New Leather-crafting Project

As part of my last year in 4-H , I’m doing a leather-craft project.  For this project, I decided to make Susan Pevensie’s Battle Outfit from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie.  Only the corset will be made of leather, but if I make the corset then I have to make the rest of the outfit.  This is one of my favorite dresses that Susan wears in the entire movie series  Originally, I made this outfit for the premiere of Prince Caspian with a lot of help from one of my sewing friends.  The first costume was an embarrassment to say the least, but I loved it.  For a first costume based on small or blurry pictures it was great, but I’m a perfectionist when is comes to sewing so I want my costumes to be perfect or at least close enough.  All that to say that I’m working to remake my first costume over the next year and a half.  I’m giving myself a huge time span because I want everything as perfect as possible and most of the pieces will take a while to make, like the chain mail.  I’m also giving myself plenty of time for school and shipping if I order any of my pieces. 

Ok, so by now you’re probably wondering what the outfit looks like, especially after I went into so much detail to explain why I’m making it (again).  Don’t worry pictures are coming next.   You can find really high quality pictures on NarniaWeb.com’s costume sub section.

 

I’m going to start working on the corset first as it’s for my leather crafting project.  From there I have no idea what will be make next as I cannot guarantee when I’ll find the materials for the next pieces.  I can’t wait to start working on this project!  I might make the accessories as well, but that’s a bit unsure at the moment.  I’d really love to make the bow, quiver, and bracer.  ^_^

Thank you for reading and please keep in touch.  This is Narnian signing off.  Later!

Voyage of the Dawn Treader Premiere, It’s Today

Well today is the Voyage of the Dawn Treader premiere.  The costumes are nearly done.  My dress for Susan is done except for a hew that I’ll add later.  I decided not to embroider the collar because I did not have time, and I really like the way the dress looks without the embroidered collar.  I’m really happy with the way it turned out.  It looks like Susan’s dress just with my own added twist.  I’m really proud of it.  The only thing I want to change is the collar.  I want to hand sew it on this time. 

Lucy’s outfit is nearly done…ish.  So far I have the pants done.  I’m working on the shirt right now and should have it done in time.  The jerkin is in no way done.  I’m just going to let it go for now and finish it in time for 4-H exhibitions.  I still don’t have the belt or the boots done either.  Oy!  I wish I had more time! 

School is nearly out so I’ll have more time to sew then.  I just wish it gave me more time to work on the premiere costumes.  Well, at least I’ll have most of it done by then.  I’ll just have to make the rest later.

Cosplays for Next Year

I've decided on a lot of the cosplays I'm going to make for the next con year.  So far my list is Vorfeed from Lost Universe, Sophia Forrester from Last Exile, Raven in her white outfit from Teen Titans, Susan Pevensie from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,  Maria Ross from Fullmetal Alchemist, and an undecided princess dress. 

View Full Album

I recently have found another character that I adore.  It is Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed.  She is an awesome character and I love her role in the series.  Her dresses are adorable too.   I’m only to the 39th episode of Gundam Seed (I haven’t seen Gundam Seed Destiny yet).  So I have not seen many of her dresses but I love the ones I have.  So far my favorite is her main dress for the first part of the series.

I also really like her dress that she wears when she’s at her home in the plants.  It’s very pretty, very cute, and very girly. 

 

I also really like Cagalli and Mirallia as well.  I like Cagalli’s first fighting outfit the best so far.  I really like some of her other outfits too.  But I don’t think I can pull them off well so I won’t consider them.  Here’s her first fighting outfit. 

 

I like Mirallia’s Heliopolis and flightsuit too. 

I have a lot of other prospective cosplays on my list but I won’t mention them now.  There are a few other cosplays that I could also make this next year because I have the materials for them already.  But since  I don’t know if it’ll actually happen I won’t mention them either. 

Christmas break is in two weeks.  I cannot wait to start working on some of these cosplays.  I want to finish Vorfeed and Raven during the break.  I might work on Sophia and Maia as well.  Also, I plan on getting some more fabric after Christmas so I can start on a couple more cosplays in January.  I want to get three to four cosplays at least halfway done by the end of the break.  That way I’ll have more time for sewing and 4-H projects during the other school breaks and over the summer.  I might add a few more cosplays to my list if I get these done and finish correcting a few of my others.  Other than that, I’m pretty set as far as cosplays go.  As always, it’s really fun to have a lot of cosplays ready to go, but I can only make as many as I can afford. 

Less than a Week

It’s less than a week to the US Voyage of the Dawn Treader premiere, and I still have a lot to do.  I have all the fabric for the main parts of both Lucy’s Dawn Treader outfit and Susan’s Narnia dress.  I just have to finish all the sewing right now and get the fabric for Lucy’s boots and Susan’s belt. 

