And Six Years to Post Photos

Goodness, so much has happened since the last post about Susan's purple dress! But now that I've logged back on, I feel it only appropriate the finish that post with a few pictures. The dress isn't exactly like the one in the movie; I simply couldn't find the right purple material, with the right stripes, spaced correctly, etc, etc. **Now you see why it took me 10 years to get started ;-)** And I didn't have the funds at the time to specially design and order 8 yards of material. Maybe if I were to sew this dress again that may be something I could consider doing. Or I could sew it up in lovely shades of deep green. Now that I mention it, it does sound like the good start to a Ithilien ranger inspired outfit. Hmmm, now my brain is racing. As if I don't already have enough projects on my sewing to-do list. Lol! Back to the purple dress. I did finish it satisfactorily enough for my tastes. I completed it just two months before getting married, so hopefully anyone reading this blog can forgive me, especially since I had to immediately jump into rush-sewing my wedding gown. :-)

And now here are a few of the not-so-great-quality photos I have of the long thought out dress, inspired by Susan's purple dress from the movie Prince Caspian. Enjoy!

     I did adjust the bodice pattern for my wonky shoulders. If I had done the back neckline like the original, I would have been constantly tugging and readjusting it. Not a fun thing to have to do when you're just trying to enjoy your latest completed sewing endeavor. :-)

     I really like how the silhouette turned out. :-)

10 years in the making

So I've been wondering.............is it perfectionism or a fear of failure that makes someone wait 10 (TEN!) years to make an outfit? I'd like to say it's a combination of both. 😊 I've wanted to sew this ensemble since I first saw the movie Prince Caspian in theater, back in 2008. But for once in my sewing career I wanted it to be exactly like the original. Usually I put my own twist on it. Change something in it to make it *mine*. Sometimes that simply means doing it in a different color. But for this dress I wanted it just like the one Anna Popplewell wears. A square necked, light blue under-dress, over which is a well fitted bodice done in purple, a daffodil motif appliqued on the front. Tight sleeves with slashes below the elbow (she is an archeress, and needs the room to draw her bow), with scalloped peplums. A princess seamed, floor length skirt with a opening in the center front through which you can see the skirt of the under-dress. 

As you can see, there are different elements to this dress. As I studied it I found more details, which I liked. It's the little details that make something unique and different. I also realized it wasn't going to be the quickest, or easiest, outfit to sew. But that was ok. Just so long as it looked like I'd stepped out of Narnia when I wore it. :-) As we walked out of the theater my brain was already working through the whole sewing process. I never thought it'd take me this long to complete it. Better late than never, right? 

So just as this dress took plenty of time to make, it's going to take several blog posts to cover all the different parts of it. Consider this the intro. 🙂