Tutorial: How to Make a Bustle Skirt from a Window Panel

I'm a big fan of getting fabric for costume pieces from places other than the fabric store.  The main thing I look for at thrift stores are things to use as fabric.  Sheets are one of my favorites.  In the past I haven't really  found a lot of awesome window treatments to use.  But on a recent trip to Goodwill I got a couple really nice window panels.  The one I'm going to show you today is even 70% silk.  And it cost me $2.99.

In deciding what to make with this awesome piece of fabric I considered that it was a nice large piece of uninterrupted fabric.  Unlike cutting up a prom dress for fabric I didn't have to worry about seams or anything.  I also wanted to use as close to 100% of the fabric for one project, for maximum impact.  So I decided to make a long bustle skirt.

Materials:
One full-length window panel.
Plastic Drapery rings - I  used 5 for this skirt, so one small package should get you a couple of bustles.
Thin ribbon, probably needs to be smaller than 1/2" wide and of coordinating color with your fabric in case it gets seen due to passing breeze.
Thread

I didn't take a "before" picture, but this is the curtain and the
lining, showing where I cut them apart.

This project borrows a lot from one of the patterns that I sell, my Tie-on Bustle Skirt.  Because I'm looking to sell this bustle, I went with a tie-on waist to fit pretty much anyone.  If I was making it for myself, I would probably make a waistband to my measurement and put a button closure on it.  The bustling technique I use in this tutorial is something of an experiment for me, and is not the same as what is used in my pattern.  So this is a free tutorial with some similarities to the pattern I have for sale, but also some significant differences.  Just in case you're wondering.

The first thing I did was to cut the fabric off of the lining.  I just cut inside the seams attaching the two pieces of fabric.  I could have tried to keep the side seams intact, but I didn't want any of the white lining to remain, so I cut it all off.  I kept hem at the bottom of the panel because it looked nice and neat.  I usually make my bustles with a rounded edge, but I left this square to preserve the nicely finished hem.  I then cut enough off the top for my waist tie.  I cut two strips off the top that were both 3" wide.  If you're making a waistband instead of a tie, you might only have to cut one strip.  I used my narrow hem foot to make a tiny narrow hem along the edges.  If you don't have a narrow hem foot, you can just turn the edge under and under again.  You might want to make your band thicker to allow for this.

You can see the zigzagged top edge and hemmed side.

Then I hemmed all the way down the sides of my panel, pressing the fabric under by about 1/4" and then again 1/4" to hide the raw edge.  I could have used the narrow hem foot again, but it sometimes leaves strings and this is a very fray-able fabric.  For the top edge where it will attach to the waistband, I pinked it and then did a zig-zag stitch over it.

The next step is to gather the top of the panel.  To do this, just run two lines of a large basting stitch along the top and pull the threads to gather the fabric.  You can choose how much to gather based on how wide you want the finished bustle to be.  Because my window panel is slightly smaller than standard 45" fabric, I didn't gather it all that much.  Hold it up to your backside or a dressform to get an idea how big you want it.

Steampunk Books, Part the Third

My previous steampunk book reviews can be found here and here.

The Falling Machine (The Society of Steam, Book One) by Andrew P. Mayer

I really, really liked this book. I have to be honest and admit that I judged this book by its cover, which is actually not that bad, but I read the hand-drawn illustration as amateurish and wasn't in a big hurry to read it. But I'm on something of a mission to read ALL steampunk books, so I went ahead. And I was so pleasantly surprised. At first I was enjoying this fun and exciting book about Victorian era superheroes called The Paragons, and the daughter of one of them who wanted to be involved but was locked out due to her sex. But as the book went on, and I progressed through multiple mysteries and mysterious unknown characters and action sequences, I started to get unreasonably attached to the heroine Sarah, and the Automaton, Tom. And towards the end I got quite emotional and angry about their situation. The book ended with a bit of resolution and a bit of a cliffhanger and I am ashamed to say I had ordered the sequel from Amazon within 10 minutes of having finished the book. (Ashamed because I shouldn't be spending the money.)

