Narnian Wardrobe--An Attempt

Hello, all! I haven't posted in much too long, mostly due to the fact that I haven't had much to post about...but I have a new idea. I was thinking that since I have in the past (and still do) adore Susan's and Lucy's Narnian costumes from the two movies, I thought I would add my two cents to the myriad of thoughts on the make and design of them. So stay tuned, and I shall attempt this task. ;)

~Lucie

Currently Creating...

View A will go with beret and matching scarf.

Beret: Hat in French

Here are some pictures of the beret I just made...It's turned out to be very 1940's. I just started a 1940's style skirt with this lovely fall suiting solids plaid. It's very classic--and classy. But back to the beret. It was very fun to make, as well as providing a way for me to learn to use four needles...or five. By the way, the second picture is more representative of its color, though. You can't really see in the pictures, but its worn to one side, almost over the ear.

Narnia and JW Waterhouse

Do these two dresses look alike? The one on the top is the Adult Susan Dress from LWW. The one on the bottom is a painting done by John William Waterhouse in 1905. Here are some of their similarities:


1) They are both zig-zag laced up the front.

2) Both have a boat neckline.

3) Both have a notch to allow for the lacing.

4) Both have a large embroidery around the "neckline."

Granted, the sleeves are not the same and the original painting does not have a split, but I just thought that it was SO neat how similar they are! AND--I found this one all by myself!

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This is what the people on The Wardrobe Door think that Susan's Archery Dress was inspired by...it's also a JW Waterhouse!
They both have a notch (about the same), a sleeve puffing through the middle arm and they're both fitted and the underdress neck is cut higher than the overdress. Both of these paintings of Pre-Raphaelite fashions.

Here is an interview with Isis Mussenden in which she states that the Narnian costumes were, in fact, inspired by this style. It is really great!

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Just a side note: my orchestra is playing Holst's The Planets in May, so when I first listened to the recordings, I thought "hey, that sounds a lot like Narnia!" Well, to make a very long story short, it is really incredible if you listen to "Prince Caspian Flees" and "Kings and Queens of Old" on the PC soundtrack, and then listen to the beginning of "Mars" and "Venus." Tell me what you think...I find it absolutely UNCANNY! Many of the themes are almost identical. It's amazing.

Drumroll, Please...DRUMROLL! Thank you.

I have officially finished my Susan Pevensie costume!!! At last!

It all started when I saw Prince Caspian. I had been a huge fan of Narnia when the first one came out, so when I saw Prince Caspian, I fell back in love with it.

Anyway, I suddenly became very interested in making one of Susan's costumes. My original plan was to make her green LLW dress...but then I saw this picture:


Don't ask why, I couldn't tell you, but I really loved it. So I started looking around on The Wardrobe Door ( a great site if you want to make a Narnia costume). I checked out the page on Susan's purple dress, where I read about a lot of things that probably went into the real costume--on Isis Mussenden's budget, with her weavers, crew and experience--not mine. So...I started looking for a pattern that would work well and make the costume just perfectly, but I couldn't find one. So, being a perfectionist (strike that: a selective perfectionist) I decided to make my own. That equaled: "oops! I am tired! I just want to be done! I have this big mess to clean up now! Those pieces are uneven!"

Anyway, I made my own pattern. I started with just some newspaper, a tape measure and two and two makes four. If you do try this, however, try to make yourself a dress form, it would have really helped with measuring and fitting...trying to measure your own shoulders accurately is such a pain!

I gave in after a rather poor attempt of making a pattern for the skirt. I decided to use this pattern:


(sorry, it's a little big) I used petticoat D, which is the one without the ruffle.

Creating the split was really rather easy...after I had given it some calm, cool and collected thought. What I did was this: measure the front of the skirt and find the middle. Then, I sewed a seam with a very small seam allowance (to try to keep the skirt at the size I wanted it). One tip about that, though: don't be over-zealous about "small seam allowances"...make it large enough to serge, otherwise you'll get fraying. After ironing down the finished seam, I just cut very carefully through the little "loop" that was made by the seam and then seam ripped it. It worked very nicely.

For the bodice and bodice lining, I sewed the princess seams of the bodice up, but left it in two pieces (front and back). Then, I laid out the lining, cut it and sewed the boning too it. I sewed the lining to bodice right sides together and then turned them out like a bag, joining the front and back together.

For the sleeves, I made a pattern ( again, look at the write- up on this costume on the wardrobe door), sewed them together, and then sewed them to the armholes.

That was pretty much it, and the rest is very self explanatory. If you have any questions, please ask them in the comment form.

And here are some photos of the finished product:







I'm afraid that I need to stop smiling...my "beam" isn't very Narnian queen-ish :). It's not as perfect as the picture I had in my mind was, but I am pleased with how well it turned out, considering that it was my first real try.

On a Budget

As I wrap up "production" of my Susan costume, I just want to remember the last months.

Things that I have learned:

-I don't actually like making patterns. It is back-breaking and at times seem almost impossible...especially when you are measuring yourself because you don't have a dress form that is your exact size (I don't even have a generic dress form).

-You can't really be picky about the type of fabric you use...look at me! I wanted a nice ribbed, purplish-pinkish wool/ wool blend. No such thing. It was a pain in and of itself to find a good color, so when I did, I bought it. Even though it was linen. Hey, it was half off!

- Don't just don't be picky about the princess seams unless you are prepared to make it from scratch. I mean literally.

-It is really, really hard to make a pattern. And, surprisingly, it is harder to make a skirt pattern than it is a bodice.

Moral: DON'T BE PICKY!!! ( I'm still working on that.)

Some pictures

Maybe...*If I Ever Get Past My Short Attention Span* Susan's Cuirass

Well, I am moving very s...l...o...w...l...y on my costume, but I have been thinking about how to make it multi-purpose. I noticed that Susan wore her skirt and under dress for the Night Raid, so I have been thinking about how to make her cuirass, or leather corset. We'll see, so don't hold me to it...


P.S. I hope to write a post about the purple skirt (above) mock-up soon!

My Costume Looks Better on Paper...

...Trust me-- it does not look that good right now.


(Sorry the photos are not very sharp).

My Susan Pevensie Costume

I am currently working on Susan's purple dress from Prince Caspian. I had originally wanted to make the green archery dress from the first movie, but when I saw this picture, I changed my mind. I guess it was just the way the skirt flared just so (yes, yes, I know they probably pinned it that way, but I still like it).





The Bodice

Anyway, that started the train moving and pretty soon I was looking at every picture I could get my hands on of this dress. I also started looking all the pattern companies to try and find a pattern that would match what I wanted to make, how I wanted to make it. That shouldn't have been too hard, right? Wrong. Unbelievably, none of the pattern companies carried anything that matched what I wanted among their hundreds of patterns, so I set out to make my own (pattern, that is).

This is how the first one turned out. Something wrong here? Maybe it's the way the two sides of the different pattern pieces don't line up. Mmmmm. It didn't look so bad as all that on cloth, though.













Later, I found this picture. It shows the side pieces really well, so that was big help in understanding what to do wiht those. My last mock-up turned out very nicely and I would include a picture of it, but I lost it.

When I finish the other mock-ups, I will make posts on them.

All photos from the Narnia movie are from NarniaWeb.com, the pictures in the sidebar link to it.