elizabeth swan's rum island shift
This dress can be seen in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl during the part where Elizabeth and Jack Sparrow are stranded on a desert island in the Caribbearn. It is worn under Elizabeth's plum pirate dress that she recieves on the pirate ship the Black Pearl. You can find reasearch of this costume at Costumer's Guide.
I recieved the Master Replica pirate medalion for my birthday from my best friend. That pretty much cemented the idea to make this dress in my head. (The image at the left is not my personal necklace,
it's the promotional image from the Master Replica website.)
Fabric:
I bought 3 and 1/4 yards of white jacquard cotton fabric from www.fashionfabrics.com
Pattern:
Simplicity 9103 lengthened 9 inches
March 7
I cut out the pieces of the dress and sewed them together. I cut the front piece on the edge instead of the fold so I could sew eyelets into the front to close it. I think I ended up using the wrong side of the fabric for a rougher look. I'm not positive though, it's hard to tell which side is the correct side of the fabric. The front is open to the waist with a piece of boning on each side to keep the lacing from pulling. There are 7 pairs of hand bound eyelets going down the front.
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May 12
I finally decided to reveal my "secret costume" which obviously is Elizabeth Swan's Island Rum shift. I cut sleeves for the dress by using the pattern's sleeve and cut it out normally on a scrap piece of fabric. I then sewed the sleeve together and cut the opposite side open. This gave me a new sleeve pattern with the seam on the top of the sleeve instead of the bottom. I then put more hand bound eyelets down the sleeves and laced them together using spiral lacing. I then sewed the sleeves onto the dress and hemmed it. It doesn't fit onto my dress form, so here is a picture of me in the dress. Better pictures will hopefully be comming soon.
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July 7
At midnight my friend, bother and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man's Chest. Of course I had to dress up, and what better outfit to wear than my finished Elizabeth Swan Rum Island Shift? So we went to the movie in costume, and got there plenty early to wait in line. We weren't the only ones dressed up, but I was one of the only people who dressed specifically from POTC 1. The other person who dressed up from the first movie was a guy who had an amazing Jack Sparrow costume. He was walking around and talking in a very good Jack voice to the people waiting in line, and when he saw me in costume he came right over. We quoted movie lines back and forth and had quite a few funny conversations. So here is a picture of me as "Elizabeth" and "Jack":