But this is really an exemplar steampunk novel. The use of technology and gadgets and steam power is among the best I've read. But the characters are also particularly good. They are very clearly VICTORIAN characters, regardless of the fact that they dress in leather costumes and fight clockwork powered super-villains. Sarah especially falls on the right side of the line between a rebellious Victorian woman and a totally out-of-character-for-her-time Mary Sue. And I always appreciate when I believe the characters are of the period.

I did read the second book in the series, Hearts of Smoke and Steam .  It's not as good as the first one.  The plotting and pace feel slightly off and I didn't connect with this story as much as the first one.  But this book sets up the future of the series in promising ways.   Really, if you're interested in steampunk fiction, you need to read this series.

The Buntline Special: A Weird West Tale by Mike Resnick

This alternate history steampunk version of Tombstone, the gunfight at the OK Corral, etc, is fast-paced and enjoyable. Doc Holliday is a likable main character. But overall, this book is just ok. The characters don't really stand out or mean much. The tech is cool, the use of Native magic is cool, the character of Kate Elder is briefly cool. But it's not exactly a book that's going to MOVE you in any way. And there was a little too much concentration on robot whores for my taste. Like, ok, we get it, move on. You're a little too fascinated with the idea of the robot whores, Mr. Author. It's getting creepy.

Ultimately, the big shootout and end of the book is a total letdown. It was over really quick and didn't really payoff in a way that satisfied. But it's worth a read if you like Weird West or Western Steampunk and want a light, fun read. I just wish there was more substance or significant character development.   This is really a boy's fantasy world of cool sci-fi cowboys and guilt-free robot sex.  Unfortunately, as a novel, I find it falls a bit flat.

 The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker
The number one reason to read this book is that it is available as a free download from Amazon for Kindle (I don't own a Kindle, but I got Kindle for PC in order to read free books).  Now the spectacular thing about this book is that it is free and it is really good.  It's so good that I've actually bought and read the next three books in the series as well.  For the longest time I was unwilling to give this series the label of steampunk.  It's set in a fantasy world.  The empire in which the action takes place is reminiscent of the Discworld.  Guns are illegal, so most fighting is with swords, but there is steam technology.  But there is very little description of tech or fashion or anything that would confidently label this steampunk.  There is also magic in this world, though it is outlawed within the empire.  But the fourth book has airships, so I am just gonna call it steampunk and be done.

At any rate, the series is well worth a read.  The main character Amaranthe is the only female member of the captial city's police force, at least until she gets drawn into political intrigue surrounding the young Emperor.  She is sent to kill the notorious assassin Sicarius, who for some reason doesn't instantly murder her for trying.  The two of them form an uneasy alliance to discover what plot is threatening the Emperor, and the plot goes from there.  Eventually Amaranthe puts together a group of misfits that fight for the good of the emperor while being on the run from the law.  The author knows how to create truly captivating characters, and there is a lot of skillful character development throughout the series.  The majority of the books are action oriented and the pace rarely lags.  There's also a touch of romance, but of a very limited and implied kind.  I've rarely been so frustrated and yet captivated by a romance at the same time.

The same author also has Flash Gold (a steampunk novella set in the Yukon) (The Flash Gold Chronicles) available for free.  It's an enjoyable short tale about a girl entering a dogsled race with a steam-powered sled and the mysterious man she hires to guard her from pirates and bandits and her competitors.  My only problem with it is that the characters might as well be the same as the two lead characters of the Emperor's Edge series.  I'll still probably cough up the couple of bucks the sequels cost.

There are some other free steampunk novels available for Kindle, but I either haven't gotten around to reading them or have tried them and wasn't impressed by the writing.  But I won't review a book based on a few pages, so I'll leave you guys to try them out yourselves.



Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne
I had never read anything by Jules Verne, and I inherited a leatherbound version of this book with my dad's book collection.  So when I was out of things to read one night, I thought, "Why not?"  Now, I know this will be controversial, but I have to say I don't think much of this book.

