Steampunk Outfit - Top Finished!

I had the majority of this done already but then I located a small box full of stuffthat I had bought sometime last year at a car boot sale for this costume. I basically bought two alarm clocks for like 50 cents each and smashed them to bits. Or that would have been the way to do it, except these were so well put together than both my mom and I spent hours trying to wrench them open befre getting all the steampunky goodies out!

You may remember the top as it was early last month (click here for a reminder) This is what I added. As you can see if you look closely, a lot is attached with the split pins before sewing it up, giving it just that little extra metallic look. Come to think of it, if I have more left I just might use more on the skirt of so. Of course that would mean punching holes through the skirt... Let's keep it as an option for the time being...

I added some clockworky bits and the parts that didnt have too many metal sticks poking out. I dont know how people get them off their pins, I nearly destroyed them all! So I just used what I could work with in the frst place. I especially like the twirly bit on the left hand side. The colour is still the same btw, this is it with the flash though.

I then added some more stuff to everything below this corset/vest/top. As you may remember, the bf bought some pins to wear and he bought too many so I got to use the rest. I used the two smaller ones on the collar of the shirt, but the remaining bigger one still had to be put somewhere also. The top was too full already, so I decided to make a tie. OMG, have you ever made a tie? I'm sure it easy, just not if you end up using only about a quarter of it. So I was cheeky and only madde a quarter of it which then of course was a nightmare to actually tie up. So I sortof knotted the top and sewed it on a ribbon which sortof does the trick. I added the large pin and voila:

Looking quite army-like already.

This was actually the very last bit I did on Sunday evening so the tie just had to give. I made it a little tighter actually but that wa sonly after the photos were taken as this was the dress rehearsal.

I also made some gloves. I didnt really want to make a whole post just for the gloves, especially as they're the sames ones I used for my sister on her birthday (click here for the tutorial). Plus I have many many of them already. I basically used the same pattern and lenghtened it a bit as I wanted some that went well over the elbow. They're still a bit short for my liking but all in all not bad.

I added some ribbon to is as this was the chocolate coloured velvet mentioned earlier and it was a little dark for the outfit. Especially as this was now the only piece of the outfit that used this fabric. I used a plain zigzag stitch to make it look less neat. As these twist and turn when putting them on, it looks better. The ribbon I had bought a while ago for various projects including this one so I didnt even have to leave the house!

Are you excited yet about the final result? I surely am! I just love sharing all this with you :) And I also love that I havent had to buy much for this. Granted, the chains on the skirt were about £8.50 including shipping but I did use my eBay money for that so technically nothing came out of the bank. Most ofthe fabrics I still had or bought ages ago with something like this in mind. So very little was spent this year on this dress. Which is definitely the way to look at it :) So now that we have covered the skirt, the top, the tie, and the gloves, next up... the hat the hat (shouting Monthy Python style)!