Becky Sauerland
I have a question, though, as a relatively new costumer-- How do you keep the train on a white dress like the one in your sketch clean?

I did Galadriel to wear to the opening of LOTR:TTT, (white lace at $1/yd--couldn't resist!) and the hemline is so filthy I'm afraid I'll have to cut off the bottom inch and re-hem it so it doesn't quite touch the ground. And I didn't even make it drag in the back like it should. Or is it just the type fabric I used?

Karen Dick
You make it out of something washable/bleachable.

Or you don't make it drag on the ground.

Or you line it in something that will get dirty instead of the white fabric. I have one friend who lines her stuff in plastic, but that can seriously affect the drape.

My "elven" dress is chartreuse (yellow green) panne velvet that I knew would be difficult to clean, and it was raining/muddy here in Pittsburgh, so I cut it long and gave it a deep hem that was off the ground. I'll probably re-hem it later to a longer length.

Trudy Leonard
Under the gowns from the late 1800's which were trained, they wore a petticoat that was also trained and it had a special ruffle on the part that swept the ground which could be removed for laundering. You could do something similar for your Galadrial dress and just not make the petticoat as fluffy.

Lisa A Ashton
One method to keep a train (relatively) clean is what I employed a few years ago on the "Lady of Rainbows" dress (which was made of sky-blue velvet) was to hand-sew a fairly heavy lining onto the bottom of the train (I think I used a heavy satin that I had left over from the sleeves). It did get dirty very fast, but I could take it off and clean it, or just not worry about it. Another advantage was that using a fairly heavy fabric helped keep the train from bunching up.

Michaela De Bruce
Well the dress is also very long and it did drag on the ground but the fabric is super easy to clean:) It's microcrepe, and I was able to wash out just in the bathroom where the footprint when I stepped on it in the mud;)

I have a bias tape on the inside that's able to be easily unpicked if necessary.. but it hasn't proved to be so far;)

For my big German ren gown I'll simply be not wearing it outdoors, and the short time it will touch the ground getting to and from places won't really matter:)

But I would face a train to be worn outside with something maybe scotchguarded or otherwise dirt/water repellant in a weight suitable to the fabric. So that would change depending on the gown:)