Viking things

I actually did finish my Viking outfit, well all accept the belt.  The whole outfit was at least wearable for events and I will work on the belt to wear the next time.

As I showed earlier in my blog, I did a bunch of embroidery on my basic tunic, mostly on the neckline.  The basic tunic is all rectangles and trapezoids so the construction is really simple.  I then treated all the seams with chain stitch.  I love how much the chain stitch sticks out, but I did not love how time consuming it was.  As you can see, did not manage 2 lines of chain on the longest seams but only 1.  Each length took me 5 hours to chain stitch and at 10 hours I ran out of time.  I still think it looks alright, although I may go back and add the second line in time. 

I had previously made some quickie Viking apron dresses but they were completely plain.  I decided to dress them up a bit.  First i took some blue wool embroidery thread and treated all the seams with running stitch.   Running stitch is so much faster than chain, but as you can see the effect is much more subtle.

The purple dress has lines of chain (red), running stitch and broken chain (blue) and blanket stitch (green) done in wool thread.  This wool thread is batch dyed with natural dyes, although not by me.  I bought the thread at a close out sale at a local embroidery store.  I went a little wild with the grey tunic and embroidered some cats,  I really don't think this is a period motif, I just really liked it and felt the look was OK.  The cats are done in the same thread, the outline is in stem stitch (green) with chain stitch detailing (blue) and green running stitch accents. The different apron dresses also have different strap methods.  The grey one has loops on the front and long loops on the back and the brooches go through both loops.  I am not sure I like this, it makes the brooches sit too high for my taste.  The purple apron dress has worked eyelets in the front and the long loops on the back.  This makes the brooches sit in a more pleasing (to me) place.  I have also done an apron dress with the straps sewn rather than pinned and I find this more comfortable than either loop method.  The brooches are from Raymond's Quiet Press and have very cool 3D horses that stand up from the brooches so you can weave ribbons from your brooches.

I also made a couple of new necklaces.  Two specifically to hang from the brooches and one to go around my neck.  The beads are all glass or natural stone with one antler bead carved by a local artist. There are also a few brass or pewter beads/medallions for accents. 












Here is the outfit mostly together!  Although it feels really strange to me to wear early period, it is comfortable and fun to wear.

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.

A tale of 2 handbags

Before heading to tea in my 1920's outfit, I needed a handbag.  Obviously my giant modern handbag would not work.  I ran across a tutorial for 2 1920's handbags on Your Wardrobe Unlockd. This tutorial was based on 2 surviving bags owned by the author of the article and were just perfect!  (For those who are members of Your Wardrobed Unlockd, I used the tutorial for Bag 1)

My only concern is that the handbag looked very small and I was worried it would never fit the amount of stuff I needed to carry. So what is a girl to do?  I made a mock up of course!  Since I figured there is no point in making a bag I wont use, I made a steampunk version of the handbag first. I used some left over silk velvet I had dyed red for a different project, a cute eyeball themed cotton remnant and some faux bamboo purse handles I had laying around.  The original bag had fancy carved jade tassels, so I used some sculpy, 2 antique glass eyes I had laying around, some gears and 2 black tassels to make tassels bits.

The whole handbag is deceptively easy to make! It is basically a rectangle with some pockets sewn to the inside.  The shaping is due to the handles and some gathering on the side.  The final bag is also deceptively small looking.  I put 2 pockets inside, one for my cell phone, one for my keys and still have room for a wallet, fan, glasses and makeup.

OK, with the mock-up done I assessed the plan.  The only real issue I saw with the mock-up is that the bamboo handles are way bigger than the original handles and i think it makes the purse a bit floppy.  I knew from the original article that the bamboo handles were too big, but I had them in my stash so I went with it.  For my recreation for the 1920's event, I wanted smaller handles closer to the original size.  I found a purse at the thrift store with handles that were close so I bought it and tore the cheap purse apart.  For the final bag, I used some of the silk left over from the 1920's slip and a fancy brocade remnant from my stash for the outer shell.  A fancy cotton remnant from my stash for lining and the handles from the cheap purse.  I am still on the lookout for some good tassels and will add them when I find them. The pictures below are of the 1920's bag and I think the smaller handles are much better, although they are really hard to find.  Also, I think the details of construction are easier to see in these photos. 

  

1920s dress

I would love to do a 2014 year in review post, but alas I did not start the blog until part way through the year.  So I did not blog about all my creations, in addition, I did not have a dress dummy and often don't have someone who can help with pictures.  Due to this, I have been woefully bad about blogging my sewing.  My lovely husband bought me a dress dummy as a belated Christmas present on Jan 5th so I am going to try to blog some of the missing items. 

This dress has been at least a little seen, as it is the dress I am wearing in my profile picture.  In March 2014, I was invited to attend a Great Gatsby tea party at the local St. James Tearoom.  I own nothing and know very little about the 1920s but thought it sounded like fun.  I quickly decided on a peacock theme as I had left over peacock lace from my teen's dress.  I also had some silver trim and some pretty black embroidered and sequined net that would work for the rest.  This meant the whole dress would be sheer and a needed a colored slip for underneath it all.  Lauren at American Duchess has a nice tutorial and pattern for a 1920's slip that worked wonderfully.   I used some emerald green silk Crepe de Chine I had laying around.  I did not follow her tutorial exactly but used her pattern, as you can see I have 3 pleats in the front instead of 4 and I did not bind the top edge the same way.  I like her binding method better than my simple hem and will likely bind the top edge if I make a slip like this again.  To get the pleats right, I put the slip on and figured out the pleats while wearing the slip.  This made the fit perfect and I love my new slip.

