Steampunk Halloween!

Well this was a crazy sprint to a Halloween costume.  I used a Truly Victorian pattern to use the bottom of the pattern to make a overskirt.  I added antiqued jump rings and steampunk findings to make it interesting.

I also bought welding goggles from a welding supply shop then painted them with craft paint which really isn't the right paint but I used a matte sealer to make sure the paint doesn't paint chip off. Here some photos, the costume theme was vampiric steampunk:

The waist cincher was way too big.  I will try to rework it and add a correct from busk while cutting down a few of the side panels.  I can get quite a bit of reduction but this wasn't going to do it for me.

Boo!

Here are the finished goggles, below is exactly what they looked like new:

Steampunk Halloween in 2.5 days - Arrrrgh....

I finished the corselet and am annoyed beyond belief.  This really wasn't the end all be all but I did want to do some pretty serious waist reduction.  Given the sizing on the pattern this should have been 4" smaller than my waist.  When I cut the muslin it was HUGE! (see prev post).  I then took a ton off the the edges and it still ended up being too big.  I can lace all the way closed (see partially closed back pic).  I am telling myself it is just a Halloween costume, but I'm disappointed because I know the look I wanted was easily achievable but didn't happen.....grrr....

I used a front flap because I used hooks and eyes and not a real corset busk.  I didn't have time to get one because I wasn't planning to sew and this was "just" a Halloween costume.  I will order a real busk and probably rework this so I can get a more reduction from it.

Construction note:  this project required the teflon foot and leather needles which made everything work beautifully.  However when I went to set the corset grommets the punch I use to prepunch holes didn't like the fabric at all and kept jamming and sticking.  Thankfully I got my trusty awl out and that helped.

Steampunk Halloween - in 5 Days: PART I

A friend has enticed me out to play the weekend before Halloween.  The Bay area has a lot of fun dress up parties, and San Francisco becomes one big costume party regardless of what party you are going to.

So how do I do something new in less than a week.  I started by trying to dye a thrift store steampunk shirt.  It was one of those great super-cheap super-perfect tops.  It also fit without having to tailor it.

I washed and dried it then sank it into a strong tea bath.  The white turned a nice ivory, the blue/black stripes really didn't change....and the "oh geez" moment came when I realized that the unseen discolouration in the armpit areas took the tea more than anywhere else...so I had tea-armpit stains.  It only got worse when I tried to bleach the shirt out.  Apparently there was a pair of pink yoga pants in the wash unbeknownst  to me.  I could do nothing except watch the pink tinged water slosh around.

In the end I picked up a bag of terracota-brown dye which worked perfectly.  I then added some metal look buttons (sorry for the crummy photos)....and presto! for $6 I have a perfect steampunk shirt....

Of course I can't stop with just a thrift store shirt.  I needed a corselet -- so I thought I'd sew one.  An easy peasy one from Simplicity's steampunk line.  I picked up some .99cent patterns and thought it would be a good base, boy was I wrong.  I'm not sure why but I cut the pattern based on the "after tightening" measurement and it came out way way too big.  You can seen the pattern piece below (this includes the seam allowance) and the pink marker where the new seam lines are:

So what I thought would be a no-brainer project turned into a couple of hours of fitting, mocking up, and fitting again.  I am also short waisted so I had to take that into account as well.

I used pleather to get what I hoped would be a cool steampunk look.  Of course I didn't have the appropriate busk laying around so I fiddled up a closure with hook and eye tape, and maybe at some other point I'll add a real corset closure.  It just needs to get me through the weekend festivities.

The most important new thing I had was a teflon sewing foot (bargain on ebay) this allowed me to sew the pleather easily, something I didn't have when I made a costume a few years ago and vowed never to sew with the stuff again.

Since the stuff shows pin marks I also used painters tape to help mark and hold things on while I was sewing, and totally cheated, since this was a bargain last minute project, I used my handy dandy industrial zip ties for boning.  I'm not done with the project but should be in a day or two then I will post a final product.

Steampunk -- A First Attempt

01/23/11  SUCCESS!

I can not explain what an amazing evening the Edwardian Ball was....it was a feast for the eyes at every turn.  The sheer volume of creativity was astounding.  Everything was just amazing!

I added to the Steampunk feel a few things:

- very delicate silk crochet gloves

- walking stick (world market find--it was broken so I got a great deal then screwed in a draw pull as a finial)

- a glass locket with a curl of hair hung from black ribbon (home made mourning jewelery--don't worry nobody died)

- a course silver rope necklace with a keyhole locket (from Michaels)

- a single "white out" contact to give a macabre look to the whole thing.

The evening got very warm so eventually I removed my jacket.  I was very tightly laced into my Vollers corset so there was an abundance of cleavage -- but the setting was appropriate for such a display.  I would not display such cleavage at a historically correct period function.  Here are some pictures with some other of the costume goers.

Getting ready to leave this shot shows the back bustle which although draped differently than my original plan still came out well enough.  I was bothered that my hair-piece didn't look so great because I did not pomade my hair, but then again it was dark most of the evening so that was a detail that most likely wasn't too glaring.



01/22/11  Tonight is the Ball.....here is the website if anyone is interested:  http://edwardianball.com/           

The outfit has come out well, right now I don't have photos of the finished project but will have those after the fact.  Historically it is a disaster....a little bit of this and a little bit of that, a mishmash of 1880s - 1910.  But Steampunk doesn't have to be correct.  Getting the bustle right was a bit of a challenge and I'm not sure I really am thrilled about the finished product...it is different that the photos above...closer to the body with both soft and angular edges.  I did like the boned gusset at the bottom.  It definitely has a Cirque feel to it.  Photos will be updated soon. 

December 2010:
Going to the SF Edwardian Ball at the end of January, 2011, I wanted something darker to wear. I went years ago with a mock late 1890's ballgown which was just too cheery and bright.  This year I decided not to recreate anything authentic but rather do something with a Steampunk/Goth kind of feel.

I knew that I would build this around my Vollers corset.  I found a wonderful pair of lace up black "high button" looking boots, and fab stripped fabric.  Sadly the suit I thought I'd sew wasn't meant to be because the bolt of fabric only had three yards.  This was a stripped fabric with a black herringbone weave background and brown velvet stripes.  It was a bit stiff but not too much so that I couldn't get some drape out of it.

I built the skirt from a contemporary evening skirt pattern.  To get the inset to flare stiffly (and not in any way period correctly) I ran covered boning along the bottom.  I then draped the over skirt and bustle.  The pics are all in a pinned stage, we'll see what the final looks like.

The short jacket was a find on Ebay.  It had some plain see-it-everywhere trim on it which I cut off and replaced with this wonderful upholstery fringe that has a great period look.  Now all I have to do is get everything sewn in place.