Attempting a Gibson or Edwardian Blouse

Hello all,

It's been a long time since I took the time to sit down and chat.  Grant you, it's been a long time since I've been able to do some good old sewing.  So long, in fact, that I'm going to discuss the Edwardian blouse I worked on last summer.

My wardrobe sadly lacked a good old basic blouse, and I had a hankering for a nice Edwardian style.  My good friend lent me her Folkwear pattern, since we're close to the same size, and I had the added advantage of borrowing her completed blouse as well, which allowed me to figure out where I could cut my pattern back a bit.

I used the Folkwear Gibson Girl pattern, #205.    Here's an image of the package and the diagrams for the pattern. 

Their design could be quite fancy, as shown below.  However, unlike what you see below, their collar is considerably shorter than what they show in this photo - it's more what you see in the pattern design sketch above right. 

I opted for the non-fancy, non-pleated yoke, as it's less work.  I also decided not to have a belt at the waist, since I was planning to always have it tucked into a skirt waistband.  I decided upon a nice white and green cotton striped material (which tends toward a seersucker finish when it's been washed, if one doesn't iron it out).  I thought the stripes would look nice going vertically along the bodice and sleeves, and running  horizontally along the yoke, collar, and cuffs.  (Though I still managed to accidentally cut out the yoke with the stripes going vertically ... why I always buy extra fabric!)

Here's the blouse in progress, yoke and bodice attached front and back, but with no sleeves or collar yet.  I opted for a small edging of lace inserted between yoke and bodice.

Before attaching the collar, I had to figure out how I wanted to trim it.  I had a variety of lace pieces around as options.

I even contemplated a little lace jabot.

 

However, after polling my sewing pals on Facebook, I decided I'd go for edging with the really narrow lace, since my neck isn't terribly long.  I also remembered I had a bone or ivory piece which I found in an old jar of buttons I'd bought at an antiques market, and so I added that to the centre front of the collar.  (Surprisingly, I forgot it was there when I washed the blouse the first time, and it survived the process entirely unscathed!)

Here is how the front looked, with the ivory piece and all the different laces combined.

And here is the finished blouse in all it's glory, front and back.  The back attaches with hooks and eyes along the opening which goes from collar to the bottom of the yoke. 

All in all, a great little blouse, and easy to make - it took me a week of frittering away in the evenings to make this.  I kept with the pintucked sections in the back, where one would normally have the belt running, as it ensured that, when tucked into a skirt, it would automatically lay nicely.

Alas, I realize I have no decent photo of me wearing this blouse, just one very tiny, very blurry photo, from a local picnic.

The Steamwench's Jewelry Box, or, Come See What I've Made!

Hello, all.

As I frantically prepare for my 4th ever experience as a vendor (and all within the last 12 months), this time at my second Christmas Fair, at Imaginarius Fantasticus III, I thought I'd share the contents of the Steamwench's Jewelry Box.

Making jewelry was something I had done just a couple of times, for myself.  I had thought about making it to sell, but I seemed to have so many other things to do, and I wasn't sure how to go about it.  Then, just under a year ago, the opportunity to vend essentially fell into my lap, and even I realized it would be foolish to not give it a whirl. 

What followed was a frantic two solid months of getting all the basic supplies I needed and tinkering away at my tiny work-desk every evening after work, and each weekend.  The pace was frankly insane.  I spent more than I had intended on supplies - which shouldn't have been a surprise, as a costumer, I generally seem to run on the "buy more" principle, since nothing is worse than running out of supplies mid-project.  I also had a bit of misunderstanding about just how much product I needed to make.  I could have made half of what I did, and still had plenty.  Good news is, it has meant I have not needed to create things at such a rabid pace since.

For several years, I had been collecting lovely vintage keys, broken pocket-watch and watch parts, and oddments of broken old and neglected jewelry with interesting detail bits or pieces. I enjoy taking all these old items, and combining them creatively with new or other old items, to create jewelry that has a steampunk or neo-Edwardian aesthetic.  I've also been enjoying creating a few entirely new pieces.  

As we come up to the next Imaginarius Fantasticus, which has a steampunk theme, and at which I will be both vending and running the local steampunk community promotional table & info table, I thought I'd share some photos of some of the jewelry I've created.  (And a shout-out to local Vancouverites, come on by the show if you want to check out my stuff in person!)  

 

Wish me luck this coming weekend!  And as I hastily put this to press, I have actually changed some of my pieces shown here with some awesome improvements!  (The hot air balloon earrings and pendants now have lovely little silver baskets under them!)

And now, adieu!

Making A Steampunk Vendor's Apron

Hello good folks.  I shall have my automaton fetch you some lemonade (or would you prefer a gin and tonic?), so please, sit back, and relax.

