Friday, May 23, 2008

A Journey to Narnia


In celebration of the opening of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, my sister and I decided to have a Narnian party. One of my dear friends was able to come for a visit and attend the opening with us.



This is our second Narnia party -- our first party was two summers ago, and my friend attended that party, as well. For this party we resurrected our costumes from the first movie and wore them to the cinema. It was an early afternoon showing, so we didn't get too many funny looks.

Since there were just three of us, we didn't have an elaborate party this time -- last year we had Turkish delight, Marmalade roll, Raspberry fools, and many other delicious things mentioned by C.S. Lewis in his books, all divided into "areas," such as The Beaver's Dam, Mr. Tumnus's Cave, and Cair Paravel. But small numbers meant a small party this year. I scoured my copy of Prince Caspian a few weeks before the film debuted, noting down any mentions of food. Most of the food featured in the book is fruit, which meant that party preparation were fairly simple. I couldn't believe how many references there were to apples!



We had a basket of Narnina-looking origin filled with apples.



Pattertwig the squirrel gives Caspian nuts and the Bulgy Bears give him honey -- we pretended they had a collision in the woods, and invented granola:



Fruit and cream are mentioned in the final feast, so we used blackberry crisp and fresh whipping cream.



The centaurs offer Caspian oaten cakes, represented here by oatmeal applesauce muffins (more apples!) -- alas, they didn't release from their molds quite as nicely as they should have. But they were certainly delicious.



In the final feast, C.S. Lewis mentions "pyramids and cataracts of fruit." This was our best attempt!



And lastly, pictures of my costume and my sister's costume. I recreated the dress worn by the adult Lucy in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." You can see pictures of the original dress on Narnia Web.



I used Butterick 4571, and had to make surprisingly few alterations! I raised and rounded the neckline, and also changed the oversleeve shape to resemble Lucy's. I was very pleased with the pattern.



My sister modeled her dress after a Pauline Baynes illustration of Susan in "A Horse and His Boy." My Narnia treasury has color illustrations, and Tiffany fell in love with the blue and gold dress that Susan wears while dancing with Mr. Tumnus. This picture is from our first Narnia party two years ago:



Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of my friend's lovely dress, a recreation of Susan's green archery dress from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." She and her sister, both incredibly talented, collaborated on the dress. Also, my friend created the crown I am wearing, a copy of Lucy's crown, as a birthday present.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the film. Of course, I can think of a thousand things I would have done differently, but I do not feel incline to quibble (too much) over the director's choices. Lovely cinematography, lovely music, lovely costumes -- I may just have to recreate one of them!

14 comments:

  1. Wow, you're dresses are so beautiful!
    It looks like you all had a wonderful time! :)
    Your blog is so nice, do you mind if I add it to my "List of Favorite Blogs" on my blog?

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  2. You look *just* like the adult Lucy! What a beautiful dress, and the crown really sets everything off perfectly!

    It looks like you had a wonderful feast. I always love reading about the food in the CON books, it always sounds so delicious!

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  3. What a lovely feast you prepared and your costumes are breathtaking!! The Narnia Chronicles are some of my favorite books.

    God Bless,

    ERIN =)

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  4. Oh wow, what a brilliant idea! The food looks delicious. And your dress is fantastic, you look very Narnian. I especially like your head-dress...you could be a dryad!

    Rachel xxxx

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  5. The Chronicles of Narnia are so splendid -- But they always make me hungry ;)

    Kaitlyn, I would be honored! I looked at your profile -- a fellow William Wilberforce fan! I hope you don't mind if I add you to my blog roll, as well! :)

    Yours in Christ,
    Shannon

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  6. Everything is so, so beautiful! I love themed feasts, and I was so impressed by the pictures yours that I actually dreamed that I was in attendance! :D

    ---Clare

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  7. Your dresses are so wonderful! The colors suit you and your sister so well and they are such pretty designs. Kudos to you for wearing them to see the movie! :-)

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  8. Love the dress! :) And am I to wish you a happy birthday??

    If so... happy, happy birthday!!

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  9. Clare, I wish you really could have been in attendance! :)

    Laura, thank you! I must admit, I did have some qualms about wearing them in public, but it was well worth it!

    Lauren Christine, the crown was actually for my birthday two years ago -- it was quite unclear in my post. My birthday is in August, so I'll accept your felicitations in advance ;)

    Yours in Christ,
    Shannon

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  10. Wow! They should hire you as a costume designer. :)

    The food looks yummy and quite creative.

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  11. Shannon~That feast looks scrumptious and I wish I could have joined you:-)

    I'm with Sarah, you do look just like an adult Lucy! (It will be interesting to see if my Brenna continues looking like Lucy as she grows). The dresses you and your sister are wearing are just lovely!

    Okay, I think I am rambling on a bit...

    Have a blessed Lord's Day!
    Sommer

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  12. Oh!!! What fun!! Your dresses are lovely!!! You did a wonderful job!! I have yet to see the movie, but it shouldn't be too much longer.:)

    Emma

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  13. What an absolutely amazing dress!

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  14. Thank you!

    Sommer, I wish you could have joined us, too :)

    Emma, I hope you enjoy the movie! I do hope we'll be able to see you again at the Film Festival this year!

    Christine, thank you! I just wish I had more places to wear it ;)

    Yours in Christ,
    Shannon

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