Cosplay: Daenerys Targaryen (Qarth Dress)

Photo by The Nerdy Girlie

Daenerys Targaryen

After my first Dany costume, Liz expressed interest in creating a matching costume. When her Jorah started coming together, I got the itch to create this version of Daenerys (widely known as her Qarth dress) so that we would have matching outfits from the same part o the show. After learning that we'd get to attend the Game of Thrones beer tasting event at SDCC, I rushed to create the costume before the convention!

I wound up wearing the costume lots throughout the weekend. Between the beer tasting, the Game of Thrones museum, and the costume contest with celebs from The Walking Dead, I wore it almost every day!

Photo by The Nerdy Girlie

Conventions

• SDCC 2014

Materials

• Wig: Dany from Arda in Titanium Blonde
• Dress: Sewn using Casa Collection chiffon and lining in "blue radiance" with Simplicity 1347 pattern, modified for accuracy. Gold pattern created with metallic gold fabric paint and a sea sponge
• Belt and shoulder pieces: Handmade from hot glue with a pattern printed from the Game of Thrones Costuming Group. Spray painted with Plasti Dip and gold metallic paint. Laced up in the back with gold ribbon
• Beads: Chosen from selection at Jo-Ann Fabrics, attached with wire

Dem eyebrows! Liz helped me achieve Khaleesi brows - tutorial here.

The Process

I started with the belt and shoulder pieces. In the show, they seem to be made of gold. I've seen lots of cosplayers use worbla, craft foam, leather, metal... all types of materials! I was really intrigued by the idea of using hot glue, which I've seen several cosplayers use. I wanted to see if hot glue would work, since it's such a super cheap and easy-to-use material. All I had to do was follow the pattern, which other cosplayers have created before me. Drilling all the holes in another material seemed a lot more difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. I was super pleased with the results of the hot glue!

The belt before painting and Plasti Dip.

Next, I worked on creating the dress. I started with the Simplicity pattern meant for this dress because I'm still pretty new to sewing. I modified it to be a little more accurate - the front and back had to dip a lot lower, and I added the cape. I had to hand-sew the shoulder pieces to the dress. They were a little flimsy, so I'm planning on adding kilt pins inside them when I upgrade the dress.

The dress is coming along!

Finally, I painted the dress with a sea sponge and gold metallic fabric paint. This step took a lot more time and a lot more paint than I expected! Several days were spent working on the painting. Finally, I created the beaded part and the costume was done!

And it's finished!

Honestly, I'm not very pleased with the outcome of this costume; that's one reason I've been putting off this post for months! While it looks pretty decent in photos, the draping of the dress was all wrong. I should have painted the chiffon fabric first, but I wanted to make sure that the dress would turn out alright. As a result of painting the dress last, the chiffon and the lining stuck together, and the fabric became stiff and lacked movement. I would like to try and get the fabric to drape and move correctly, so I am going to experiment with washing the dress gently to see if that helps. Next, my sewing machine was constantly having issues throughout this project, so a lot of the seams are barely held together and messy. And, as mentioned earlier, I'd like to upgrade the shoulder pieces to be a little more secure.

For some reason, this cosplay doesn't seem that impressive to me. Despite how much time and effort it took and making all the pieces myself, it feels a little underwhelming. I wonder if that also has an effect on how I feel about the outcome.

Despite the issues with the dress, I am still glad that I made it for SDCC! I think with a few upgrades, I'll be much more satisfied with the costume and feel more comfortable wearing it again.

With Pedro Pascal at the Game of Thrones beer tasting!

Who is your favorite Game of Thrones character?

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