So far Susan’s dress is nearly finished.  I completely modified one of the fantasy Simplicity patterns (i don’t know the exact number right now) to make this dress.  It has turned out wonderful so far!!!  The pleats are perfect and I even added my out personal twist with the pleats to Susan’s original design.  It looks so pretty!  The fabric I chose is perfect too.  I have no idea what type of fabric it is because I got it from the clearance section and didn’t think to check the tag for reference.  That’s what you get for having a thirteen minute time limit in the fabric store.  Anyway, the fabric works perfectly.  It has a one way stretch that totally came in handy when I had to fit the dress to me better. 

To finish Susan’s dress I just have to make the collar and embroider it.  I’m using a pattern for the collar so I just have to wing it and see what happens.  I hope it turns out right.  I only have enough to make one collar.  Stupid fund limitations.

As for embroidery, there is no possible way I can get the collar and the other two thirds of the jerkin done in time.  I would have to be The Flash in order for that to happen.  So I’m setting for the next best thing, no embroidery on the collar.  ;_;  I might add the embroidery later, but I kinda doubt it.  The jerkin, on the other hand, is another matter.  I have between one third to one half of the jerkin done.  I did not expect the embroidery to take so long neither did I expect to lose nearly all of my embroidery supplies nor get swamped with a ton of homework before Thanksgiving break.  It’s supposed to be a break right.  So due to my lack of diligence and planning skills, I have to cut a few corners if I want the jerkin to be fairly done in time.  I have a feeling I’ll be sewing every spare and waking minute of this next week in and out of class.  Prepare for a very weak, “yay”.  I’m not looking forward to this.  But I’ll endure anyway. 

The other parts of Lucy’s costume are going well.  I have the pants and the cape done so far.  I still need to make the shirt, which I now have fabric for, and make those darn boots once I find the right fabric.  I really hope the fabric fairy leaves me some material under my pillow this week for good behavior. 

In other news, I have most of my costumes for next year planned out (see next post).  I’m also, finally, making a dress for my mom.  Ok, so it’s more like a full-fledged renaissance outfit, but it’s still a dress.  So far most of the fabric is purchased.  We just have to get the chemise fabric and the coordinating fabric for the opposite side of the bodice.  I almost have the skirt done.  I just have to finish the back closure and the hem.  I want to get all the pieces done by Christmas time so I can surprise mom with them being her presents. 

Other than the above, my sewing has been pretty dull.  School for this year is winding to a close so I hope I can get a lot of sewing done over the break.  I’m hoping to get at least three to four costumes done as well as finish my sister’s Lucy costume and my mom’s renaissance outfit.  It should be blast, a very busy almost stressful blast but a blast nonetheless.  I’m also hoping to get some photo shoots soon too.  I’ve gotten one of Belle’s green dress so far, but I hope to get others like Yuna and some of the other costumes I’m working/will be working on.  But you’ll have to wait till the next post to see what the new costumes are.  ^_^ 

Thank you for reading and be sure to tune in next time to discover what else is happening in my crazy world of costuming and fabric stacks.  You’re a great audience! 

New Discovery and Old Progress

While thinking up how to make my Voyage of the Dawn Treader costume, I stumbled across an awesome idea.  I’m always having to buy multiples of the same patterns because I modify just about any pattern I get to achieve a desired costume.  This method of pattern modification is rather expensive and I can’t afford to keep going that route any more.  So I came up with my own idea to the solve the problem.  After I read a really helpful tutorial on how to conserve pattern pieces, an idea struck me.  Cut out the pattern pieces to the desired size, follow the tutorial to back them, and use chalk to trace out the pieces onto the desired fabric.  This way I can make any modification I want to a pattern piece without wasting a pattern!  It’s so cool and brilliant!  Right now I’m trying out my idea with my newest project, Susan’s Narnia from Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  That brings me to my next subject.

I just started Susan’s dress today, tonight actually.  I’m using the above method to make the pieces I need for the dress.  So far it’s working wonderfully!  Right now I have the first two pieces cut out and am working on the third.  It takes me much longer to cut out the pieces because I have to lay out the original pattern piece and pin it down, trace the outline and markings to the fabric with chalk (I’m using paper chalk and it’s working just fine.  It comes off with water too), unpin the pattern piece and place it to the side, then I finally cut the piece out of the fabric by cutting along the chalk lines.  It’s so much fun!  It’s like a giant connect the dots and cut out the paper doll project!  I love it! 

I should be done cutting out the pieces sometime tonight.  I hope to pleat the front panel and sew the first part of dress by tonight/early tomorrow morning too.  Well, I better get back to work if I’m to get all that done!  Talk to you soon!

Susan’s Voyage of the Dawn Treader Dress

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader premiere is only a few days away, less than a month to be exact.  I recently purchased my materials for my Susan dress.  It cost me only $25 to get all the supplies I needed for the dress, minus the thread and embroidery floss that I already had.  For the main dress, I got this lovely dark gray fabric that hangs and flows beautifully, and should hold the pleats well.  As for the collar, I got this fuzzy knitted fabric that looks really nice with the main fabric.  I just wish it was a tad bit darker in color though. 