First of all, I LIKE Victorian literature.  I've been enjoying the original Sherlock Holmes stories since I was 11.  I was an English major.  I've read Victorian literature in both English and French, and enjoyed it.  So I think I was well-prepared to enjoy this work.  But, the truth is that I haven't.  I seriously doubt that many people out there have actually read this book, and not just seen the Disney movie version.  Because this book is incredibly boring.  The narrator is a biologist specializing in marine species and he gets picked up by Captain Nemo and the Nautilus after he nearly drowns.  What follows is hundreds of pages in which the narrator talks about the marine life, using mostly scientific or outdated species names.  Again, I think I'm pretty well equipped to understand a discussion of marine life.  I'm not a biologist in any way, but I watch my share of nature documentaries and I really enjoy snorkeling, so I think I know more about ocean life than most people.  But what the majority of the book reads like to me is reminiscent of the adult speak from Charlie Brown cartoons.  Gibberish, gibberish, gibberish, algae, gibberish, gibberish, phosphorescent, gibberish.

Let's play the Open the Book to a Random Page Game.  Ok, so I ended up on page 83 in my book, which is actually fairly interesting as they are preparing to leave the ship.  But about one third of the page is as follows:

 "I did honor to the repast.  It was composed of several different kinds of fish, and slices of holothuridae (excellent zoophytes), and different sorts of seaweed.  Our drink consisted of pure water, to which the captain added some drops of a fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha method from a seaweed known under the name of Rhodomenia palmata."

So, yeah.  I haven't finished reading this book yet, and considering how intensely I've been avoiding it, I doubt that I ever will.  I pushed myself along for a while, telling myself that Part II would be more interesting (it's not) or that surely the ending would be worth it.  I'm more than 3/4 of the way done with it, and I just don't have the will to continue.  It honestly reads like someone was looking for a way to teach kids about aquatic life.  According to the introduction, all the extraneous detail is in order to make the reader buy the larger sci-fi setting of the story, but all I can say is that its something of an accomplishment to make traveling in a submarine through secret caves with a mysterious captain boring.  Not even the occasional shark or giant clam attack makes up for the much lengthier passages in which nothing at all happens except the narrator looks out the window.

Not Quite Steampunk: Bedside Dresser

I'm actually working on a bunch of steamy projects right now, but they are all far from complete.  The only creative project I've completed recently is my new bedside table/dresser.  It's not REALLY steampunk related, but I wanted to make a post about some of the difficulties I had doing and it might be of interest in anyone working on steamy home decor.

I spend a lot of time in bed due to my back condition and as a result I have a LOT of stuff that accumulates by the bed.  When my husband and I were at IKEA looking at storage for my fabric, we ran across the unfinished Rast 3 drawer chest and I thought it would work next to the bed and might actually hold all my stuff and keep it hidden.  At $34, the price was right and so it came home with us.

 I've been reading too many DIY blogs, so I knew I wanted to try to do a cool paint job on it.  The bedroom has a lot of black and dark blue, with some natural wood furniture.  I decided on a grey and black color for the chest.  What I really wanted was a nice grey with purple tones, distressed with black showing underneath.  The black would tie in with the power coated black steel furniture of the room, but the grey would lighten it up.

So I painted the wood with white primer, cause it's what I had.  Then painted a coat of black wall paint.  The grey was a lovely grey (I think it's called Serious Grey?) from Sherwin Williams.  Just a tip: if you're looking to buy a small amount of paint for a furniture project, pretend it's a tester for a large wall project. Much cheaper that way.  I did at least two coats of grey, in places probably more like three.  I used a small roller to apply it evenly.

So, the next part was where the distressing was meant to take place.  I had experimented with distressing on a couple of other pieces, but in both of those I was distressing a black top coat to show the white primer underneath.  It didn't take much work with sandpaper to get the white showing in those cases.  But when I went to work with the sandpaper on this project, it was immediately more difficult.  It took a LOT of elbow grease to get through the top grey layer, and I wasn't really uncovering much of the black. I had wanted a LOT of black showing, and I wasn't getting there.  And my arm was really tired.

