Steampunk doll mix and match and the voice stealing gun

My husband loves to make steampunk props and he came up with a very interesting one for me.  He made me a voice stealing gun.

He hammered out a copper flare for the end of the gun and shaped all the wood parts.  The gun breaks down into 2 parts for easy carrying. Inside the gun is the parts to a recordable and re-recordable greeting card.  When I hold down the button on the side of the gun it records whoever I am near and when I pull the trigger it plays back the sound.





 I love this gun, but needed to decide on a back story for my character as to why I would have such a device.  My husband and I love making costumes and props, so much so that we have a hard time committing to a single type of steampunk clothing.  I love those who can commit to say a steampunk pirate, but my brain goes 'Oh shiny!' and wanders off instead of focusing.   So we designed our characters accordingly.  We are time traveling assassins, we wear whatever we need to to get close to or information on our targets.  We decided the gun should be worn as part of a steampunk doll outfit.  The life size doll could sit in the corner and record secret information about our targets.

I decided to use the doll as an excuse to make a brown steampunk outfit and make it for very hot weather.  It can get over 100F here and most steampunk clothing is way too hot at those temps. So I made a bunch of light weight mix and match stuff.

Under the whole thing, I wear a white tank top and bike shorts. I made some sheer lace flare leg pants (this is a modification of my standard belly dance pants pattern) and a white lace crop top.  The top was originally going to be longer, but I cut part of the pants out wrong a couple of times.  In fact I cut the exact same piece wrong 2 times.  Apparently, making the pattern repeatedly was not enough to save me from stupid mistakes. 

 I then made 2 skirts out of stuff I bought on discount a couple of years ago and had in my stash.  I don't remember the original plan for this fabric, I really should write down what I plan to do when I buy fabric.

The first skirt is below knee length with tons of lace trim from my stash. I used some eyelet lace as a method to draw up the skirt and make the length adjustable.  I also sewed on some brown bows for added interest.  I have honestly never worn this skirt but I have it available if I ever want to wear it. 

The second skirt is lace and has an almost tear drop shape with a crossed over part in the front.  It has a self ruffle of brown lace and is trimmed in white lace and dark brown ribbon.  I also added an eyelet lace draw up the back so I could gather/bustle up the back.  I really enjoy this skirt and keep picking this one to wear. 

Next I made a bustle.  I wanted this bustle to be very adjustable and fluffy for the doll look.  The whole bustle is 4-5 layers of fabric and loads of trim sewn to a piece of wide gross grain ribbon.  The gross grain ribbon is then sewn to a fancy satin ribbon to cover all the layers of stitching.  The whole bustle ties on, so I can wear it high at the waist or low down if I want.  This is another piece I have yet to wear.

I used some left over scraps to make some quick cuffs.  I know many people make their cuffs lace closed and I love the look, but the ribbons under my wrist make me nuts, so mine button close.  The bow goes to the outside of my wrists.








Next I made a underbust corset.  The pattern for this corset is my favorite modern corset pattern.  It is the Celine underbust by King and Company.  I found out about this pattern from the corsetmakers livejournal blog.  I don't think King and Company is around anymore, which is a shame as I love this pattern.  The only special thing about this corset is that I am pretty proud of the decoration I did at the front.  I used my embroidery machine to embroider a cat fairy and then filled in the embroidery by hand using random watch parts.

Finally, I needed a holster and gun belt for the voice stealing gun.   I had a fancy pleather remnant laying around in my stash, so I made a belt out of pleather lined in cotton and a gun holster out of pleather.  I also decided that I should have a fan holster, since it gives me a great way to keep a fan in easy reach.  I also decided that all the parts should be removable so I can use different pieces in the future.  I did this by adding grommets around the whole belt and attaching everything by clasps.  I also made a removable bustle that clips on.  This way I can make different bustles using the same belt base.  I really like this design.

I had some left over pleather, so I made a quick short vest for added detail.  It closes in the front with a clasp and has non-functional lacing up the back just for visual interest.

I really don't have any good pictures of me wearing this outfit, but I did wear a good portion of it with the very large teacup hat to a local get together.  I need to make a smaller hat and figure out something better to do with my hair before I wear this outfit to a convention or anything.  Also makeup, to actually wear the doll outfit, I need to figure out makeup!

I also wore this outfit to a summer event at a theme park in the heat and it worked pretty well.  The vest was very hot but the rest was quite cool.  Having the fan at hand was a huge plus as well.