I’ve decided to embroider the designs on the collar instead of etch them in.  I couldn’t afford the right kind of velvet to use for etching, and I only have a limited amount of time so ordering online is out of the question.  I really worried that I won’t have enough time to embroider both the collar for my dress and finish the embroidery for my sister’s jerkin.  I really hope I do cause Lucy just won’t be Lucy without her jerkin. 

Only 36 Days Left

I just realized there are 36 days till the premiere of Voyage of the Dawn Treader!!!!!!!  *faints*  I still have so much to do before the costumes are finished.  I think I predict lots of late night sewing during Thanksgiving and the week of the premiere.  Oy!  Why does time always run short for me? 

The Lucy costume is coming well.  I still have to finish the embroidery for the jerkin.  I think the breeches embroidery is going to have to wait till after the premiere.  Embroidery takes forever.  I’ll have to work overtime to get it done.  Time to start embroidering in class again.  Don’t worry the profs already approved.  ^_^

I still have to get the fabric for my Susan costume.  I found the perfect pattern(s) to use for the dress!!!  It’s either Simplicity 9891 or 4940.  Both would work wonderfully because the pattern has a front panel that could be easily added to.  I’m so excited to make this costume!!!!!

Decisions and Updates

I have indeed decided to go as Susan to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader premiere.  My sister will be Lucy and I will be Susan.  It’s our last time to do so, and I’m not about ready to break the tradition.  So that decided, I will have to gather new fabric for my Susan costume.  It shouldn’t be too hard, I’m just worried about the possible price.  The fabric for Susan’s dress is a heavy gray fuzzy type fabric with a velvet trim, from what I can tell so far.  Both velvet and wool are very expensive, very very expensive.  I’m hoping to find either an outrageously good deal or some sort of unknown substitute.  I know I’ll get it.  It’s just a matter of when.  So I’ll keep my eyes open and let you know what happens.

My sister’s costume is coming along splendidly!  I found some new pictures of Lucy’s outfit and they are ever so helpful.  I now know what the leg embroidery looks like as well as some of the minor details to the jerkin and shirt.  There might even be beading on the jerkin, though I’m still unsure.  Here are the pictures.  Each helps with a different aspect of the costume. 

View Full Album

Possible Change of Dawn Treader Premiere Costume

As the premiere nears and more friends join the group my excitement grows stronger.  Now there might be at least two others who might go to the premiere in costume as well!!  This is really good news!  The only sad part is that I might have to change my costume plans.  I’m hoping to be able to get enough people who want to dress in costume for the premiere that we get the entire main crew!  It would be awesome! 

So far there are four girls, my sister and I included who want to or are going in costume.  The only thing is, is that there are only, roughly, four girls in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and two of them were added by the producers.  That means that each of us will, most likely, have to be each a different character.  All this to say that I might not end up being Rumandu’s Daughter for the premiere.  The entire costume hangs on whether or not I can get the wig I mentioned in my first Dawn Treader post.  So far it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get the wig and one of the girls would make a great Rumandu’s Daughter.  She even has blond curly hair!  It doesn’t bother me at all if she ends up being Rumandu’s Daughter.  I only wish I would have known before I went out and bought the fabric for the pattern.  It’ll take me a while before I get enough money to get the fabric for another costume but it’ll work out.  That’s why I have back up costumes. 

Since I might not end up being Rumandu’s Daughter for the premiere I have come up with a back up costume idea.  Ever since the release of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I’ve gone as Lucy’s older sister, Susan.  Well Susan makes a small cameo in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader so I might end up being her.  It’s become sort of a tradition for my sister and I to go as Susan and Lucy.  I’m not about ready to break it now, even if Susan wasn’t in the book.  Luckily Susan does wear a Narnia outfit in a scene where all the Pevensie siblings are present.  It is this costume that I’m using as a back up. 

It is a beautiful gray, floor-length dress with front pleats and I believe a belt.  The pictures are still fuzzy and the first trailer is the only reference I have to by so the actual design of the costume is unsure.  I don’t even known if there will be any promotional pictures released of this dress because it has so little screen time, as far as I can tell.  Either way, I love this dress and don’t mind having to put some of my own interpretations into the design. 

Here are a few pictures of the dress so far.

 

These are the only pictures of the dress so far.  From what I can tell, it looks as if the collar is made out of velvet with a leaf design etched into it.  It also appears that there are ten to twelve pleats on the front of the dress that run the entire length.  I don’t know what types of pleats they are for certain, though I do believe that they are either knife or box pleats.  Another idea is that they are pin tucks, though I don’t know how or why pin tucks would run the entire length of the dress.  The dress is indeed floor-length and has elbow length sleeves.  There also appears to be a light brown to tan belt worn around the waist.  The hair style appears to be the same as Susan’s hairstyle in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when she was in Aslan’s camp.  Other than that, there are no other definable features about this dress.  I’m still unsure as to how the dress was constructed and why there appears to be no shoulder seams in the first picture.