Steampunk Outfit - Skirt Finished!

OMG... 3 days without the Internet!!! You only realise how dependent you are on it when it is not there anymore... On the other hand, I got so much work done! Yes, the dress is done :) I still need to make some attachable sleeves (in case of awful weather although they wont actually fit into my handbag (the sleeves, not the weather)) and a holster for the oh-so-very-cool guns, but even if I dont manage that anymore, it is good to go. Gee, it's been a while since I have been this disconnected from a theme... but at last, it looks like something. And according to the bf even something steampunky :)

I wanted to do this whole step by step thing which I will still do so at least you get a good look at everything (and I get to show off everything) LOL. Plus now that I have discovered scheduled blogging, I can just make lots and lots of posts and have them all come up daily. :) I'm thinking 5 or so to keep me busy until the end of the week. And then of course in the middle lots of stuff will happen too that I need to blog about...

So I figured I would start with the skirt. It took FOREVER before it looked the way I wanted it... Do you remember the bit when I blogged about the progress? Well, it had the bum but not the Victorian bustle look yet. So I reached out for my lovely chocolate brown velvet that I had bought especially at the fabric-by-weight shop in France long long ago and started draping...

I tried to make some sort of bustle-y effect...

And pinned some more... The fabric is actually really dark (you'll see in a next post somewhere) but the flash was needed to get the detail.

In the end the whole thing looked like a lovely skirt wearing a potatoe sack. So that was not going to happen and out it went.

Putting the bustle bit on the backburner, I focussed on getting the whole thing a little 'steamed up'. At the last EFF, I saw some steampunk military wing ladies (def not angels but more like human planes) and they had used these bath strainers as accessories. From the moment we had decided on steampunk as a theme, I know I had to steal their idea. I looked EVERYWHERE for these things but they were either too expensive or looked too simple. In the end I found a good deal (£1 for two large ones and one small one) so I got a good few to use.

At first I spraypainted them gold, using my oh-so-hard-to-come-by gold spraypaint

Then I sewed them onto the hem of the skirt, right there where the skirt was taken up a bit. Each 'uptaking' got a strainer.

Can you see how something is really missing? They were supposed to look like smart hardware-turned-fashion accessories or detailing, but the bf they just look like... well, bath strainers! So another idea out the window... but I refused to surrender my precious bath strainer idea and tried this instead. I bought some copper scourgers from the Poundstore (10 for £1) and tried something with them. I stretched them a bit to make them bigger and sewed them behind the strainers.

Already it looks a lot better. The bf didnt comment so I dont actually know if he likes it... when he saw the whole thing and I said I didnt really connect with the theme, his only remark was 'yeah I can see that'. But he has since admitted that it's not bad.

Anyway, back to my skirt. In the end, this is what it looks like. Not bad I think. It could have a bit more detail but for now it will stay as it is. The whole thing will come together in the end, especially when it got to the accessorising :)

Speaking of which, when I went to see the fabric exhibition, my friend took me to this tiny beadshop where I found the COOLEST beads/charms/hangy thingies to use on my skirt. I also bought some chain as I knew that was what I wanted to use for the bustle in the end and spent a good few hours trying to make it work.

This is the back of it. You cant really tell, but it has 9 loops and the 7 middle ones have these tiny tiny keys dangling from them. I really like it and think it gives a cute sense of detail. Please tell me if I am completely mistaken!

I cant show you the skirt yet without showing you the other parts of the costume first but it will be posted soon :) Let me write everything up first though!