Completed

A beautiful letdown - is that a song? It's a great way to describe my emotions right now. Anyways, I finished my costumes and we wore them proudly to the midnight premiere. Four of us were costumed - I had finished six but my two young cousins (Lucy and Edmund) weren't allowed to go to the midnight premiere.

We looked amazing. Of the six costumes I made, they split evenly into two categories: Insanely Accurate, and Pretty Close. The Insanely Accurate ones were: Susan's Battle for me, Caspian's Main for my brother, and Lucy's Rust Red for my cousin. The Pretty Close ones were: Caspian's Coronation for a friend, Peter's Brown Tunic for my brother's college roommate, and Edmund's Battle for another cousin.

To determine the criteria was rather easy - hand sewing. I hate hand sewing with a passion and avoid it at all costs. Lucy's bodice received hand sewn French knots, Caspian's sleeves were smocked, and Susan's dress just had insane amounts of time put in it - those darn straps on the cuirass.

Another determination of the categories is Would I Change Anything?

Susan's Battle Dress is as accurate as I could possible get it. It only lacks a collar for the chainmaille (which I decided I didn't like) and the weird leather cord 'seam' on the chainmaille sleeves (if you don't know what I'm talking about that's because it was the tiniest of details). Every other inch of my Susan dress makes me happy.

Caspian's Main is perhaps the most accurate guys costume replica I have ever made. Incorrect details? The sleeve was not hand set into the armhole with cartridge pleats (it was just machine gathered). Embroidery was just drawn on (though it turned out quite nice). Boots aren't right - but they were an extremely last minute thing - we were literally finishing them on the way to the theater. Other inaccuracies for Caspian? The sleeve cuffs don't fasten the same way as the original (I was too lazy/hurried to make buttonholes so they tie instead).

Lucy's costume I am also very proud of (I'm also proud of the fact that it was finished so far in advance!). From the swirls on the bodice to the neckline stitching on the underdress, this costume turned out exactly as I wanted it.

The other three have many things wrong. Caspian's coronation was fairly close considering we only had one photo and a horse's head was blocking the front. But I didn't make any pants so my poor Caspian had to wear khakis. Peter's Brown Tunic was okay. But I didn't make the left princess seam split or do the embroidery on the left side. Also, it is very obviously not velvet. Edmund's Battle is kinda close - the pieces that I made. Not too bad. But I didn't make the leather gorget (collar) or hand embroider the bottom hem (though I did stitch a little of the lion).

Anyway, that was just me ranting. I realize that anyone reading this would rather pictures than me ranting. *is incredibly embarrassed* We didn't actually take any pictures at the premiere. Well, other people took pictures of us and with us - random people and even the theater employees! I did manage to have a friend take some good pictures of my brother as Caspian - I'll post those as soon as possible. We're dressing up again to take my two cousins on Sunday and I promise to get pictures of that!

By the way, Prince Caspian is amazing! I won't spoil it for anyone but I loved it!