Lucy Dress

Just a couple pictures of my cousin in her finished Lucy Dress.

Finished Lucy Dress!

It's finished! Yesterday and today I: finished the French knots, put the upper arm trim on, hemmed the velvet, and put in the back lacing.

The neckline center U isn't quite perfect but I like it anyway. I'm so glad that I finished and I'm so proud of my efforts! New pictures tomorrow when my cousin can come over to model it!

Lucy's Embroidery

Well, a slight update today. The flowery swirls that I drew on a few days ago were too light. So I went back over the designs with my marker again. Note to anyone else: if you are using a FabricMate marker on real silk, draw your design and then let it dry a day or two as it absorbs into the fabric. It would be much easier to have gone over the design again if the dress wasn't already assembled. But that would have been too easy for me.

I've almost finished the French Knots on Lucy's Bodice. I used embroidery floss from DMC in two colors - an ice blue and a French blue - #775 & #809 in case you care. I went with three strands on each color and wrapped the thread around once. I experimented with wrapping it two and three times, but it was a little much. I am very pleased with the result. It's very 3D which I like. I still have to finish 11 flowers on the back. I've already done 47 flowers. Yeah. This bodice has WAY too many flowers. But it does look nice.

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!

More Progress

Ok, long time since I've updated. I have been working on different pieces while still trying to do boring stuff like pay rent. I've mostly been working on Edmund's Battle Outfit for my 11 year old cousin. I've got the chainmaille about 1/2 finished and the basis of the red velvet tunic (though mine is red suede). It still doesn't have the gold embroidery or the gold lion. But I want to make sure it fits my cousin before I start detailing it. I'll post pictures as soon as he comes over to try it on!

Another tiny addition. Since we now have tons of new pictures, we can see more details. Lucy's underdress neckline has some kind of embroidery on it. I went through the stitches that my Bernina machine offers and found one that was close. I chose light blue thread and I actually like how it turned out!

Also, the new pics showed the skirt isn't velvet. But I have tons of this velvet that I love, so my skirt will be velvet. Also the bodice now appears to be dupioni silk. Since I haven't started the real bodice I think I will make this change. I'll then paint on the swirls and make blue french knots for the buds.

That's it for now. I've added Susan's Purple Dress to my list of costumes I want to make. But with only 78 days left, I don't know if I can pull it off. It's so exciting!

Lucy's Overdress Muslin

Alright. The second bodice muslin worked so well that I decided to add the peplum and overskirt to it. My cousin and I decided that we liked the overskirt being a little shorter than the underdress so you can see it underneath. The peplum is an arc but I think it might need to me more arced so that it sticks out a little more. Over all, I'm very pleased!!!

Lucy's Overdress Muslin(s)

Ok, I have been working on the overdress for Lucy. The above pictures are of the first muslin. Please ignore the ugly fabric - just trying to get rid of extra. It turned out too short and too tight where the arms attach to the bodice. So now onto the next muslin:

This time it turned out much better. Longer length and better fit at armhole - though still could use some ease. This time I tried bag lining the sleeves. It wasn't as hard as I thought. The sleeves are a little longer than hers in the movie but my cousin preferred the longer sleeves which we both thought looked more princess-y. The neckline is a little too high but that's ok - I can fix that later. I really like the placement of the seam in the middle of the sleeve. I lowered it by about 2 inches from the original pattern. Now my next step will be to add a peplum and an over skirt to this bodice. I'm pleased with the progress though!

Lucy's Underdress

Whoot! Had my cousin come try on the underdress today. Not too bad. A little tweaking here, a change there and it looked good! I still have to bind the armholes off with bias tape but that's about it. I had an invisible zipper in the back of the dress but I moved it to underneath one arm (which actually wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be). This way the back is smooth so if it shows through the lacing of the overdress it will be okay. Enough talking - on to pictures.

I promise it isn't light blue. The fabric truly is gray - this color. That's my velvet in the second picture. I love it! My cousin will look fabulous as Lucy!

Lucy's Underdress

I just finished what might become Lucy's underdress for her Rust Red Dress. If it fits, it will be the underdress; if it doesn't fit, it's the muslin. It actually turned out cute. I used this dollar-a-yard fabric I got at Walmart today. I'll post pictures as soon as I can get my younger cousin (who is the dress is for) over here to model it.

Also, I think I have the dye combination for her silver vest. I've found a tan/silver color that looks nice with the gray underdress and also coordinates with the dusty-red velvet. I have some gold lip trim that looks kinda like this: -->

I think that might be all the materials I need to finish this dress! Whoo-hoo! 'Course it'll take me til Dooms Day to finish. *Sigh*