I have no idea what I was thinking. This is so far out of my normal set of sewing skills. Maybe that was part of the allure. I don't even know what would make a rational person say, hey, I'll make a tutu! I have nowhere to wear it to, and nowhere to even store it, but I need a tutu! NEED! It started the way most of my project ideas started... a glimpse of an image or word that catches my eye, and leads me on a path of research. Sometimes I end up where I started, sometimes I end up in a different century altogether.
Since I don't exactly have many places to wear my historical costumes to, I decided to fun up the Victorian mourning gown so I could wear it to a steampunk event. The inspiration for the corset, which I call the Sweeney Scissorhands corset, came from Tim Burton's movies, Sweeney Todd, and Edward Scissorhands. I love how he can make a dark, drab garment somehow whimsical and full of personality. I had leftover straps and buckles from a previous kilt-making streak, and so I wanted to incorporate those. I also wanted to add a chain somehow, and D rings.
When I first started planning the 1883 Victorian walking dress, I came across a photo of Victorian ladies in mourning. Apparently, photographing people displaying their grief was common; they wanted a way to memorialize that part of their lives. I was fascinated by the photo. I started researching mourning etiquette, wanting to learn more. The Victorians took mourning very seriously; at first, that seems very morbid. But, it serves a very important point. It gives people the time and the right to grieve; to process and to mourn and to wallow.
1890 Victorian Bathing Suit When I first started looking for Victorian dress patterns, I stumbled across a pattern for an 1890 Victorian bathing suit. I instantly fell in love, and I bookmarked it under "future projects". I kept revisiting the site, there was just something about that outfit that I found irresistible. But, I had no where to wear an outfit like this, and it required quite a bit of fabric, so I hesitated. I think I lasted about a month before I bought the pattern.
I love finishing projects. The sweet feeling of success. The Victorian is especially sweet, because it's a fairly involved project with a lot of pieces, and very fitted tailoring, so it was a little challenging, and a little nerve wracking, and a lot of fun. First, because the pattern requires very accurate measuring and sizing, as opposed to modern patterns, I took my measurements while corseted, then traced the appropriate pattern pieces, and adjusted them to my measurements. Then, I made a mockup out of muslin to test the fit.
... of the accident. It still saddens me, I miss my old life. But enough time has gone by that some of it seems to belong to another person, another lifetime. Even reading the second anniversary post feels odd, like it is now buried under layers of survival and acceptance and moving on. I saw my old house on Halloween, I parked across the street from it, as I do every Halloween. This year, I noticed the new owner changed the garage door, and instead of being really sad, I thought, the door looks so much better than the old one.
I love Halloween, it's one of my most favorite holidays ever. Every year, my friends get together at my ex-neighbor's house, and we have a fun party. We've been doing themes for the last few years; last year, we did Arabian Nights, which was super fun. This year, the theme is Wild West. And I have been sewing like crazy for months now!! In addition to my Halloween costume, I've been busy working on many projects:
The lining is in; the trim on the button side is sewn on. Both sleeves are on. The trim on the button hold side is tacked in place and waiting for button holes to be sewn under the trim, which couldn't happen until the lining was sewn in.
Once I had the fronts and backs attached together, the work seemed to go easier. The collar is in two sections, each comprised of two pieces seamed together. The sections are stitched together and turned inside out, then the entire collar is stitched to the coat. It was quite possibly one of the easiest parts of this project. The cuffs are put together similarly; once finished, they are attached to the sleeves. In this picture, the cuff on the left has been slipped over the appropriate sleeve, and the two are stitched together at the wrist opening.
OOooh, I'm getting soooo excited! It seemed to take forever to baste the fashion fabric to the interlining, but once that was done, getting into the details was really fun! First, I sewed the two back pieces together, and pressed the seam open. I set that aside, and moved on to the front pieces, to which the pockets would be added before they could be attached to the back pieces.
From the right-side-out front piece, the pocket lining, unfolded, is attached.
