Susan's Battle Outfit

Wow. I've gotten a lot done this weekend! Today I worked on Susan's Battle Dress. I had finished the muslin a while back (like two months ago!) so I finally cut it out of the real fabric. Well, fabrics. I had bought garnet velvet for the skirt (back when we thought the skirt was velvet) and I didn't want to waste it so I cut the overskirt of velvet. The underskirt and bodice was a suede cloth that I had bought for Lucy's Rust Red Dress before I found her velvet. I didn't have enough of that for a full underskirt and the bodice so I also used an embroidered taffeta for the sleeves and the front panel of the bodice. A picture is worth a thousand words:

It looks very Victorian in this picture but it's really not. And it's not quite that dark. I was so pleased with this dress but then I put the chainmaille on top and bummer! The sleeves are way too short so I have to length both the dress and the chainmaille sleeves by about two inches. The neckline is too high so I have to lower it about two inches too. And the chainmaille has to be altered to work better with the dress. =(

With the chainmaille it's SUPER HOT. I only wore it for about 5 minutes and I was burning up. Great.

Still to do on this dress: hem underskirt, hem velvet skirt, put gold embroidery on hem, put in invisible zipper, lengthen sleeves, alter neckline, and take in the waist a little.

And I haven't even started on the cuirass. =(

Lucy Dress Update

Oh my goodness. It's been forever since I've updated. That's because I haven't sewn any for Prince Caspian recently! But yesterday, I finally bought the silk for Lucy's bodice at Hobby Lobby. It's a little too coppery but I figured that I would never actually find a color I loved. And this went beautifully with the velvet I already had. So, I cut out the bodice and then drew on the swirls with a fabric marker. I may go back over them and make them a little darker. The swirls match the original perfectly. I was rather proud of myself.

Then I assembled the bodice flatlining the silk with some cotton I had on hand. I then made the sleeves baglining them in the same polyester I had made the underdress with (which was stretchy! Bleh!). I then put all the pieces together with the skirt and the peplum. The beaded trim hated me. It would not bend an inch. Which is bad because the peplum is cut on a circle. So finally I just sewed the top of the trim directly to the bodice and the peplum underneath kinda helps it stick out a little. Anyway, here are some in-process pics:

I still have to put the trim on the upper arm, do the French Knots on the bodice, make the neckline, hem the velvet skirt, and do the back lacing. But, I think I have come a long way. I hope to finish this dress this week. Then it will be one down, a million to go!

Peter's Blue Shirt

Ok, so I made a Peter's Camp Outfit for LWW's premiere for a friend. This time the same friend is going to be Peter in his Brown Velvet Tunic Outfit. So I recycled! The blue shirt from the Camp Outfit is actually kind of close to the blue shirt under the Brown Tunic. So I decided to just alter it to be closer to the the Brown Tunic one. Here's a pic of what it looks like as the Camp shirt:

So I decided to make a decorative piece to go around the neckline. First I cut a strip of fabric about 1 1/2 wide. Then I folded it in half and sewed it with a thin cord in the middle (that is sewn to one end):

Once you have a tube, pull on the thin string and with some huffing and puffing it will eventually turn the casing inside out. Cut away the thin string. Thread (using a giant safety pin) a 3/8 inch cord into the casing:

After the cord is in the casing finish the ends by sewing them shut. Then the fun part. Take a similar color thread and wrap it around the cord. If you have the exact same cord as I did, it will slip into the grooves of the wrap. If you stay in the same groove the whole way down, it will pick up every other groove (does that make sense?). Glue it every so often with fabric glue to help keep it tight:

And the finished product:

Then I just folded the ends under and glued it to my neckline:

It's a little more prominent than the original but I like it. Whoo-hoo! Now I have to rip out the sleeves (because the Camp shirt had semi-fitted sleeves) and replace them with full sleeves with cuffs. Luckily I kept my extra fabric from when I made this shirt 2 1/2 years ago! I know, I'm a packrat..