Retrophile

So, it is that time of year again and I am working on my Pirate Festival costume.  I am still sticking to the steam punk genre for my pirate costume.  However, I am taking it out of the realm of Victorian and in to that of the orient.  I am not going to reveal my complete costume till the day of the pirate festival.  However, here are some teaser shots. I got my inspiration when looking through the costume patterns at the fabric store.  This is pretty much how it goes with me.  The crazy thing is, this costume only took 3 days to make.  Mind you, this was three weekend day.  But still, I don't think I have ever made a costume from scratch this fast before.  Also, I didn't have to look at the pattern once for directions.  I already knew how it was constructed.  YAY!! One of the goals for this costume was to do something different.  I was sick of the typical steam punk, I am getting rather sick of it...

If I had one piece of advice to aspiring costume makers, it would be BUY PATTERNS!!  Doesn't matter if you think you will use it anytime soon or not.  If you like it and can afford it buy it.  My compulsion to buy patterns is really working in my favor right now.  I am a self taught seamstress and have had no formal sewing, draping or pattern making lessons.  This being the case I depend on my patterns. This has allowed me to piece things together, alter existing patterns and just some just for their general shape. This is what I have been doing the last couple of days.  I found my perfect Dicken's fair inspiration dress. http://www.antique-frock.com/earlyvictorian/products/dress102.html I am in love this dress.  It is an acutal 1860 gown and being such, there is no specific pattern for this dress.  So, this is where my pattern collection comes in to play.  I am using 2 different patterns to piece together and create this dress. ...

It is a bit early, but... I have been getting the itch to plan for my Dicken's fair dress. This is partly because I am insane and can't stop myself and partly because I want to be able to hit up summer sales on fabric! Above is this years inspiration pictures. I want to make a similar combo to the one on the left. I love the tiered skirt and the huge fur trimmed jacket. I am not sure of colors or such, but that will come later. Right now I just wanted to get a feel for what it will look like. This will be a 1850's Winter Promenade Gown and Coat. I want to eventually take it up to the snow this winter and take pictures of myself in it. I also want to get some good pics of my other dresses I have made from this era. I currently have two. One is a carriage dress from about 1848, the other is a bustle gown from I believe the 1870's. Below is the pattern I am going to use for my coat. I do want to make few modifications to it though. For one, I am going to make the co...