fabric finding help?

[jaina]

Hey, my costuming peeps. I'm helping a friend of mine make an Evil Queen from Snow White costume, and I'm having a hell of a time finding suitable fabric for the main dress. Being as it's an animated costume, there's no one right choice, and even the "official" Disney meetable character versions have many, many variations.

I bought some plain poly satin with a low sheen as an if-all-else-fails backup, but I'd really like to find something...fancier, for lack of a better word. Large expanses of plain fabric are not my favorite thing in the world. Ideas I had (but haven't actually been able to find in a suitably dark purple):
- jacquard/brocade in a non-obviously-floral pattern
- matelasse, ditto
- crushed velvet (actual crushed velvet, not panne)
- regular velvet

Here's a bunch of reference pictures of different Disney park versions, for comparison (click on any pic to make it bigger):

I like this circular/square pattern:
.

A diamond-patterned brocade:
.

Sparkle velvet (?), aka the Fantasmic version:


Non-sparkle velvet:
..

Plain satin (much more like the fabric I have, and my least favorite):


Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions, or online sources I might try? I came up empty on FFC/Denver Fabrics, fabric.com, and syfabrics. I'm not picky on fiber content. I would be most grateful for any assistance!

Comments

[annyong.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of the velvet, but whatever you decide, Corli and I could always look out our local shiny fabric store to see if they have anything on the cheap.