I attended Natsucon in Tromsø a few weeks ago and made some cute accessories to sell. In addition to the stand, I also talked about Victorian fashion and held a short crash-course in how to start sewing.
There were loads of awesome people. I recruited some people for a Victorian sewing group. I'm going to make a new Victorian outfit, underpinnings and all, so I thought people might want to join in on the excruciating fun.
One of my roomies works in a yarn store. It has resulted in a lot of knitting for all of us. This is my last creation, some simple legwarmers in super soft alpaca.
There hasn't been much sewing as of late. Life's gotten in the way. For the rest of 2013 I have two costumes I know I have to finish and a third I might get started on if I have the time. (The Edwardian gown from April has been taken apart. The insides were rather messy and there is no sense in working on something you'll end up hating and not wearing.)
The first costume on my list is an actual cosplay, not an original costume. Captain Sabertooth might be going to Torucon in September. If not, he's going to be my Halloween costume this year.
For those outside Norway - the Captain comes from a series of pirate musicals for kids. Everyone born after 1989 will have gone through a "Sabertooth phase" in early childhood. When I was four I had a cassette from one of the plays and there were days I did nothing but listen to it. In the end I was only allowed to play it once a day because it drove my grandparents mad. (I still have that cassette. It's a wonder it's survived this long.)
The Captain is the most feared pirate on the seven seas, except he's afraid of ghosts and he's not that happy about girl cooties either.
I can't find my new costume sketch, so this'll have to do.
Enjoy my quality drawing.
There have been slight variations to his costume (the show has been put up each summer since 1989), so I'm mixing in elements from different variations. I'm using a period pattern from this site here and look forward to cursing about the differences of the modern vs. the rococo fit.
The vikings I've joined are going to shake things up at the Hobbit premiere in Tromsø. I'm going to be a generously bearded dwarf lady of awesome. I've six months, so I'm in no hurry. The jacket, shoes and bracers are even done, so I only need a tunic, pants and some weapons all the weapons.
The last costume on the list - I'm making a late Victorian gown inspired by a gown worn by the empress Elisabeth in the musical based on her life. I got a heapload of lovely, lovely fabric from aunt, and it's just perfect!
The story is as follows: back in May I was enjoying the nice weather together with one of the roomies. The light was nice (after, you know, months of arctic darkness) so I pleaded with her until she agreed to take some pics of a ballgown I have for sale.
After we got our srs pics I randomly decided to climb the pirate ship plaything structure we have standing in the backyard (after copious amounts of coffee I might add). Anything you can do, I can do in a hoopskirt. Woo!
This is my second corset. Last time I followed a Simplicity pattern, this time i drafted my own based on this this tutorial. It was interesting to see the pattern take form - I didnt' understand the maths behind the patternmaking, but it resulted in a pattern and the corset fits. Magic!
There are a couple of things I'm not entirely pleased with. Next time I'd like to add hip gores and use spiral steel for a more flexible piece. And it's going to be in silk and coutil, not cotton.
This isn't my messy room. Blame the roomies.
I couldn't find any foolproof guide to how many bones you should put in, so I had one at every seam. In hindsight, that wasn't enough. I found this article yesterday, where it says the more bones you add, the less pressure there'll be. When this corset is tightened a lot, the side bones poke into my hips. Other than that, I'm very pleased with it.
This is the result of going through the stash and finding the fabric remnants left over from a corset I made in March. I had just enough to make a little cute dress.
Sorry about the flash, my apartment is dark.
It's quite simple, with just ties in the back. Since it's going to be used by a small child, I finished all the inside seams so there won't be any irritation caused by that.
And since I am a period seamstress - did you know our modern concept of pink/blue was reversed in the Victorian age? Boys wore pink and girls blue. Take that, gender constructs.
Finished the viking cloak perhaps a month ago. This was my first proper commission. It's gonna be worn at a viking LARP, so it's not a hundred percent period correct.
Please excuse the oh-so sexy sweater I threw on before we went out to take pics.
As you might guess from the background, it was still pretty cold here in May.
It's in two layers, thick wool with a linen lining. The fabrics are period, but the colours (and the polyester ribbon) are not. The Norse didn't have completely black clothes, but in-game the commissioner is in a clan whose colours are black and red and he wanted it in the colours of his house.
In addition to be a flashy costume piece, the cloak is meant to protect against rain. I decided to make a seamless half-circle cloak with a liripipe hood that will lead water away. The wool is pretty much waterproof, and without seams water can't seep in. There is only one seam in the wool layer, and it's on the underside of the liripipe.
I haven't worked much with wool because I usually wear costumes to conventions, where you don't wear wool unless you want to overheat and die, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it wonderful to work with.
