Amira Process Post

Embroideries

Everything about the embroideries on the coat and cap were fairly straightforward.  The dominant threads are cotton DMC interspersed with antique French metal threads.  There are also glass beads. steel paillettes, mirrors, and metal sequins.  I wasn't as savvy about taking photos at the time, but I hope the below photos will give you some idea about the embroidery process for Amira.

 

I embroidered the steel paillettes using an Indian shisha embroidery technique because, honestly, it was what I could find out how to do.  You need to create a structure, seen above, to provide a base for the shisha embroidery lattice and also hold the paillettes in place while you work.

Antique French metal threads were couched to create outlines on the cap and yelek sleeves, as seen above.  The ends of each line of metal threads are punched through to the wrong side of the fabric to hide them. 

As seen above, the finished kaftan and hat have appliqued strips of red wool over the black wool base.  Cotton embroidery threads created the base for the "lattice" of silver metal threads that are looped to create Amira's zig-zag pattern embroideries.  As a side note, it wrinkles like nothing else, and I've had to iron it with vinegar every time prior to wearing it. You may notice that the sleeves (pictured above prior to lining) are slightly tapered at the cuffs, something I noticed on many extant kaftans from the nineteenth century to the modern day.

The hem of the shift was a damn nightmare to embroidery because I freaking had to choose to the lightest cotton voile available at Mood, which of course clung to my trousers and bunched up under the tension of the embroidery threads.  I tried three different embroidery designs before settling on one and getting the tension right.  The couched metal threads made a huge amount of difference in the cling issue by weighting down the hem a little, and I daresay the metal sequins did as well, though it was hard to dip into my precious stash of the latter that I was lucky enough to snag when Tinsel Trading Company had to close their NYC shop.  At the center of each metal sequin I stitched a glass Delica seed bead for a little extra sparkle.

 

The yelek sleeve embroideries were a pain to design because the proportions were so easy to get wrong.  I drew them out on Coroplast, which, when placed on top of a lightbox, could be used to trace the designs onto the sleeves.

Honestly, my first impulse was to paint rather than embroider the yelek sleeves.  You can see the initial painted sleeves compared with how they look after I embroidered them.  The embroidery, I think, was a much better choice.  Each sleeves took four nights, or about twenty hours, to complete--and that's before even assembling the yelek!

Jewelry

Making the jewelry was primarily a story of finding the correct beads to create the proper aesthetic.  I sourced beads from Turkic countries where possible/affordable, including the prayer box and large bicone beads on either side of it.  The coins were tricky to locate as well because most commercially available coins are for belly dancing and look absolutely fake.  These coins are Burmese from the 1960s and were a chance find on Etsy.  I compromised on the fact that they were too new and not geographically appropriate with the fact that they look perfect.  Pictured below is the prayer box necklace with the triangular beads intended to be made into Amira's earrings.

Leather

Most of these pieces remain works in progress and have not been photographed in their entirety, but I present a preview here.

 

 

The above quiver was cut out of leather and tooled with a swivel knife.  It's rather a beautiful piece, though I must admit to some disappointment that the leather paint seems to have so thoroughly overwhelmed the tooling.

I must once again apologize for having taken relatively few photos while I was making this costume.  The honest truth is that I began posting Instagram around June and prior to that received mostly lukewarm responses to photos I posted on my cosplay page on Facebook, which just wasn't the right platform for progress shots.  Now I wonder if I post too many photos!  Anyway, here is the end result: