Hooray!! ('bout Bloody Time!!)
Finally finished (mostly) Alvena's Steampunk dress!!!
This is a ridiculously huge accomplishment despite me cranking it out in three days once I got down to it (could have done it in two but I dragged my ass a bit. Also I fell asleep one afternoon), because I started the project when she was about six months old, or less.
And she'll be three in just over a month.
Maaaaaan...
But it's not my fault! I swear!! Okay, it is, but I had Reasons. You know that person who is a perfectly capable, intelligent person who becomes a gibbering idiot when faced with a computer? Like, just staring at an error message makes them unable to read plain English? That's me with patterns.
Oh, not all patterns. I whip my own out at the drop of a hat and do very well with them. I even seem to be okay with other people's patterns. But print it on tissue paper and I'm screwed. Something about figuring out the sizes, when my hips are one size and my tits are another, and then which of these stupid little lines do I cut on, oh look I looked sideways at the bloody thing and it tore-- seriously, why do they use such crap paper? I use postal packaging paper that I get at the dollar store for like a buck or two a roll, and I can draw all over it, pin anywhere, readjust pins, roll it up and stuff it in a drawer and oh look it's still perfectly usable!! Tissue paper, though... I end up a completely intimidated mess.
And I wanted a proper corset for the outfit (because the "Victorian" one I had was one of those plastic-boned fashion pieces of useless crap), and I couldn't afford the ones I saw online that I liked (in fact, the only decent pre-made, steel-boned corsets I could find were in Vancouver-- but at $250 were far too much for me to spend on one costume piece, especially cinsidering that I was never going to be able to wear it. Ever. :( Yay small towns with no other Steampunks. *Pout*) so I bought a pattern from Laughing Moon Mercantile for $15. Because I can totally sew! I've even made corsets before! So this should be easy, right? Yes-- except stupid tissue paper pattern. I only just got up the nerve to sew the pin tucks as indicated earlier this week-- despite having sewn pin tucks before and having cut the damned pattern out over a year ago. *Facepalm*
So I couldn't make the rest until I'd made the corset, and I couldn't make the corset. Just couldn't face it. Started with the pantaloons as the simplest item there and I haven't even finished those yet. In fact, all I've done is cut them out and sew the pin tucks. ><
And I didn't want to start in on Alvena's until mine was done, because being so young she would grow out of it so fast, and I was afraid she'd grow out of it before I'd finished mine (in my own way, I am wise lol) and I want to get group photos! And then I found a corset online that was EXCELLENT and CHEAP and so I have finished mine, and was ready to start in on hers (once I took a slight break from all the sewing; seriously, all the hand-sewing I decided to spontaneously throw around the edges of my shirt almost made me blind), except-- the design as I had planned it, for a toddler not quite walking on her own yet, didn't work anymore. ><
Oh, I knew some stuff could just be scaled up-- the bodice is unchanged, for example (although I will do a different collar once I put a proper one on [right now it's just a finished edge]), and the sleeves are mostly unchanged, if slightly less poufy about the upper arms, but the skirt. Damn.
I knew I wanted a split down the front to make it easier for her to get around (and also to do the 5-point child seat harness up), but I just wasn't satisfied with the idea of just making the skirt proportionally longer. It needed something else. But what?
And then I saw the League of S.T.E.A.M.'s latest video ("Curses!") and if you look closely at her skirt (especially as they're leaving at the end) you can see these wonderful pleats she's got on either side of the back, terminating at the top with a button. Perfect!!
So I did that. I had to add another pleat in there to make the side seams of the skirt line up with the side seams of the bodice because I screwed up my math somewhere, but it still looks awesome. Yay!!
So I pulled out our brand new (refurbished) camera and took some shots. Oh, look! It takes crappy pics in low light. Yaaaaay.
Never mind. Took a bunch anyways (mostly trying to get ome when Alvena wasn't actually rocking and blurring everything out), which you can see here, and we're heading up to Dad's for Spring Break tomorrow (gone for two weeks, so if you don't hear from me that's why), so I've packed everything up and will take some pics up there at Dad's house, which is a far more suitable location anyways.
The front of her bodice does look really bare and empty, but I will be adding some chain detail there. Just don't have any to hand and didn't have time to grab more. I'll probably do it up there.
Here, have a crappy pic of it!
Here she is several months ago, when I made the bustle:
--Was going to share more but she wants a story. Laterz! More pics to follow! This entry was originally posted at http://kryss-labryn.dreamwidth.org/66810.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
This is a ridiculously huge accomplishment despite me cranking it out in three days once I got down to it (could have done it in two but I dragged my ass a bit. Also I fell asleep one afternoon), because I started the project when she was about six months old, or less.
And she'll be three in just over a month.
Maaaaaan...
But it's not my fault! I swear!! Okay, it is, but I had Reasons. You know that person who is a perfectly capable, intelligent person who becomes a gibbering idiot when faced with a computer? Like, just staring at an error message makes them unable to read plain English? That's me with patterns.
Oh, not all patterns. I whip my own out at the drop of a hat and do very well with them. I even seem to be okay with other people's patterns. But print it on tissue paper and I'm screwed. Something about figuring out the sizes, when my hips are one size and my tits are another, and then which of these stupid little lines do I cut on, oh look I looked sideways at the bloody thing and it tore-- seriously, why do they use such crap paper? I use postal packaging paper that I get at the dollar store for like a buck or two a roll, and I can draw all over it, pin anywhere, readjust pins, roll it up and stuff it in a drawer and oh look it's still perfectly usable!! Tissue paper, though... I end up a completely intimidated mess.
And I wanted a proper corset for the outfit (because the "Victorian" one I had was one of those plastic-boned fashion pieces of useless crap), and I couldn't afford the ones I saw online that I liked (in fact, the only decent pre-made, steel-boned corsets I could find were in Vancouver-- but at $250 were far too much for me to spend on one costume piece, especially cinsidering that I was never going to be able to wear it. Ever. :( Yay small towns with no other Steampunks. *Pout*) so I bought a pattern from Laughing Moon Mercantile for $15. Because I can totally sew! I've even made corsets before! So this should be easy, right? Yes-- except stupid tissue paper pattern. I only just got up the nerve to sew the pin tucks as indicated earlier this week-- despite having sewn pin tucks before and having cut the damned pattern out over a year ago. *Facepalm*
So I couldn't make the rest until I'd made the corset, and I couldn't make the corset. Just couldn't face it. Started with the pantaloons as the simplest item there and I haven't even finished those yet. In fact, all I've done is cut them out and sew the pin tucks. ><
And I didn't want to start in on Alvena's until mine was done, because being so young she would grow out of it so fast, and I was afraid she'd grow out of it before I'd finished mine (in my own way, I am wise lol) and I want to get group photos! And then I found a corset online that was EXCELLENT and CHEAP and so I have finished mine, and was ready to start in on hers (once I took a slight break from all the sewing; seriously, all the hand-sewing I decided to spontaneously throw around the edges of my shirt almost made me blind), except-- the design as I had planned it, for a toddler not quite walking on her own yet, didn't work anymore. ><
Oh, I knew some stuff could just be scaled up-- the bodice is unchanged, for example (although I will do a different collar once I put a proper one on [right now it's just a finished edge]), and the sleeves are mostly unchanged, if slightly less poufy about the upper arms, but the skirt. Damn.
I knew I wanted a split down the front to make it easier for her to get around (and also to do the 5-point child seat harness up), but I just wasn't satisfied with the idea of just making the skirt proportionally longer. It needed something else. But what?
And then I saw the League of S.T.E.A.M.'s latest video ("Curses!") and if you look closely at her skirt (especially as they're leaving at the end) you can see these wonderful pleats she's got on either side of the back, terminating at the top with a button. Perfect!!
So I did that. I had to add another pleat in there to make the side seams of the skirt line up with the side seams of the bodice because I screwed up my math somewhere, but it still looks awesome. Yay!!
So I pulled out our brand new (refurbished) camera and took some shots. Oh, look! It takes crappy pics in low light. Yaaaaay.
Never mind. Took a bunch anyways (mostly trying to get ome when Alvena wasn't actually rocking and blurring everything out), which you can see here, and we're heading up to Dad's for Spring Break tomorrow (gone for two weeks, so if you don't hear from me that's why), so I've packed everything up and will take some pics up there at Dad's house, which is a far more suitable location anyways.
The front of her bodice does look really bare and empty, but I will be adding some chain detail there. Just don't have any to hand and didn't have time to grab more. I'll probably do it up there.
Here, have a crappy pic of it!
Here she is several months ago, when I made the bustle:
--Was going to share more but she wants a story. Laterz! More pics to follow! This entry was originally posted at http://kryss-labryn.dreamwidth.org/66810.html. Please comment there using OpenID.