Steampunked Christmas Gifts
Last summer (or maybe the summer before last) my friend Anne gave Amber this brocade suit, which her mother had made sometime back in the fifties or sixties. The lady was a home ec. teacher; the workmanship on these is impressive. Reminds me of my own mother and some of the clothes she made for herself back in the day.
Gotta love that pumpkin orange satin lining! The skirt is fully lined, too. Anne's mother was also seriously tiny! Spike, who wears a dress size 0, could not quite fit into the skirt. (For the record, Amber wears a dress size 2. Poor baby!) I am planning to eventually make a reticule out of the fabric and give it to Anne's daughter. A little memento of her grandmother's awesome cocktail suit. ;)
Meanwhile, I cut the jacket down a bit to make a bolero; it just seemed appropriate to me, with the top hat and all. I added gussets so Amber could actually move her arms while wearing it. It was a tedious job, as I'd much rather make something entirely new than pick out seams, but it was worth it in the end. I will add a black frog closure at the neckline... Once I find the frog that I know I have somewhere among all my sewing odds and ends! Started this project before Christmas, but didn't finish it until this afternoon.
I made the top hat before Christmas, working in secret when Amber was asleep or out of the house. Finished it up at two o'clock one morning last week! It came as a complete surprise when she opened it this morning, and she declared it 'all kinds of awesome!' Woot!
The base is a felt top hat from Party City, covered in 'vintage satin', aka 'a really old, faded remnant from the bottom of my scrap box'. I am not entirely happy with the upholstery job, but for a first try, it will do. The brim is covered in satin ribbons. It's meant to be crinkly and gathered like that. I'm actually pretty darned pleased with how that part turned out.
The clock keeps time; there's a little battery powered clockwork inside. For this to work you need a tall hat and a low forehead. ;) Bob had to help me with the clock, since I test the outer bounds of the term 'foolproof'. The clock face is a picture I scrounged off the internet and printed out on parchment paper that I'd sprayed lightly with gold spray paint. If I had it to do over again, I'd mount the clock face in some sort of frame first instead of just sticking it to the front of the hat.
And if I had it to do over again, I'd get someone else to trim the damn hat! Photo doesn't really show it, but there is a length of tulle and some black and gold organdy ribbons, all of which were a pain in the ass to arrange. My millinery skills are not up to par. If I'd lived in the Victorian era and had had to make a living trimming hats...
I'd have turned to prostitution.