This post hearkens back to the chillier month of November, when I found myself frantically preparing to actually be a vendor, for the first time ever, for a fantasy-themed Christmas Fair, the Imaginarius Fantasticus, which I'd participated in the previous year to promote our local steampunk community (you can find posts about preparing for the brochures, display, promotion, and tablecloth earlier in this blog).

In among the panic of trying to make enough steampunk jewelry to sell (turns out I'm an overachiever, I made tons in that insane 6 week marathon), I realized that, as a vendor, I needed a handy place to put money, keep my change, my receipt book, my cell, and pens, etcetera etcetera.  So I turned to that handy online Encylopaedia of Everything, Google, and started looking for ideas.  Do an image google, and you'll find lots of ideas.  And here is the pattern & instructions I followed, bless Colleen at TheMagicBean.

So, following her instructions, I figured out how big I wanted my apron and its pockets, based on my size (front of waist), how long I wanted it, and what I wanted to put in it.  Then I went rummaging around my scrap fabric, and discovered I had sufficient remnants of the decoration from our community display board (the blue & brown patterned fabric), in addition to a nice striped scrap and a light brown sample of upholstery / drapery fabric scored at a local Fabric sale.  I knew I wanted pockets for bills (one easily accessible and a more hidden/secure one for incoming cash / float), coins (loonies & twonies), my cell phone, pens, and the receipt book.  So, putting that all together, I cut out the pieces below.  (And, not shown, a lining for the back of the apron, the same size as the large striped piece.)

All pieces were double thickness (yes, this became interesting eventually - I ignored her instructions to get a jeans needle into my machine. Jeans needle?  Don't have one).  The striped piece was the back / base (with a plain back lining).  The middle-level pocket would be for stored money (float & incoming larger bills), the front pocket for accessible cash.  The longer rectangular patterned piece with ribbons is sewn up the middle to split it into two, and is for the loonies & twonies.  One wee pocket was for my cell phone, and the other was for business cards or my pocket watch.  Below is my first layout.  Before I realized oh yeah, seam allowances. 

So the front pocket was just going to have two wee pockets on it - the double for twonies & loonies, and the other for my calculator or cell.  I gathered the middle & sides of the double pocket a bit, so it would pouch for lots of coins, and sewed a little snap at the top of each pocket so it would close.

The front pocket itself is also divided into separate sections with seam lines vertically down it, with room for bills for my float, and a section wide enough for my receipt book.  The middle pocket (brown in the photo above) was also divided into a couple of sections, again, for bills, another wide section for miscellaneous, and a narrow section that accommodates two pens.

Here is the apron getting closer to being finished, with the nice long waistband attached (handy for easy tying and for bundling it all up when not in use), and with a key clip for my fancy steampunk keys (or house keys if necessary).  

 And closer up:

Behind the beige portion, where incoming larger bills and the bulk of my float goes (and which also has a snap closure) I sewed in another single-layer pocket which just fits bills, as a secure hiding-place for large bills, to make sure they couldn't accidentally be pulled out when refreshing my active float (which I put in the lower-level, lined pocket.

And here is the final product on the model, with calculator, receipt book, keys, pocket watch and pens.  

I guess my takehome message here is, if, as a steampunk merchant, you want a different and nifty vendor apron for fairs, look around online for inspirations, and make it yourself if you can.  It's not that hard.  And you get to customize for your tastes, and have a bit of fun.

And here are a few photos of the Apron worn at events where I was doing some steampunk vending.

 Thank you KJW Photography for the photo to the left, taken at Trethewey House's Steampunk: A Journey in Time event, in May 2013.

Attempting an Edwardian Summer Hat

Last summer, in my thrifting to find materials for my summer steampunk picnic ensemble, I stumbled across this attractive straw hat in Value Village.  And since all my existing hats were felted warm monstrosities, this looked perfect.

However, the straw brim edge was in rough shape, fraying and starting to fall apart in areas.  If I was going to do anything to this hat, I needed to reinforce that brim edge, or it would only last me a couple of wearings.

So off I trundled to find proper petersham ribbon, which is a tricky thing to find in these modern days of cheap imitation grosgrain.  Real petersham can be worked around a curve when steamed, because of how it is woven.  The fake stuff cannot.

I got my hands on some, beige rather than the cream I'd wanted, but it was all I could find.  I wasn't sure how to get petersham into a curve (I just knew it's what you're supposed to use).  So, I improvised.  Since the hat was so fragile, I couldn't work it into a curve directly onto the hat.  But I did have a large melamine plate.  So, I soaked the petersham briefly in very hot water, and then worked it around the diameter of the plate, folding it as evenly as I could over the two sides of the plate, so I would be able to envelop the edge of the hat in it.  As I went, I clipped it in place with bullclips, and overlapping it some, so I had enough to go all the way around the brim.

