HIGHLIGHTED IN RED:
SLEEVELESS OVERDRESS

The inner gown of this costume is a made from at least four types of fabric (for more details see the fabric page):

1. Upper Bodice and Upper Sleeves made from Corded Lace fabric with pearls and bugle beads.
2. Body of gown (covered by the outer gown) made of a white or off white plain fabric.
3. Lower sleeve made with green silk velvet
4. Inner sleeve made with yellow crinkle chiffon or mousseline.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

SIDE OF INNER GOWN -
PLAIN FABRIC VISIBLE

Although a rich looking corded lace fabric was used on the upper bodice and sleeves of the inner gown, it was not used to construct the entire gown. If you look through the large arm hole of the outer gown you can see a bit of plain fabric in the back (this fabric appeared to have a bit of a sheen to it and may have been silk, or even some kind of polyester blend).

Not only is it more affordable to construct the hidden portion of the gown's body in a plain fabric, it probably also allows the outer velvet gown to have a clean smooth drape. All the corded lace and pearls could have looked quite lumpy underneath the outer velvet gown and prevented it from hanging freely.

The color of this plain fabric is debatable. When I originally saw the plain fabric peeking through the arm cycle at the exhibit, it looked like it might be green (it was in a shadow and difficult to see). However, in a few photos published on the web the fabric looked white (see top photos at the left). In yet another photo published on the web the fabric looks green (view bottom left photo). It's possible that it is a light green fabric with a sheen that is reflecting the light to look white in some photos.

No side seam was visible under the arm of the inner gown. I suspect this is because the decorative lace fabric was applied as an overlay in one piece to prevent the less expensive plain white fabric of the gown from showing. The under gown probably actually does have side seams that join the front and back white panels of fabric to form the gown.

RIGHT IMAGE:
ARTISTIC RENDERING
OF THE UNDER DRESS

I believe the lace fabric is only used for 3 components of the inner gown:

1. The upper sleeve from elbow to shoulder
2. A circular yoke around the neck
3. A single pieced underarm U-shaped 'patch' on either side of the gown.

The rest of the gown's body is made out of plain fabric (either green or white). It was very hard to see this fabric at FIDM - it looked smooth and may have had a bit of a sheen. It almost looked green.

LEFT IMAGE: 
ILLUSTRATION OF NECK EMBROIDERY

RIGHT IMAGE:
NECK EMBROIDERY
PHOTO NOTES

NECKLINE EMBROIDERY

Materials Used:

• Silver metallic embroidery floss
• Clear iridescent bugle beads - approx. 2-3mm in size
• A beading thread or floss to secure the bugle beads

The pearls and some of the bugle beads on the lace look like they were part of the original fabric. The costume designers then added silver hand embroidery and additional beading to accent specific portions of the neck and sleeve design.

Quite a bit of silver embroidery and beading was added to the neck yoke. The upper and lower edge of the yoke are embroidered with a chain stitch done in metallic silver floss. (The lower edge of the yoke is seen at the shoulders) It looked like several strands of silver metallic floss were threaded through the needle when embroidering the stitch. The chain stitch was then edged on either side with a row of clear iridescent bugle beads (approx. 2 - 3mm size).

The center of the yoke has a swirled vine and leaf motif embroidered using the chain stitch and silver metallic thread once again. The center of many of the leaves are filled with clusters of clear bugle beads.