A quick trip to the second hand shop can get you most of the materials you’ll need to make a DIY Arwen costume cheap and easily. This tutorial is for Arwen’s blue and red dress from Return of the King.

MATERIALS USED:
Blue velour dress
Red velour dress for sleeves
Red printed shirt
1.5 yards Red satin
2.5 yards Ribbon trim
Metallic gold paint
Zipper
Needle and Thread or sewing machine
Scissors
Brown wig

I was able to put this DIY Arwen costume together for $42. I got the blue base dress, the red dress I used for the sleeves, and the red shirt I used for the top all from the second hand shop. The red satin came from JoAnn’s (RIP JoAnn’s 😢).

I like to reuse wigs when I can because they’re often the most expensive part of a costume. So the wig I used for this Arwen costume is the same one I use for my Wonder Woman, Star Trek Skant, and Princess Leia costumes, so it didn’t add any additional cost to this costume. The other nice thing about the wig is that it covers the ears, so you won’t need to put on elf ears.

Arwen’s hair was a lot darker, but I figured this was passable. (Fortunately it at least looks dark in the pictures, haha). This wig also actually has bangs, so I just kind of tucked them under the longer parts of the wig. Not perfect, but a lot cheaper than buying a new wig.

Sew the collar parts first

I did mess up the spacing of the gold trim a bit on the shoulders (I should have sewn the collar parts first to measure it better). Sewing on the trim was probably the most time-consuming part of the dress. It’s easiest to do by hand because of the angle. So I recommend watching a movie to make the sewing a little less tedious. Lord of the Rings marathon anyone? 😉

Arwen’s sleeves are also more belled than what I have here. But since I used a 2nd hand dress as the sleeve fabric (to save money), there wasn’t enough fabric to make them fully belled. But it doesn’t seem to make a huge difference in the finished look of the dress. All in all, still pretty happy with how this turned out.

More Costumes

If you missed my earlier Lord of the Rings costume tutorials, check them out here:
Elvish Cloak
Elvish Brooch
Legolas
Aragorn
Sauron
Gimli
Galadriel
Frodo

DIY Arwen Costume video tutorial by Amber Reifsteck, The Woodland Elf
*Some of the above links may be affiliate links*

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