So I decided I needed power tools.  I used a sanding bit on a rotary tool (Dremel) and tried that out.  It worked, but mostly it revealed either the white primer or the plain wood.  I could have tried my husband's orbital sander, but I was really afraid of exposing large patches of either white or wood, cause that wasn't what I wanted.  After spending a couple of hours working the edges with the Dremel, I decided I was going to have to give up my original vision and resort to plan B.

Close up showing as much black as
 I ever got to show through

Plan B was to add some black to the chest by painting it on, instead of taking the grey off.   For this I took some flat black arcylic paint from my husband's nerf gun painting supplies and mixed it with water.  I used a paper towel dipped in this watered down paint and used that to make streaks of black on my chest.  I tried to keep the most black on the edges, but I decided I liked the look of washing the whole thing in streaks of black "glaze."   In fact, I kinda wished I hadn't done the distressing at all and had just gone with this style of paint job.   But, as my husband pointed out, at least I don't have to worry about the cats scratching it.  It will just add to the look!

I did find that some areas where my coats of grey had been thinner (like at the very bottom and the back) were much easier to distress with the sandpaper, and I got closer to the black showing through look I had wanted.  So what I SHOULD have done was to skip the white primer or used a black primer, and done several coats of black, and only one light coat of grey on top.  That would have made the distressing much easier.  So if that's what you want, think about your coats carefully.

For the sealant I used furniture wax.  I used Minwax regular wax, which I actually had to order from Amazon because Home Depot didn't have it.  I didn't want a finish that was too glossy or plastic-y, so I decided to try wax.  I was REALLY happy with it.  It was totally easy to apply: the key is to wrap a glob of wax in a very thin cloth and apply that way.  I used an old men's handkerchief, but you could use muslin or cheesecloth.  I applied about three coats, allowing them to dry in between.  I buffed it with a soft cloth.  It's got a very nice smooth finish, not gloss or matte.  And it seems pretty well protected.  If I ever feel like it needs it, or if it gets messed up from standing water or something, I can just add some more coats of wax without a lot of trouble.

I'm actually really happy with how it turned out, even if it's not exactly what I planned.  It looks good, and it holds all my books, knitting, knitting tools, computer components, medications, lotions, chap sticks, snacks, etc.

Mostly this picture is here because of the cute cat butt.  
That's Grimmie 's tuft .  She's a Manx, she has no tail.
 Just an adorable, adorable tuft.

Con Report: Aetherfest 2012

I spent the weekend in San Antonio at Aetherfest 2012.  This is a second year event, held at the utterly gorgeous Victorian-era St. Anthony Hotel.  The first Aetherfest, which I attended, was really the event where the Texas steampunk community came together and got to really know each other, so I was interested to see how the second year would go.

Some of my wares.

I have to say it's difficult for me to evaluate the con as a whole.  I was vending this time around, so most of my time was spent behind a table in the vendors' room.  It was a very successful vending experience, and I had a blast talking with people as they wandered by and making friends among my fellow vendors.

Overall I would say the con was well-organized and seemed to run smoothly.  The schedule set a relaxed pace, both by having built-in meal breaks and by only have one track of panels.  The meal breaks are a fantastic idea (one that I first saw at Clockwork Con), but I don't really like having only one panel going on at a time.  I understand some of the reasoning: not to overload the staff and attendees with running around from location to location.  It also allowed almost all of the con events to be held on  the ground floor.  But I think there should be two panels at a time, to allow people to find things they are most interested in.  The panels at Aetherfest this year focused on ideas, discussions, and community building.  Which is great, but I think a second track focused on practical making panels would be awesome.  One philosophical track, one practical maker track?  Sounds like heaven to me.

I only was able to attend one panel all weekend and that was the Regional Steampunk panel.  It involved all the out-of-state guests talking about regional trends in steampunk and how things differ from place to place.  It was interesting and entertaining.  My favorite moment was when one panelist commented on the "Tex-Mex" feel of our Texas steampunk outfits.  The audience responded by asking what they were talking about.  I'm still really curious about an outsider perspective of Texas steampunks, because obviously we don't see that kind of thing in ourselves.    My husband made it to the steampunk music panel and the "State of Texas Steampunk" panel on Sunday and said they were both interesting.

