Daenerys Targaryen Costume: Khaleesi

Winter is Coming. 

So I decided to be an over achiever and make a Khaleesi costume from scratch for Halloween this year. It was not an easy task, and not cheap. First, I could not find a single person in the Los Angeles area that owned a sewing machine that I could borrow. So, I ended up buying a Brother CS6000i sewing machine from Amazon. It was originally about $450 and I got it for $150 because apparently September is "sewing month." Who Knew?!

After I finally got the machine to help us create this glorious costume, Kathryn Begle, who was the brains behind this operation, and I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics to buy all the fabrics, muslin and thread we needed. Luckily, Kathryn already owned an impressive sewing kit with pins, needles, seam ripper, etc. The picture above shows the sewing machine I bought, the burlap fabric for the top and front section of the skirt, the tan fabric for the main part of the skirt, a light fabric for the top of the skirt and a small piece of dark brown fabric I used for the gloves.

For the top, I bought a cheap strapless bra and Kathryn sewed the burlap fabric to it so I would have some structure to it. I braided strips of the burlap and used that as the lining at the top and for the strap to go around my neck. I had 2 layers of burlap sewed onto the front part and cut them unevenly into a V shape to look similar to Khaleesi's outfit. I used this website: http://screencapped.net/tv/gameofthrones/ to find screen captured shots of Khaleesi wearing different outfits and from different angles. These were my main inspirations.

The Top

 

The Skirt

 

Pants

From Macy's

 

Gloves

I distressed the burlap using a seam ripper. I would randomly cut parts and pull out the burlap to make it look snagged and worn. I tried using make up to give the dirty look to my skirt, but it clearly looked like make up smeared on it. So, I went outside and put dirt in a cup and got it damp and whipped or dabbed it onto my skirt to make it look dirty.
I went all out and made the gloves that Khaleesi wears, like once, in the show. I used snaps on one side of the gloves to make them fit around my wrists.

The Wig was by far the most expensive part of the entire costume. I reallllly wanted to make my own hair white, because I knew it would have looked way better. I tried using soft chalk, but it didn't really show up on my hair. I also tried using white hair spray, but it just made it look gray and sticky. So, I knew I would end up having to buy a wig, sadly.

I went to Hollywood Wigs off Hollywood Blvd after reading great reviews on Yelp. (I have also written one myself). The lady there, Christine, knows her stuff and was very helpful. I was able to email her pictures of Khaleesi's wig and hairstyle. She was able to style it by putting in 2 braids for me and loose curls. I thought it looked great from the back, but kinda mullet-like / old fashioned judge-like from the front.

I even had a baby dragon! =)