the widest. I sewed the two curved pieces together, leaving the ends open, and two each of the "paddles", leaving the skinny ends of both and the fat end of one open. I sewed one "paddle" to each open end of the curved bit and then pulled the whole thing through the wide opening I had left so it was right side out and slip-stitched the opening closed. This was wrapped around his neck and pinned with a beautiful broach I found at a thrift store.
At that point, we bought a pair of black dress pants (as close to Victorian high-waists as possible) and a pair of long-toed dress shoes to really lengthen him out. I did his makeup to pale him up and sink his face to emphasize the suffering endured in Azkaban and gelled the heck out of his hair.
The final result was breath-taking:
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| in-progress of dressing - shirt unclasped, no ascot, no shoes |
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| shoes added, shirt buttoned and holding wand |
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| the final product - with ascot and broach |
As a special treat, here's a nifty photo from behind the scenes that gives a nice look at Shawn hair and makeup:
On a side note, the wand you see Shawn holding in the above photos is actually a replica of Narcissa Malfoy's wand I purchased at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Orlando. If you even remotely like Harry Potter and you find yourself in Orlando wondering what to do, you MUST go. But go STRAIGHT to the Harry Potter section. The lines fill up fast and if you take your time you'll spend the whole day waiting for your first ride. And try the Butterbeer. Oh. My. Gosh. The Butterbeer.
Additionally, I am very sad that Andromeda was not in the films. You'll see in the Bellatrix post that I also have a Bellatrix replica wand and had dreamed of owning all 3 sisters' wands and one day cosplaying all of them. Now I shall never see that dream come to fruition... :( *sad Angi*
Anyway, enjoy! Bellatrix coming soon! And as always, feel free to comment or contact me with questions, comments, concerns or if you make your own and wanna show me!
CosPlay with me
-Angi
