Steam punk skirt lace

Lots of Lace

I thought it was time to do something on one of my other works in progress, so I tackled the tedious job of attaching metres and metres of lace and finally finished the first layers.

I don't know what my machine is playing at today, but it really doesn't want to help me out. I battled through the next layer of lace though. Today I have finished sewing two layers of lace to the last ruffle and then sewed this to the next layer. Only the lace is gathered at this stage. Next all of this is gathered onto the next section.

There are two types of lace used here. Approximately 10 metres of one and 5 metres of the smaller. The velveteen has a nasty habit of pilling with little navy balls of fluff everywhere! The progress photo wants to go purple, so I have had to adjust the colour as I can't seem to take a good photo tonight.

Steam Punk Progress

Gathering Lace

I feel like i have been gathering lace for days. I have spent the best part of the day working on this now, beginning at about midday with the measuring and cutting for the velvet. I then stitched the upper part of the skirt, including inserting an invisible zip. This time around I used a friends metal invisible zip foot and it was so much easier. I think because it is a proper foot instead of the plastic kind it held everything firmly in place and so I was able to just sew instead of having to make sure nothing was coming loose.

I have also completed the bottom frill by gathering 10 metres of lace and attaching it to the velvet. This took the most time. I spent well over two hours altogether as pinning the lace onto the 4.5m (approximate) length of velvet was very time consuming. I have a couple of progress photos over on my flickr account.

Who Watches The Watchmen?

Watchmen Costumes

Friends recently got dressed up for the premiere of the Watchmen movie. Their costumes all looked absolutely fantastic, so if you are a fan check out the whole photoshoot. -> Watchmen Photo Shoot

Steam Punk Lolita

Types of Lace

I am finally making some progress! I have just cut out the frills, which took quite a bit of effort as I had to spread the fabric out on the floor because the table wasn't long enough to cut a 2m24 length. My sudden burst of energy is due to actually having a clean house at the moment which is lending itself to being inspired to do other things instead of feeling depressed about the amount of housework that is piling up.

Earlier in the week I scored some acceptable lace at DK Fabrics which made me feel confident to cut into my lovely blue cotton velveteen. This is the best lace I could find without having to spend over $4/m on Torchon Lace. I needed about 65m of the stuff so I was happy to get it for under $1/m and even happier to realise that one of the designs I purchased might be the same as what was used in the magazine example, so I am sure it will be OK.

The only downside to sewing lolita is the amount of gathering, but the end result is worth it.

Putumayo Skirt Replica

Skirt Replica

I began this skirt after a burst of inspiration. This is the tartan that I found in a remnant bin for $2 and I also had left over black cotton. I had to get half a metre more of black. After the first weekend I have it almost complete. I still need to make 3 more bows, but I haven't been able to get silver badge backs so that they will be removable. Perhaps I should just sew the bows onto the skirt. I also need to sew on the waist band.

The pattern for the skirt is from Gosu Rori magazine volume 12. The finished skirt will look something like this.

Altered Designs

Dragonfly Pendant

One of my steam punk pieces arrived last week and It was amazingly wrapped in tissue paper and done up with a ribbon like a present. It is so nice when ebay sellers take the time and care to make your purchase memorable.

The piece is a heart and dragonfly combination on a long brass chain. Other pieces like this can be found through her ebay store "Altered Designs" and are quite affordable if you are looking for something a little different.

Cameo

I have also purchased a cameo today that looks old fashioned enough for my tastes. I fear it is not "real shell" as stated, but still it might end up being one of the cheaper plastic cameos from up to 50 years ago as it looks like the setting is cast metal. While it is missing a stone in the corner I hope to either be able to replace it cheaply or fix it either by taking out the one in the other corner and adding cogs to give it a steam punk feel, or taking out all the stones and replacing them with something appropriate. I guess I shall see when it arrives in the post!

Red Skirt

Red Skirt

This Lolita skirt was made following the instructions from Gosu Rori volume 7 from the skirt on page 11. The lace is applied to all the seams and the front and back panel has some delicate pin tucks which I think stand out better with my colour choice.

Difficulty: Easy - Medium
Total Time: approx 6 hours

It is hard to explain the actual shapes of the pieces for this skirt. There is a thin band for the bottom with the lace attached, but the rest is made out of pieces. The zip is in the side (though on the pattern the zip is supposed to go in the back - I thought it was wierd having an extra seam in the back when there was a perfectly good seam that could take the invisible zip in the side, so I moved it)

First the front and back pieces are constructed. The pin tucks are sewn in the front, then the two pieces are joined and the seam covered with the lace that has satin ribbon threaded through. Next a wide panel is gathered and the front and back sides are sewn together and attached to the gathered edge. Then the whole lot is attached and the side lace is sewn over the seam as you see in the first picture, which just needs a trim, then the bottom frill and the waist band attached.

Construction Progress

The bottom frill is attached after the lace is sewn. The lace has already been gathered slightly when you buy it so all you have to do is sew it on. Make sure you get a nice cotton on cotton and not one that uses shiny polyester thread on the design. The material is gathered until it lines up with the skirt and then attached with lace applied over the seam again, then the top of the skirt is gathered into the waist band.

Tip: Try to line up any joining seams on the frill or lace with the seams where the pieces join so that all your seams line up and you minimize any seams that may seem out of place.

The most time consuming part of this project is all the gathering, but the end effect is definitely worth it and this is a relatively simple skirt. I have left off the satin bows that the pattern suggests as well as a large material bow for the back as I felt these were unnecessary and liked the simplicity of this design.

Ready for waistband

Unfortunately no pattern for this one at this time. The magazine has detained instructions on how to draft these pieces and I highly recommend picking up a copy if you can. They retail for approximately $25 and contain patterns for approximately 18 whole outfits.

I wore this skirt with an Anna House blouse to a meetup at the Zoo on a 40 degree day, so a parasol was a welcome accessory.