Wearables FINISHED!! Rose of Versailles - Marie Antoinette Project

Hello again! I really like keeping project journals to keep myself motivated and accountable, so here I am once more! (Except for that one journal I have abandoned and will return to soon).

I was very fortunate to purchase a full set Volks Oscar last year, from my favorite anime/manga series The Rose of Versailles. Someday I hope to find her Andre, but what would the series be without our queen, Marie Antoinette? A pair of heels on the marketplace sparked the idea in my head that I should make a Marie, and I set off on my quest!

This journal is a bit of a cheat as I have already started, but I wanted to share my steps and progress so far:

Step 1: Find and order the base doll!

This was an easy selection. I loved the shape of Volks Oscar's eyes and nose and wanted to find another Volks doll with similar features that I could customize the face paint on. The obvious choice was to make a Volks Full Choice order so that I could make my preferred selections. My husband was gracious enough to order her for me as my Christmas present. I selected the SD16 body in white skin, with slender shoulders and heeled feet, the F63 head with vivid makeup, with gloss on the lips and upper eyelids only, and hot-glued eyes. I wanted her to feel as if she came from Volks AS a Marie release, so I tried to make her align with Oscar as well as I could.

Oscar:


F63 on her arrival day:


She gets to keep wearing her space helmet until I am done moving her around!

Step 2: Select a reference outfit from the anime and gather materials.

While I love young Marie, I find her character most interesting in the series as she has matured and gone through hardships. In the episode "Au Revoir," Marie says goodbye to Oscar for the final time, while also experiencing worry and grief over her son's health and her pained relationship with Hans Axel von Fersen. I thought that the blue dress in this episode would perfectly compliment the heels that started all of this, as well as the color palette of Oscar and (someday) Andre.






Step 3: Draft patterns and begin sewing the outfit

I am not very good at sewing but am trying to continue practicing. I drafted some patterns by looking at some human-size references, and then making adjustments to fit my animated-style dress:


What a mess!


Trial run for fit:


With sleeves:


Current state of bodice, with added trim, lace and ribbons:


Step 4: Finish sewing the outfit
Currently in progress! I am actively working on the skirt portion of the dress now.
Step 5: Style the wig
Step 6: Add embellishments to complete the look!

I'm a bit scared of the wig step, I'm not going to lie. Feel free to follow along if you like, with a slice of cake if you so choose!

 

Thank you so much! I'm a really slow worker, so I've been hacking away at it for about a month. However I did the base and attached the sleeves over a three-day period, then attached the trim over two more days. Then took a month off and just popped the ribbon and lace on this week. So maybe 30 hours or so? All of the trim is hand-sewn so it was a bit time-consuming.

Thank you so much! Yeah I wanted to have some fun with it and also play into some of the materials Volks used on Oscar's outfit. Hopefully, they will gel together in the end!

Regarding patterns, I usually just guess and draw it out on interfacing (the black stuff), and then pin it to the doll until I get something that kind of works. The interfacing works well enough as a mock-up for me before cutting the actual fabric. To be frank I also have no clue what I'm doing

 

Thank you so much! I hope you can finish it soon, the ending is just so beautiful. I am excited to finally be able to read it after so many years, there is an official translation published! You are definitely right, the anime has very uh, simplified versions of Riyoko Ikeda's drawings. I'm hoping to draw some inspiration from the wig and some of the extra embellishments from the manga to add even more luxury!


And I will be getting Volks Andre someday, they did a great job on him. He is also probably my favorite, but it is so hard to decide!

 

Ahaha thank you! At least someone is proud of me

Ha! Yeah it did kind of look like the ribbons and such materialized out of nowhere! I didn't take good progress photos at that step because I just plowed through it. It does look rather funny now. Those tutorials are the worst!

Thank you so much! And I feel like I just got really lucky with the satin, the sewing gods were looking out for me that day. I know it's not usually so agreeable! We will see what happens on the skirt...

Haha you are definitely right! It is much more fantasy than (anything even close to) accurate Versailles attire. For the love of characters, am I right?

 

Thank you so much! Hopefully it will turn out well

The manga was actually just published officially for the first time in English, the publisher is Udon Entertainment! Only volumes 1-3 are out now, but 4 and 5 are set to be released in the next few months.

I can respect a stickler for accuracy! Avert ye eyes from this most recent update!

Yessss It just had to be done!


Some progress on the skirt! It looks totally crazy right now:

I made these little poof thingies to mimick whatever is going on with her skirt in the screenshot. Took some additional creative liberties! I sewed this blue trim around the edges of each by hand:



She looked like a giant muffin:


The poofs all strewn about:


I decided to bead the bunched up parts to add some additional visual interest to the skirt:




And this is how she is hanging out now:



I'm beading the remaining bottom portion of the skirt that will be exposed. I made a horrific sketch of my idea for what is to come:



The teal fabric from the bodice will be draped over the white part of the skirt, like an open curtain. There will be the dark blue ribbon as some large bows "holding" it open. I hope to have enough of the silver and white lace to line the poofs as well, but we will see if that ends up being too much going on down there. Then I will line the skirt on the inside and add a petticoat for some better structure!

 

Oh look, it's me! I finally got some time off of work and decided it was time to finish this project.

I spent the last few days styling the wig. It was a great challenge!

Starting style:


I partitioned the hair off in parts: some for the top, some to swoop around the sides, and then the rest to curl.



I carved a small piece of Styrofoam into a half circle, and carved out the center so it could follow the shape of the head. Then, I teased some hair up and glued it around the Styrofoam. This gave it some extra volume and helped it blend into the hair more.



Then, I drew forward some of the partitioned hair from the front and glued a thin layer over the bump



After, I used an elastic band to make the bump more defined in shape. Then, I began to wrap strands of hair around paper straws, holding them in place with bobby pins.



Because this is a heat-resistant fiber wig, I opted for the boil method to set the hair. I poured boiling water over the straws, then let them dry completely



After drying, I fluffed the curls up a bit to try and match the texture of the Volks Oscar wig. Finally, I pulled the swoops around the front and secured them at the back. Here it is in its current state:

 

Thank you, Teddy! Definitely the most challenging little wig I have ever worked on.

Thank you so much! It was an adventure for sure!

Thank you very much!

I actually finished her yesterday, but I have one more step to share! I made her little "tiara" with some bobbles from the bead store and E6000 glue. I just broke off the little loops with some pliers.





And here she is, with the wig on! I have since trimmed the length a bit. Proper fancy photos coming later today!

 

Thank you so much!! I'm so happy to be finished

Thank you for your kind words! And the thought crossed my mind to do Ferson too. I feel like Volks Hikaru Genji would be perfect for him!

Here she is, in all of her glory!







I'm honestly really pleased with how she turned out, and think she compliments Oscar well. Thanks to those who followed along, and apologies for so few updates!

 

Thank you. That is so kind! Honestly I always have the worst luck with patterns so winging it and pinning it usually turns out okay in the end

Thank you!! That is so sweet! I just wish the photos would stop randomly breaking, it's so strange

Thank you kindly!