Ladies of Narnia

The girls were Narnian royalty this Halloween. 

I had an absolute blast making these costumes. Unlike in previous years, there was no waffling this time. The girls said, "I want to be Susan" or "I want to be Lucy" and we got on the internet, pulled up stills from the movies, they picked their favorite Pevensie outfits, I pinterested them for reference, spent an evening at JoAnn picking fabrics, zippers and trim, and got to work.

There's nothing I like more than having a photo to work from. It's my favorite way to sew, especially when I'm not in the mood to design new stuff: take a photo or picture, deconstruct it, get out slopers, adapt, lay out, sew. Sometimes the type of fabric requires extra fittings and major pattern overhaul (I'll whine about that in more detail when we discuss Emily's dress in a later post), but otherwise it's a straightforward process. Kate's dress, for instance, required just one fitting and, subsequently, got done in a day.

What made it especially enjoyable this year was the absence of fleece and satin. Yay! They wanted dress-up costumes for playing, the girls said. Everyone voted for knit (although they called it "that Tshirt cloth like our old Renaissance dresses"). Emily was even more specific: "No zipper. Just over the head, please." Then they all convinced me that knit was more comfortable and, unlike their other fleecy Halloween dresses, wouldn't get tight when they grew bigger. 

Good argument. I completely bought it.

Besides, omitting the fleece under-layers and awful satin outer-layers reduced the production time to less than half. Totally win-win. I finished the costumes with an entire week to spare before Halloween. That never happens! 

Here they are - Queen Susan's Coronation Parade Gown (from Prince Caspian)

on Jenna;

(she wanted it exact).

Queen Susan's Coronation Gown (from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe)

redesigned by and for Emily 

(she wanted it completely redone her way);

and Queen Lucy's Dress (from Prince Caspian)

on Kate 

(she had no opinion on its exactness as long as I made the pouch for Lucy's healing cordial).

Each girl also got one handmade accessory to add to their outfit.

Emily's was a flower garland,

Kate wanted the belt and pouch (as earlier mentioned),

and Jenna got the Horn that summoned aid for Narnia from other worlds.

More photos to come in separate posts, along with random drafting drivel.

Till then -