The highlight of the programming for me, as it was last year, was the parade through the streets to the Alamo for a group photo.  It's too bad the park ranger chased us off and told us it's not allowed to take pictures in front of the Alamo (really? since exactly when?) so we didn't have as much time to linger as we did last year.  But there are some nice photos.

Steampunk Boba Fett with some young fans at the Alamo.

The evening entertainment, to the extent I experienced it, was very good.  Friday night included a catered dinner and entertainment for people with upgraded tickets.  I didn't spring for those this year, so I can't comment.  I was busy laying down after a day of car travel and all-day vending.  There was alternate musical entertainment going on in the hotel pub.  I didn't get to see much of that, but I did see a bit of Unwoman's set, and even over all the noise of a crowded bar, I was impressed.  I couldn't make it to the Burlesque show later that evening, but my husband reported it was really good.  I'm sad I missed it, especially since there was apparently a really talented male burlesque performer.

Saturday evening's concert was fantastic, and a step up from last year's.  It was held in the gorgeous hotel ballroom, rather than on the roof, and the sound was excellent.  (Something I couldn't say for the sound the year before.)  Marquis of Vaudeville, a staple of Texas steampunk events, put on a really excellent set.  I've seen them 4 times or so, and can confidently say this was the best performance of theirs I have seen.   Plus they covered David Bowie's "Within You" from the movie Labyrinth (my favorite movie EVER) and The Cure's "Burn" from The Crow, and they were both excellent covers.

Steampunks on Parade

Unwoman was headlining, and she was awesome.  I had never heard of her prior to the con, but I have a new performer who I would attend a con just to see.  She plays electric cello, using a sampler delay to layer different cello parts on top of each other.  And she has an amazing voice.  She did a mixture of original songs and covers and both were impressive.  In particular, her covers of Placebo's "Running up that Hill" and the Firefly theme song were especially memorable.  Seriously, everyone needs to check her out.  I bought her cd of covers, "Uncovered", and the covers of "Billie Jean" and "Shout" in particular are awesome.  I'll be buying her original albums soon as well.

My husband in I in our
unintentionally matching outfits.

One other thing of note from the weekend.  Due to some awesome organizing from some spectacular people (who I won't name cause I don't want to leave anyone out) there was a great silent auction to benefit Autism Speaks.  There was a ton of items donated by vendors and other performers.  I won a fantastic lamp made out of some books by my new friends at Oddbird's Boutique.  The auction was very successful and it's great to see a community support such a great cause.

Overall, it seems to have been a really great time for everyone.  I'm not sure how financially successful  it was.  It seems that within the Texas steampunk community there are about 300-400 people who are guaranteed to show up. I'm not sure what the numbers actually were, but I think we need to find ways to hold events that are guaranteed profitable with that minimum number of attendees.  I'm obviously not a con organizer, so I don't know how that would work, it's just something I'm thinking about.  I'm not criticizing, but I do worry about the financial side of events because I want them to be able to continue, which won't happen if they are not financially sound.

I got to chat with a bunch of people who were either first-time con attendees or new to steampunk and they all were very positive about both the con and steampunk itself.  It's always fantastic to see the gleam in someone's eyes when they say, "This steampunk stuff is SO AWESOME."  It's the kind of thing those of us who have been doing this longer sometimes forget about.  Look how cool this all is!  If you can't get excited about a group of steampunks coming together to show off all their cool stuff and build community, well, something just ain't right.  ;)

Patch Corset Part 2: Construction and Finished Corset

Yesterday I talked about how I developed the pattern I used to make my patch corset.  Today I will go over the construction methods I used and mostly just show off the finished project.

Putting patches on the outside of a corset sounds like a simple enough concept, but when I really started to think about it, it wasn't.  I wanted the patches to be really firmly attacked and not in danger of peeling off, which meant I wanted to sew them to the corset.  Some of them are heavily embroidered iron-on patches, but some are just printed pieces of fabric that I wanted to attach with a satin stitch around the edge.  So I couldn't sew them on last, after boning the corset because I couldn't sew through the bones.  And I couldn't make my boning channels over the patches because it either wouldn't look good or wouldn't work with some of the thickest patches.  So I only had one option: I had to make the top layer (the one with the patches and fashion fabric) a floating layer.  It would have to be attached only at the edges, floating free of the corset core where all the boning is.

