Alexia Tarabotti Steampunk Ensemble

Friday night at Renovation (WorldCon) had a great Steampunk dance lead by the wonderful James and Cathleen Myers who run PEERS.

Having recently read and enjoyed the first 3 books of Gail Carringer's Parasol Protectorate Books, I decided I wanted to dress as the main character Alexia Tarabotti. These books are set in an alternate Victorian London with supernatural characters and some steampunk technology.
In Souless, in my opinion the best of the series, Alexia is described as wearing a green ballgown with a cuirass bodice and carrying a brass handled frilly black parasol with purple satin pansies. She also wears wood and silver hairsticks in her hair.

From the stash:

• silk organza curtain (dyed green, purchased from Goodwill at least 5 years ago)
• 3 yards green polyester lace (White Elephant Sale)
• purple satin ribbon (from The Hobby Shop when I took Candace Kling's class)
• brass sheets and metal findings (Pearl, before it closed)
• Chopsticks (takeout)
• aluminum tape

From the costume stash:

• long black brocade skirt
• black leather and "lizard skin" effect corset

• black polyester organza shirt