Costume College Professional Pictures

These photos were all taken by Andrew Schmidt for Costume College 2014.

On Friday Night, we had the Ice Cream Social. Being a lagger, I completely missed the ice cream, but Tanya and I snuck out for a little sumthin sumthin at the bar. There's also gin in that flask, but funny enough, I never got around to drinking it.

1980's Thrift Store dress with the shoulder pads and sleeves removed. Thrift store spangled purse. Headband cobbled together from Joannes, Shoes I've had forever from Macy's. Stockings from thrift store rolled down with rolling garters from the CoCo marketplace and a flask from the marketplace.

Saturday night was the Gala. You've heard me kvetching about putting that together already. Here's the whole finished look.

The plaid silk was won in a raffle. The skirt, overskirt and bodice are all Truly Victorian patterns. The black trim was removed from a tutu I found in my garage. I have my hair up in a hair piece I made from a long gray cosplay wig. Gloves I found at the thrift store.

I am wearing a bustle under there, it just was half of a pair of pocket panniers I made with really cheap plastic boning. It didn't have enough umph to keep everything up. The flowers were also kind of stuck on last minute also. It's also too short. I will save this one. I have silk left, so I'm going to make a large pleated ruffle to go around the bottom to lengthen it. I'll also make a real bustle to wear under it. I plan on making a lot more goo ga's to add to the overskirt also.

On Sunday Afternoon we had the Ascot Tea. I already had my walking skirt and gibson girl blouse I made for the Asilomar event. I added a black wool jacket I found at the thrift store and a hat I made for a Mae West costume I wore a few years back. Those are totally the same flowers from my bosom the night before.

I do think the jacket is worth reworking for real. I may end up making it into a 1930's or 40's jacket instead of an Edwardian. The purse was also found at the thrift store.

I did get a pretty good Facebook profile pic out of it.

One Weekend and Twenty-Five Cent Post-Edwardian Corset, Part Two

Phew! Well, I managed to 'mostly' get it done. If you missed part one, you can see it here. First I cut the pants apart so I could use it as fabric. Rather than pin the pattern to the fabric, I use fabric weights.

I managed to get all the pieces out of the pants

After cutting out the fabric, I transfer all the markings directly on to the fabric with a Frixion Heat erase pen. It makes things much easier to put together and all markings disappear with ironing.

After a few rounds with my sewing machine. I beat it into submission, setting in on some 1900 house and sewed up all the seams. The pattern doesn't have seam allowances, so I added 1/2 inch. For boning, I used various sizes of cable ties.

The nice thing about cable ties, is that you can cut them to size with ordinary scissors.

Crappy scissors for cutting the ties. A foot file to round out the edges.

To avoid confusion later, I mark where the boning is going to go with sharpie.

I used pre-made boning channels and some twill tape for the boning channels.

I didn't have the front busk yet, so I basted the front of the corset together so I could lace it up.

Not me

I love the silhouette of this corset.

Also not me

Things I learned:
1. Have more than one bobbin. That way when you lose you ONLY BOBBIN you don't have to waste a half an hour looking for it before you even start.
2. Don't sew several pieces inside out. Machine sewing seams are a female dog to pick out
3. Project runway is the best show to watch while machine sewing. It's like you are RIGHT THERE.
4. Using my sewing machine is bearable if I put it on my coffee table. I guess it's not the sewing machine I have a problem with, it's getting off the couch.

When I get the front busk, I will show a picture of the front. Since my event is this coming weekend, I need to get to work on the shirtwaist. I may just leave the the front sewn together for now, so I can wear it under my costume. I hope my boyfriend has been eating his Wheaties, but pulling this puppy tight is a workout.