This really upped the difficulty of the corset.  I had to be very careful about the accuracy of my seam allowances so that the outer layer would match up perfectly with the inner layers, since they were stitched at different times.  I assembled the outer layer first, then laid out all the patches and sewed them on.  Some of the patches are both ironed on and sewn on.  I hadn't really considered some of the difficulties of putting patches on a corset.  Some of the patches were very stiff due to lots of embroidery and/or the iron-on material they were backed with.  That meant they didn't work very well on a very curvy surface like most of those on a corset.  The biggest problem patch was the largest, the square one with the map and balloon seen in the picture above.  The only place flat enough for that was right under my arm.   The butterfly on the front of the corset was also stiff, so I chose the flattest place I could.  I had to leave the front and back panels free of patches so I could put in the closure and grommets.

Core of the corset with top layer attached at front.

After I had assembled the top layer with all the patches, I started assembling the corset core, with the top layer attached at the front.  I used a layer of cotton duck with a lining of domestic (lower quality) coutil.  Since I was already dealing with one floating layer, I decided not to do a floating lining for simplicity's sake.  The corset is only boned on the seams, with 1/4" spiral steel bones.  The panels in this pattern are fairly slim, so I felt I could get away with only boning the seams.  If I had added an extra bone in the middle of each panel, the waist would be completely solid boning.  Since the corset was already going to be fairly thick and heavy, I declined that option.  Once I got to the back, I attached the top layer again and added my grommets.  For the flat steel at the back I wanted something  more sturdy than the 1/4" regular steels so I used 1/2" steels on both sides of the grommets.  For the front I had an unusual closure in mind, and I sandwiched my clasps between two heavy-duty extra-thick 1/4" steels.  This gives the front a nice stiffness, without it being uncomfortable.

On to my clasps.  Here they are.  I saw some corsets using this closure a few months ago, though the vendor chased me away from them when she saw me studying how they were attached.  I had been planning on using swing hooks prior to that, but swing hooks have become SO cliched on steampunk corsets that I was tired of seeing them.  These, I decided, were different enough to be really stunning. The only place I know that sells them is Tandy Leather.  They are not cheap.  I sandwiched them between two flat steels on each side and used rivets to attach them.  I am not 100% in love with how the rivets look, but these were the only antique brass colored rivets I could get in time to finish the corset.  These were a real bitch to install.  It's very difficult to get them set just perfect so that they meet over two steel bones.  They are also not really ideal for corsetry because the loop side of the clasp sits higher that the turning lock part, so the corset edges won't be flush.  It's not something a casual viewer will notice, but it's annoying to the corset maker and annoying when trying to put it on.  And it makes a front modesty panel a must.  They take some wrestling to get on, but they make a corset very easy to take off.  The turning part does sometimes get turned to unlocked while wearing but they don't pop open even when that happens.  They do add a LOT of weight to a corset and make the front panel very stiff.  Also, partly due to my errors installing them and partly due to the fact that my top layer is floating, they cause a lot of wrinkling and pulling at the front of the corset.  It really bugs me, but there was nothing I could do about it once they were installed.  In short, I wouldn't use them again, although I did get compliments on them and there was only one other person at the steampunk con I was at with the same closure.  (And COUNTLESS swing hooks.)

Once I had my front and back closures sorted out, I got to try the whole thing on for the first time.  And I was immediately unhappy with the straps.  I had made the straps widen at the top and I just didn't like the whole neckline at all.  I had been planning to drape beads or fabric from the straps across my upper arms, but when I let the straps fall off the shoulder,I decided I liked the off-the-shoulder effect much better than the straps.  So then I had to figure out how to make the off-the-shoulder sleeves, and how to attach them to the already completed corset.  I had to cut off the existing straps, which was quite scary.  After some experimentation, I found a style of sleeve I really liked and went ahead with it.  I really needed to add another bone to support the top of the back points, but couldn't figure out how to add a bone without messing up my patches.  I found that once I bound the edge of the corset, it was stiff enough to support the sleeves.  I'm VERY happy with the effect.  The only problem with the sleeves is that I can't raise my arms while wearing this.  Which means I have to take the corset off to do or touch up my hairstyle.  (Ask me how I realized this...)

