SteamCon 2009

This is going to be a bit of a photo dump. There are a lot of pictures from SteamCon and blogger makes it a little hard to rearrange them once they're in.

Wearing Claire's hat:

Baron Von Stitches at Airship Invasion Concert:

Claire, Aiden, Andrew and I:

Claire the Vulcanologist:

Baron Von Fogel and Lady Katherine:




Hunting fairies:


Friday:

Hats!


Fixing the skirts:




Totem Poles?

Blending in:

Halloween

This year has been kind of a blur so far. Hence we didn't get around to even buying pumpkins until the day of.
It was just my father and I this year since Jamie is still in Chicago and my mom was at a show. We carved our pumpkins, went to see Zombieland (which was cute) and then came home to greet the one batch of Trick or Treaters that came by our house.


Dad's is in a box because of the wind.

Tree

Many other things to post eventually about Steamcon but waiting on photos. For now art that is not 3D.

Gold Dress Day Four

On to the remake of the sleeves. I managed to figure out which pattern pieces went where and made up these lovely sleeves which are finished as nicely as the first pair although faster this time.

I actually added both sleeves but then encountered some issues with the bodice and took one off to see if I could fix the problem. The front had huge wrinkles in it ( HUGE, like not in the picture below but huge ) and I though I might have to shorten the upper chest part in a weird way. Thankfully I realized I could fix it really easily by making the darts longer by an inch or two. And then I reattached the sleeve.

Of course the front is still wrinkly. How do you all go about making things so they don't wrinkle so much in corsets and in boned bodices?
I wasn't sure if I wanted to fasten this with snaps at first but they actually look like little brass buttons and they're so much cleaner to put on and easier to manipulate.


So now it's almost finished. Just some hand stitching on the inside lining and second hem and then a really good steam/iron and it's done!

Now for shoes/belt/jewelry/hair.

Gold Dress Day Three

So the mistake has been fixed. Seam ripping first thing in the morning is never as bad as staying up late to do so.

The finished outer shell.


I then went and made a lining. The pattern does not call for one but I like to hide all the ugly bits inside. I just remade the pattern and attached the simple boning to the inside of that. Then I stitched the whole front edge of the lining to the gold shell.


The beginning of the sleeves.

The mostly finished body. It needs to be steamed and the poof is settled wrong. I also think that the bustle is a little loose here, but I'm feeling pretty good with how it's turning out.



The collar detail I added.

And, of course, the sleeves were a disaster. I made a new pattern for them in the last polonaise and somehow forgot to label the pattern pieces so that I cut them out wrong. Then, assuming they were correct, I spent some real good time making the edges of the sleeves really nice. Only to find that when I went to put them on the dress they made no sense at all.
So when I have a breather from work this week I will be re-making some sleeves.

Gold Dress Day Two

Skirt has been ironed and fastened, although not hemmed yet. I think it will be the last thing I do. Have to decide what shoes to wear...

Yesterday I stared the polonaise portion of the dress. I had to adjust the pattern one more time since I have a short waist. Took an inch out of the torso all the way around.
The red mock-up fabric.


And it sits just right with the bustle underneath.

Ironing and iron on interfacing which has got to be the best thing in the world.





I seem to have a hard time taking in-between pictures since I get distracted working.
I stopped for the day as I made a minor mistake. Fixing it this moring. The outside shell is getting there.
I really wish this fabric would photograph correctly.

Don't you love the African print sneaking out the edges? I have a half finished sun dress going on under the gold that I didn't feel like moving.

And this week I have overcome my fear of the snap kick press ( childhood incident ). I put red snaps on the Black Dragon Dress. So convenient and easy to do! That is, having an industrial snap press at my disposal.

Finally Started

Ok. So I've finally stared the Gold Dress. I bought the Grand Parlor Skirt pattern for underneath.

The Mock-up.

Sorry for the crappy photos. It was only me in the studio.
The bustle itself is pretty shelf like but adding the skirt makes it crazy.

Thankfully with the polonaise it all looks really nice.

Cutting into the gold fabric at last! It's taken me weeks to get up the nerve.



And I'm really happy with the final skirt. The fabric is really perfect and I ended up having even a little left over to make Andrew a vest and/or tie later on.

Today I need to iron, hem, and place the fastenings.





Also, last week I accidentally (I swear!) went by the Cambridge Antique Market and bought this amazing ring.