Silks, satins and linens - oh my!

While interminably waiting for my leathers, I came across one of the most incredible costume sites on the web - Twin Roses Designs.

Based out of Virginia, Andrea and Garry Wakely produce outfits that you wish you could wear to work - even if hunting down orcs and other fell creatures was not in your job description.

I found a kindred spirit in Andrea - not only did she feel the same way about LOTR, she made the costumes! Sorta like the old Sy Sperling ads - "I'm not just the president, I'm a customer too!"

The light black shirt was made of linen and weathered sufficiently to really look worn. It was everything I was looking for, fit great and felt grand. I also ordered a FOTR green cloak - also nicely weathered and tattered along the edge. This goddess of stitchery also figured out how to put in strap holes into the cloak so I could wear a quiver and still have it drape and flow around me. What attention to detail!

The best part? She followed up! I got progress pictures and emails when the shirt and cloak was in the process and - wonder of wonders - a real, honest-to-goodness delivery date and notification when they shipped!

At this point, I also ordered a Two Towers Strider burgundy linen shirt ... and a gray Lothlorien cloak. After all, how could I go wrong? Again, not only were the finished products things of beauty and comfort, they were done on time! Oh, why couldn't my leatherworker be such a pleasure to work with?

If you visit their site and look at the Lord of the Rings portfolio, you'll see a number of the items she made for me.

I think one of the most fun projects we did together was for a Boromir tunic. I did research. She did research. The material was a heavy silk satin with zardosi and zari threadwork and embroidery. Andrea told me how much she would need and I found a place in India that could produce a obscenely luxurious bolt of cloth that was encrusted with the same gold threadwork. Again, I contacted Reg for a Boromir surcoat. I figured that as long as I'm cooling my jets for one set of items, what's the wait for another one? "Not a problem" again - but I knew that I'd be waiting a looonnnggg time for it.

The surcoat clasps, on the other hand, proved to be one of the most daunting tasks so far in my quest.

But that's another story ... (to be continued)