Very quickly I will mention the rest of my outfit.  To go with the corset I made the cancan skirt and separate ruffled petticoat from the Laughing Moon 105 Saloon Girl Pattern.  I used a ruffler for the first time, and had to make so many ruffles that I think the ruffler stressed my machine out, so I had to STOP using the ruffler.  The skirts use a HUGE amount of fabric even before ruffles, but with the ruffles it's NUTS.  I used a thrift store bedsheet for the plain brown skirt and another bedsheet for the red petticoat.  The petticoat has ruffles on the inside and the outside, making it very nice and full. I didn't have enough fabric in a Queen sized flat sheet for all the ruffles, so some of them are from a black twin sized sheet I had.

Overall I'm very happy with this outfit.  There are small details about the corset I wish were different. It wrinkles more than I would like due to the floating top layer and the clasps.  But the effect from a normal distance is fairly spectacular, I think.  I really achieved my vision of combining the punk rock attitude of the patches with the victorian style of the corset.  The sleeves with the beads are really the perfect finishing touch that adds elegance to the look.  This was also meant to be a summer outfit, since all my other outfits include jackets and long skirts.  It is quite cool, really.  Even with knee high vinyl boots I stayed comfortable and at one point in the dealers room wished I had a shawl for my shoulders (will get on that!)

EDIT: I forgot to mention where I got all the patches.  Many of them come from my friend Denise at TaDa Boutique.  The rest mostly come from random etsy sellers.  The big Airship Octavia one on my boob I printed on my printer.  I was sad to see that the Red Fork Empire booth last weekend had some great patches, but it was too late for my corset.

Patch Corset Part 1: Pattern Development

A few months after first dressing steampunk I had an idea: get a corset and cover it with steampunk patches.  A few months after that, I started collecting steampunk patches.  Something like a year and a half after having the idea, I've finally achieved it.  

Of course, instead of simply applying patches to a bought corset, I made my own.  And it was quite a process.  I knew I wanted a corset that would have a lot of real estate to attach patches to.  So I started experimenting with the Butterick 5662 pattern.  I started by making a mock-up for the largest size included with the pattern.  By the size chart, this was about a size too small for me, but I thought since the mainstream pattern companies' corset patterns run large, maybe it would come close to fitting.  I was wrong and it was way too big for me, but the mockup looked pretty good and I decided to continue messing with it.   (Note: this looks good, but I can pinch an entire panel together and it is therefore way too loose for a corset.)

For my next mock-up I went down one size in the bust, two in the hips, and several sizes in the waist.  I made this mock-up out of duck to get a more accurate idea of how the finished corset would behave.  You can see there is a more drastic curve to the corset's shape.  This fit me pretty well, besides needing a bit taken out of the back to make a lacing gap.  

But I didn't like the shape of the neckline or the bottom edge.  I wanted it to come down further on my hips.  So I  added some fabric to the bottom of the corset at the hips and to the straps and folded an pinned until I had shapes that I liked.    I apologize for the crappy picture, but hopefully you get the idea.  I then took half of the mock-up apart and used my modified mock-up to draw the final pattern.  

From experience I knew I needed to make a mock-up of the final pattern before using it to make the real corset.  Especially since I knew I only had one chance to get the patch corset right and I couldn't make any changes in the middle.  But I was still really anxious to get on to the real corset, so I only made half a mock-up of this final pattern, trying it on with the other half of my previous mock-up.  As this was mostly to check the style and not the sizing, this short cut worked fine.

As I have quite a lot to say about the actual construction of the corset due to it being unusual, I will split this into two posts and finish the second half another day.  For now, have a teaser of the finished corset.