 I left it to dry thoroughly for a day.  Then I unclipped it, and voila, curved folded petersham.

And then it was a relatively simple matter of machine sewing it in place as evenly as I could.

I sewed it in a bit from the ribbon edge to secure it, then sewed another seam at the outermost edge of the petersham, so it wouldn't pop up. 

I removed the white cotton ribbon from around the crown (it was a bit stained in places) and voila ... a straw hat all ready to decorate!

So I pulled out all my potential hat-decorating stuff - and I do mean ALL - and started playing!

Here are an assortment of my ideas, as I mixed and matched:  

 I even grabbed a lace bridal hat I'd found in a thrift store, while looking for stuff for this outfit, and threw some stuff on that.  (it was a lot of fun just trying different stuff).

I decided against the lace hat for the time being, and opted for covering my straw hat in the gold gauzy stuff, so that it just dangled over the edge a bit, and pinned in the back with the pearl-circle brooch.  I added the tawny velvet roses, and voila.  An easy hat.  I'm not sure it will remain this way, but it worked for the entirety of Summer 2012.  Below is a photo of it, at the Steampunk Picnic in the Royal City of New Westminster in August 2012 (now the Gears on the Green Annual August Picnic).

Scorching Summertime Steampunk

Well ... more neo-Edwardian costuming than steampunk, but then, summertime heat & humidity is less conducive to lots of brass and sweaty goggles.

Last summer, with two summer steampunk picnics looming, I realized none of my usual clothes were remotely suitable to an outdoor picnic in July & August in Vancouver.  My stuff was more appropriate to air-conditioned hotel conventions, not for lounging on grass in the heat and sunshine.  You try to lounge in a corset - I challenge you!

I decided this was a great opportunity to make some neo-Edwardian picnic gear.  Sans pattern.  Despite my very basic sewing knowledge.

And today's post is to show you what I came up with.  It wasn't optimal (I'm neither young nor lissome, which this outfit would have suited better), but it was cheap, moderately easy, comfortable (although the day I wore it was scorching) and looked okay.  (More on where I went astray later!)

I didn't have a lot of money to spend on the endeavor, so I did some mad cost-effective thrifting.  Below are the finds I came up with.  Today I will deal with the skirt, and I will post about the hat separately.

Above is some eyelet lace found thrifting.  It and the other items in the wee baggie were $2.  Below is a net curtain (with an Ikea label!) and some cheap curtains I found in a thrift store.

When I bought the curtains above, I thought ... hey ... it's a ready made skirt - already with ruffle at the hem!  I just need to get rid of the ugly lace back panels, sew them up the side seams, and gather them!

Now, in reality, what happened was I had to unpick all the seams (ALL THE SEAMS) so I could make maximum use of the limited fabric width.  I also unpicked the top folding hem that would have gone on the rod, so I had room for the gathering, and to make the waistband.  Waste not, want not.  

The ruffle was on the plain side. 

So I added the pre-ruffled eyelet trim I'd bought at a thrift store - turned out there was just enough to do the job!

And, since that was looking a little plain, I added another shorter layer of lace on top.

Ruffles added, I then trimmed the skirt so it would be just above the floor (when waistband was added) and sewed the panels together all the way it up one side seam, then partway up the other side (leaving an opening to get in and out of).  Then I pinned it to my dress model, along with a 1970's neo-Edwardian blouse I'd scored in a vintage shop for $25, to see where I stood.  I only had enough width for a relatively loose, light gather.

 

Since Edwardian skirts tended to have gauzy layers for interest, I decided to add netting as an overlayer, so I cut it to size, short enough that it would show the ruffles at skirt hem.  I added yet more lace to the net hem, and then gathered it at the waist.

I wasn't 100% happy with the look, but I was committed to it at this point.  I started playing with ideas for the top / hip area, and the waistline.
I very much liked the look of the first option, to the left, with the sleek lace panel at the hips.  However, a bit of playing told me that arranging that flat panel of lace sleekly on a curve, so it would drape nicely over my hips when standing, and accommodate me when I sat, was easier said than done.  It looked great on the dummy, I couldn't figure out how to do it properly on me, with my limited sewing skills.  So irksome.  

So I opted for the right-hand version, though opting for a waistband rather than a sash.  It was easy to sew on top of all the gathered layers, and easy to close with sturdy hooks and eyes.  

And here is the final product, worn with another cotton blouse (courtesy Value Village), and the hat that will follow in a later post, at the First Annual Brass in the Grass picnic, in July 2012.  In future, I will not likely use this belt, but may design a sash for it.  I also may tear it down and remove the netting (which got a bit sapped in the tree-climbing).  

Picnic photo courtesy of Sam Quo Vadis: http://www.studiostar.ca 

(my cropping on the second photo)