Victorian Steam Punk: Week Two

This week we got out all the clothes and started playing about with them, trying different combinations on until we had a vague idea of what we wanted:

Steam Punk Sketches

I sketched some outfits (which I have to admit, don’t look in the slightest bit steam punkish on paper)

B5’s Steam Punk Costume:

B5 chose the satiny dress which was for someone aged twelve (!), so I created some corset-ish ties at the back which allowed us to pull the dress in tight, giving the impression it fit her:

I then used some blank brooch backs to pull up the front in two places, giving it the authentic ruched steam punk look:

Lillie will be creating a steam punk hat for B5, we will be adding a pair of tights and maybe a Victorian blouse to make it look a bit less grown up.

A7’s Steam Punk Costume:

A7, right from the start wanted the satin dress over-layed with black lace.  Again it was a woman’s size 8, so I needed to do the same thing I had done with B5’s to enable it to fit:

I still felt it wasn’t quite right, so we planned to add some sort of strap to the dress, as well as her black shawl (which we needed to find).

The little one’s costumes I managed to get sewn this week, but the older ones are still just pinned in various places.  It is my plan to sew them next week 🙂

Charlotte’s Steam Punk Costume:

Charlotte had begged to be allowed the hat and the waistcoat.  The hat looked like something one would wear to a wedding and needed a lot of work to make it look even vaguely steam punkish.  We are planning on doing that during our final week.  I ruched up her skirt in much the same way as I had B5’s skirt.  I also needed to take in the vest a few inches:

The waist coat was a man’s medium and as such was completely the wrong shape and size for her.  I have taken it in at the waist, and around the back, as well as at the top.  I also folded over the front so that only two buttons were showing, and pinned that also.  Next week I will be sewing everything up:

Bless her heart, she loves it, but I definitely feel the need to tweak!

And last but not least Lillie:

Lillie used the black dress underneath her own black skirt.  She wanted the front ruched in three places rather than two, and she also wanted the under dress to show more than it was as black.  So we bleached the black dress (using household bleach), thinking it might turn white.  It didn’t.  Twenty four hours later it was brown, and quite frankly better than I could possibly have imagined:

She paired it with a grey ruffly blouse and an old rain coat.  The rain coat wasn’t quite right, but I thought I might be able to do something to make it a bit more steam punkish.  Here is Charlotte photo bombing her sister’s photography session:

Fortunately, a few days later we went to have a look in the charity shop for something a little more suitable than the rain coat.  We got lucky and found a perfect black corset, which she could wear over the blouse.  I’ll be posting about that next week 🙂