Anne Boleyn – The Other Boleyn Girl (Green Gown)

Made for: Dragoncon 2009

Background: I love Tudor & Elizabethan history, so this was going to happen at some point! I ended up buying the Simplicity Tudor gown pattern during a pattern sale around the same time my husband bought “The Other Boleyn Girl” on dvd for me. The two together equaled costume project for Dragoncon. I decided to make a “reasonable facsimile” of the green dress Anne wears in the movie, since green is my favourite colour.

Journal Entries: Read more at my Anne Boleyn tag

Related Costumes: Anne Boleyn Coronation Gown

Patterns Used:
Simplicity 2621, Simplicity 2589

Underthings:

I used this Simplicity stays/petticoat pattern to make the underthings – you can see them in some of the in-progress pics. I made the stays out of green and white cotton, canvas, and spiral steel boning. It was honestly not pretty but it got the job done; when I made my newer Anne Boleyn costume in 2014, I made new stays that were MUCH better and these were taken apart for parts. (And as of 2025, I’d love to do that again because I know I could make them even better now.)

The petticoat was made of leftover satin material (it was part of our wedding aisle runner!). It’s just large rectangles gathered around a waistband that snaps closed. I’ve ended up using the petticoat for a LOT other costumes too, so it’s come in handy. I decided to use my Belle hoopskirt to wear with it, since just the petticoat and bum roll (which I bought on ebay) didn’t provide enough oomph by themselves. (Please remember I am recreating a movie costume here, not a historical garment, and the movie costume has a very large skirt.)

Dress:

I used the Simplicity pattern above as a basis, I deviated from it a little… I bought the dress fabric online and lined most of the pieces in leftover dark green fabric from Belle’s library dress. I only had a little of the green and gold fabric – so I only made one panel and attached the skirt to it (also made the lower sleeves out of it). I reeeeeeally wish I had not sewn the “underskirt” panel into place on the other skirt pieces, I have never been happy with how it looks. I once tried to sit down and remove it, but the stitches were so tiny and I was starting to see some snags on the fabric that I stopped. I’ll just have to live with it the way it is – but that was definitely not something I repeated in m newer 2014 Anne Boleyn costume.

I spent a lot of time on the skirt pleats (probably re-did them 10 times) until I get them where I was “ok” with them. I got dark green silk velvet for the sleeves and the veil, I used the same sleeve pattern for the velvet sleeves. Both sets of sleeves are attached to the upper sleeves. The frontpiece of the bodice I made separately and hand sewed in place, and added the green velvet trim along the top.

Beads/Jewelry:

For the beads along the front and also on the hood, I just couldn’t find anything I liked for them. I finally found a couple of things I already had – one button, and 6 beads, both things I bought years ago and couldn’t find anymore of now. So my husband cast them for me, painted them gold, and I glued on light green and dark green jewels, then attached them. For the necklace, since I hate attempting to make jewelry, I went out and bought a cheap pearl necklace to build off of. My husband painted the “B” and drilled a hole in the top for me, and he also glued 3 small rings along the bottom of it. I attached it to the necklace, and made 3 little pearl drops to attach to the bottom of it.

Hood/Accessories:

I bought a french hood from Museum Replicas, dismantled it and re-covered it in my own fabric and jewels. I typically just wear my Belle flats with it. (and the best accessory… Chase bought a Museum Replicas Henry top so he could match me! 🙂

History:

I’ve gotten to wear this a few times and that’s never enough. I absolutely love this costume.

Even as of writing this update in 2025, I can absolutely tell you problems I have with this costume looking back on it now, but I do still love it, its so much fun to wear, it’s my fav colour, give me any excuse and I’ll have it back out 🙂

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