Saturday, November 2, 2013

Queen Lucy the Valiant


Oh, my little Katydid. 

She and Lucy Pevensie would've been great friends, I think. 

Spunky little thing, she is.

Didn't quite want to be Lucy at first. Said she wanted to be Susan, just like her sisters, because Lucy was "the littlest".

A little too close to home, I guess, being the littlest of three sisters and all.

Reassured her that Lucy was quite the heroine, and that, of all the Pevensie siblings, she was the one with the purest heart and truest faith.


"... and I'll make your dress first." I added, off-handedly.

"Okay." She said. "Aaand I want the pouch for her healing thingy. It's triangular. Aaand it's on her belt."


Kate's dress was really, really easy to make - fuss-free, fast and with a fair bit of ease so she could grow into it (and wear it to next year's Renaissance Festival). There was only one tiny issue to reckon with: the frilly bit of inner fake-chemise peeking out from the top of the neckline. I knew the perfect fabric for it -thin Tshirt knit that wouldn't bulk up too much when ruffled - but I didn't have it, and didn't want to drive out to the fabric store just to buy an eighth of a yard for this. There were theoretical alternatives, all of which I had in my possession -satin or cotton, for instance, but they were scratchy against the skin. So I compromised with some rather robust ivory interlock in my stash, gathering it as little as possible between the outer and lining neckline layers, so the neckline would stay lie flat.

Then decided it wasn't quite ruffled enough, so I hand-gathered its inner layer to crumple the outer layer a bit more. You can see those stitches in the photo above. 

Shoulda gone to the fabric store after all. 
Oh, well, moving on now- the sleeves are attached directly to the bodice which has faux princess seams in front and back. I mean, the princess seams are real but they have zero dart-function. They were pieced purely for aesthetics.

The skirt is a semi-circular skirt (or maybe it was two-thirds circular- I can't remember) done in two halves. 

The ivory inner skirt is only a front layer - so the back of the skirt is a single red layer, and the front of the skirt is a two-layered thing with a red, split layer over the ivory inner layer. Then those two halves are joined at the side seams into a full skirt and attached to the bodice at the drop-waist line.

Gives quite a good twirl, I thought, while keeping a nice elegant line down the body. A full circular skirt would have not added significant drama to that spin and would've weighed down a little child, besides.

The belt and pouch were made of vinyl, left over from this project.

The pouch itself is a gusset-style bag with a flap over the front that extends from the back piece.

Under that button

is a magnetic snap -it's easier for little kids to manipulate than a real clasp.

The pouch slides on and off the belt

on two loops sewn to its back.

One dress and one pouch-on-a-belt

for a little girl who has a hard time sitting still.

May you have all kinds of daring adventures, sweet and dauntless one.


12 comments:

  1. You did an amazing job! She looks great!!

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  2. The outfit is grand, but it's Kate that made me smile all the way through the post. She's just adorable in all her poses... such personality coming through! And that beautiful smile!! I bet you want to hang onto her and stop her from growing up so fast! Awesome photos!

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  3. I actually thought Kate would make a fabulous Lucy reading your post yesterday!

    Love this dress, and thank you for deconstructing it! Hoping to get brave enough to try more complex projects like this in the near-ish future (near-ish meaning anywhere from 1-3 years, in my time...)

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  4. I suspect Kate and Lucy would be fast friends. This costume is breathtaking, you are a master at the art of drape.

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  5. I think, every child would like to have such a mom!!!

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  6. This is the most adorable dress! ( an interesting tidbit. My nieces name is Katie and we all call her Katydid too! Well she is 17 and back when she was younger looked exactly like Lucy! ) I wish I could post a photo of her here to prove my point.) you did a splendid job.

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  7. Beautiful work! I love reading about your sewing...you make amazing things. :)

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  8. wait to they get older and you long for the days of them back in diapers.

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  9. Great work. I hope to be able to do that quality of work some day.

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  10. I love the costumes you made for your girls!!!!! They are fabulous!!

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  11. Would you be willing to share more detailed instructions on the dress or maybe sell them? I really am in love with this particular one and am trying to make one for my 7 yr. old for Christmas! thanks!

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  12. Did the fabric and the cotton and everything you use to make the gown cost you too much? I want to have like that too because we have a cosplay

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