After the slip, I needed a dress.  I am fairly curvy and the standard straight dresses look terrible on me.  After browsing surviving dresses, I figured out that some (probably the less fashionable ones) have a slight A line to them.  I also hate totally sleeveless dress and found that some, again likely the less fashionable dresses, have short sleeves.  So I made my dress a slight A line with short sleeves.  I used the peacock lace to make a tail in the back that hung from the shoulders.  The tail was inspired by a dress I found on pinterest with curved layered pieces and several fancy dress costumes that had longer backs that fronts (for example). None of this is likely all that common, but I wanted a dress I would love so I went for it. 

 I then used some left over trim and lace, plus a button and some peacock feathers to make a quick headpiece.  Amazingly, this whole dress was made from my stash!

Here are some pictures from the event.  I actually loved this dress and had so much fun!

Titanic Dress

Right at the end of December, I was invited to join a couple of ladies for tea at a local tearoom.  There was no specific plan for costumes, but I figured it would be a great reason to dress up and the perfect excuse to pull out a dress I never get to wear.  I first made this dress for a picnic commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic at the Titanic memorial in Washington DC.  The dress is the Laughing Moon #104 modified to be front closing.  Since I lived all alone in DC, I need to be able to dress all by myself and the back closing on this dress would have been impossible.  I have made some improvements since the first wearing, but here is the first time I wore the dress.

First off, the picnic was the first time wearing this hat and actually the first hat I ever blocked myself.  The instructor did not think this hat needed wiring, however, after even this first wearing the hat dropped into my vision continuously.  It was so aggravating to wear this hat!  So I took the outer ribbon off and added wire underneath. 

Secondly, I did not have any of the correct undergarments.  I have since made a corset and chemise to wear with this dress.  I have not worn any of this stuff since I made the undergarments and fixed the hat, so I was so excited to wear it all out to tea. Here are some pictures of the whole outfit ready to head out to tea time!
 

The whole outfit feels much better with the modifications.  Here is a close up to show some of the details of the lovely peacock lace I found to use for the details on the dress.

 The accessories I am wearing are leather gloves from a thrift store, Gibson shoes from American Duchess and the necklace and earrings are from the lovely Taylor at Dames a la Mode.

Jane Austen's birthday celebration

I am terribly late at writing up my most recent costumed event, life has just been getting the better of me recently.  I was also hoping to get the time to take pictures of each layer, but that has not happened yet.  However, I did want to share some photos and talk at least a bit about my accessories. 

The local JASNA group held a birthday celebration for Jane Austen in a lovely venue.  We started with a short lecture about houses Jane herself would have known and how they might relate to her novels.  After the lecture, we had a lovely lunch and then retired to the library for dessert and tea.  During the tea time, the lovely lady pictured with me below held her raffle for a regency dress made by her.  It was her generosity in hosting this raffle with ticket purchases throughout the past year that allowed the JASNA group to use this lovely site.

Here is a picture of just me that shows the bottom edge of the my new sheer dress and shoes.  I am wearing a regency chemise, my new regency stays (which I love!), a bodiced petticoat, the sheer white dress and my green open robe.  The white sheer dress has pale blue and yellow embroidery up the front, which did not show in the pictures but matches the shoes.  The long sleeves and the gold fringe at the bottom is inspired by the portrait of Marie Pauline Bonaparte by Robert Lefevre
 shown here.  I just loved the look of the long sleeves under a short sleeved dress.  I do plan on making the over dress but the sheer dress gave me such fits I had to pull something else out of my closet to wear over the sheer dress.  So the green open robe is a "this old thing" addition.

I do plan to do a write up of my new regency stays and of the sheer dress, but at present I don't have good enough photos.  However, one of the lovely ladies, Nancy Haseman, who is actually very good at photos took some lovely images of me at the event.  I have her permission to share the images below.  She also has some amazing images of the event and of the other ladies in regency dress on her website Captured Memories NM if you scroll down to the 2014 JASNA birthday for Jane. 

First off an image of me sitting.  This image is why I love my regency stays, they help me keep the correct posture no matter what I am doing!

Here is a good image of my shoes and stockings.  These shoes are the Highbury regency slippers from American Duchess.  They are dyeable satin slippers and they have hidden ribbon loops so you can add lacing ribbons to your shoes.  On their instructions for dying these shoes they state to use a dye several shades darker but I thought it would be good to see how much darker.  I used dye number 2011 (also from American Duchess) which should have been royal blue.  They came out much much lighter.  However, they match the embroidery on the sheer dress and my jewelry almost perfectly so I was happy.  I just though others who were looking for a specific color might want to know how different the colors came out. 

My hairstyle was inspired by the lovely tutorial by Taylor at Dames a la Mode.  Taylor did an amazing job, she looks just like the portrait in my opinion! However my hair has less texture than Taylor's and the extra wraps around the bun were sliding like mad.  So I added a second braid and placed this around the whole bun to give me something to pin the heck out of.  Surprisingly, this all worked and my hair stayed in place all day.  Here is an image of the back of my hair and green dress.  You can see that the green dress used to close in the back before I turned it into an open robe! 

Finally, here is an image of my hair from the side and a good shot of the jewelry.  The necklace and earring were made by Taylor of Dames a la Mode.  Taylor runs an etsy shop with the same name damesalamode.  She is amazing to work with!  This set was a custom order with a deadline and Taylor communicated clearly with me every step of the way.  I love my jewelry and loved working with Taylor!