Edwardian Blouse Overhaul

A while ago I needed a quick victorian-ish blouse under my 1895 bicycling outfit for a GBACG Event.  I bought one from Gentleman's Emporium, and it worked just fine under an 1890s jacket.

When I needed a shirtwaist to wear for an Edwardian event at the Niles Canyon Railway and Essanay Silent Film Studios in April, I decided to adapt the shirt I bought to be more appropriate.

From the Stash:

• purchased shirt
• 3 yards insertion lace
• White silk fabric covered buttons

Purchased:

• 3 yards edge lace
• 3 yards insertion lace

Original shirt 

Insertion lace

I used the shirtwaists from Women's Fashions of the Early 1900s: The Unabridged Republication of New York Fashions, 1909, as inspiration.  

The original shirt had a double ruffle down the front.  I removed the under ruffle and the plastic buttons from the front.  The poofiness of the front ruffle was still a bit too much so I tacked down the fabric on both sides of the shirt front.  I added 2 parallel rows of insertion lace over each side of the center front.  This had the effect of moving the fullness out from the center front.  I also replaced the lace at the ruffle, cuffs and collar.

 Shirt, Version 2

Filming at the Niles Canyon Railway

EL wire steampunk bracelet

This bracelet is a variation of the class project I taught at the GBACG Costume Academy in March 2012. Instructions for the flower bracelet.

From the Stash:

• All the leather
• Battery holder

Purchased:

• EL wire from Cool Neon
• mini inverter

I used a basic gear template to cut out two large gears with circles underneath in place of flowers.  The templates are from a foam steampunk class I took at Costume College two years ago and never used.  The gold colored rivets are rhinestones that are spray-painted and then glued on


Gear templates and leather scissors 

Band cut-out using gear template



Leather components



Like the Flower bracelet I punched holes in the gears for the battery holder leads and the inverter wires.  I then soldered these together underneath so that they are sandwiched between the gears and the leather wristband

Wiring connecting battery to inverter 

I've found that these connections are fairly fragile so in the future I'll probably totally cover them in hot glue to keep everything together.


Battery holder and inverter

Final Bracelet:



Under the Sea: Bike Party Anglerfish

Bike Party is a rolling urban party on two wheels. Each month there is a different route, generally 10-14 miles, and a different theme. The rides are a fun time with some basic guidelines (stay right; stop at lights; ride straight; don't hate; pack your trash; don't get smashed). There are two in my local area, SF Bike Party (which once had a steampunk theme!) on the first Friday of the Month and East Bay Bike Party on the second Friday. In April EB Bike Party had the excellent theme of Under the Sea. The hardest part of the costuming was trying to narrow down my choices!

Bike Fish (maybe from Kinetic Sculpture Race?)

I was inspired by this large multi-person angler fish bike (I think this must be from the Kinetic Sculpture Race) but needed something more manageable. A hat would be perfect but hats and helmets are hard to mix and I always bike with a helmet. A helmet cover seemed to be the way to go.

From the Stash:

• Synthetic felt in blue, grey,black, white and yellow
• Green armature wire
• Poly quilt batting
• Battery powered LED from the floral section of Michaels

El wire flower bracelet

 
 

Leather flowers with EL wire wrapped around battery holder and inverter.

This is a small wearable project designed to introduce costumers to soldering EL wire.  It was taught at the GBACG Costume Academy in March 2012 by Sahrye Cohen and Hal Rodriguez.

From the Stash:

• All the leather
• batteries
• Battery holders

Purchased:

• EL wire from Cool Neon
• mini inverters



Titanic Dress, Take #1

There are some fantastic materials in the stash for making a 1912 gown for the upcoming GBACG event, Last Dinner on the Titanic, including a large panel of antique lace. I'm using Laughing Moon Pattern #104, and because I wanted to be able to do a mockup before cutting into my fancy material, and needed a dress to wear to the Titanic 3D movie screening, I decided to make a wearable mockup.

From the Stash:

• 4 yards of shot red/black poly taffeta
• velvet ribbon

Purchased:

• 2.5 yard long black net curtain panel $5.50
• 2 embroidered poly organza sashes $2

Half-scale dress form

After discussing half-scale forms with a friend who has one, I decided that it would be nice to have a half-scale dress form with my measurements.  

From the Stash:

• cotton twill
• bias tape and zipper
• poly batting
• blue camping pad foam
• shoulder pads