The TV series Legend of the Seeker is based on the Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind. When I first saw articles about the series, I was struck by Kahlan's beautiful white dress and was considering making the costume before even seeing the first epsiode.
Started spring 2009, finished July 2009
Additional photos of my costume can be found on my photobucket page here.
The following sites provided invaluble reference photos: The Confessor and Seeker Society and Legendoftheseeker.org
Construction
I started with McCall's pattern M4491 as a base for this dress and modifed from there to more closely match Kahlan's dress. The main alteration was the addition of the hood; other changes included adjusting the front neckline, adding the front opening and lacings, shape adjustment to the lower sleeves, lengthening of the lining and adjustments to the back lacing style. The pattern for the hood (shape, mostly) came from Butterick 3989. The main fabric of the dress is white crushed panne and the lining is white satin.
Research: One of the aspects of the dress construction that I was uncertain over was whether the hood was one piece with the front panels of the dress, or a separate piece sewn onto the front. My original drafting work and mock-ups went with the former; however, later discovered what I believe is evidence that the latter is more correct. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to redraft the pattern, and so my dress uses a single piece for the front panel and hood on each side. A picture of the front piece pattern is here.
From what I was able to glean by looking at several different episodes, Kahlan's black outfit underneath the white dress varies. The corset top remains the same, but the bottom ranges from a skirt to very loose, flowing pants to tight pants from episode to episode. I have options for both the skirt and flowing pants, and went with the latter in the picture above.
Acknowledgements
Several friends contributed to my work on this costume, with either advice or sewing assistance, and I would like to thank them for everything. Many friends over in the Rocky Mountain Fan Force gave me continued support, encouragement and advice; likewise for a number of my friends on LiveJournal. Finally, my friend Kathy helped me with marking the bottom hem and staying up very late the first night at SDCC sewing most of the hem on the lower sleeves.
