Monday, April 2, 2012

We have Steampunk!

I'll have a write up about the event itself in a future post, but I wanted to share that, yes! I actually finished my steampunk outfit in time for the DFW Costumer's Guild Steampunk Tea that was held this past weekend. :D

First, I did manage to finish the corset, and it fits fabulously. It gives me just the shape that I wanted, and I like the curve to the front that the spoon busk gives.  It's not entirely perfect, but that was my own fault because I added a little bit too much length to the centre front panel, and so the spoon busk sort of creates a ripple at the very bottom, but it's not extreme and I can definitely live with it.


The overskirt was pretty much finished in the last post, but I had to keep putting off the bodice because of commissions that were due, so I started it only two days before the event. Eep!  I didn't have Ageless Patterns #1006, and I didn't actually want to have to deal with sizing up another historical pattern, so instead I bought Simplicity #4079 and butchered the living daylights out of it. I took out the front side seam and made it a dart instead, created a new side front panel, adjusted the neckline, adjusted the armscye, and added sleeves, which were modified versions of the ones I use for all those Monster Maroon uniforms.
The bodice itself is made of a black tone on tone seersucker, lined with the same bronze satin the skirt is made of.  The buttons are actually antique reproductions, which are about 20 years off from the period I was shooting for, but they were so pretty that I couldn't not use them.

The first adjustments to the pattern turned out to be a little...generous.  I guess my new corset took me in more than I thought, because if I kept with the sizing of the Simplicity pattern, I would have been swimming in that bodice.  You can see the difference between my first adjustments on the right, and then the adjustments after I fit it onto my corseted mannequin, on the left.


 I was already giddy once I fit the pieces on the mannequin!


At this point, I was crunched for time, so I stopped taking pics of the in-progress-ness of the bodice.  Except this one, which I took at the end of the first night of sewing, and isn't that great.


All that remained to do on the second day was to add the bronze trim to the hem and front opening of the bodice, add the collar, and finish the buttons and buttonholes, so thankfully, I was able to get everything finished up just in time!




I finished the hat the morning of the event. I bought a wide glittery ribbon, some black lace, some velvet ribbon, and a couple of jewelry accents at Wal-Mart, and used them to trim the hat. The velvet ribbon was used to cover the overlap of the brim fabric onto the underside, and I pleated the lace and attached it to the inside of the brim. I had a bit of pleated taffeta with the bronze edging leftover from making the overskirt, which I used to make a loose cockade that I then glued the jewelry accents onto. I was really pleased with how it turned out, especially since it was all last minute!



I also modded a nerf gun to make it look Steampunk-y, but, unfortunately, through my modding efforts I ended up with a gun that wouldn't fire. :(  Still, it looks pretty cool.  You can see the process of how I modded the gun by clicking on the pic below!


Pics in the next post!

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