Carrieliney

Hey, everyone.  I realize I haven't posted much. I'm not dead, just busy with other things; my involvement with the circus has taken up a lot of the time I used to spend sewing. I am still trying to make stuff from time to time, but as you can see it's slow going. I am working on a new tatting project, and I'm almost done another 50's style dress, so hopefully I'll get photos of those up soon.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and favourites. I'll try to remember to check in more often so I can reply to questions and comments in a timely manner.

Here it is so far fav.me/d3fvx7d

I actually really, really like it. It's not steampunk at all, but I think it looks good on me despite numerous mistakes and shortcuts. I am thinking about finishing the back closure and just keeping it as a sorta formal dress for everyday sorts of events. I honestly think messing with it will not improve it, but I'm not sure. I was looking forward to having a new steampunk gown.

So, peanut gallery, any thoughts?

Yeah, yeah, it's been a while. I know I haven't made much lately, but I'm working on something new. I've decided to do a bit of... remodeling on an old costume. I was a "medieval" gown, a green satin princess seamed monstrosity. I can't find a pic, which is kinda sad because it would be cool to do a before and after thing. I found a pic! It's not very good, and it's from the back, but it gives a general idea: fav.me/d3eii2i

Anyway, I'm turning it into a steampunk bustle dress. I'm not sure how long I'll make it just yet, it'll mostly depend on whether I have enough fabric without cutting down the skirt too much. So keep your eyes peeled! Hopefully I'll get that done in the next month or so.

Hello, my darling watchers! I am still alive and kicking, and I could use your help!

I'm entered in Bustledress.com's most beautiful bustle dress in the world contest, and I need votes! I've entered my steampunk bustle dress carrieliney.deviantart.com/art…, and the entries I'm competing against are herewww.bustledress.com/cgi-bin/z.… and here www.bustledress.com/cgi-bin/z.… Email your vote to lisa@bustledress.com You can vote once a day until August 7th!

I haven't been making much lately, but I am planning a couple new projects that need to be done by January 9th for a steampunk ice skating event. I need outerwear for this, hence the dithering:

I've been planning to make a jacket/coat/cape to go with my mourning gown, but I wasn't sure what I wanted. Originally I thought I'd make something fitted, with a bit of a puffed sleeve and a peplum (a paletot? Is that the right word?). But I don't have a pattern and didn't have the time or money to buy one and wait for it to ship, and I'm reluctant to try to make my own from scratch. So then I thought I'd make a circle cape. Then I found this digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldi… pattern, but got really frustrated when I tried to scale it up. The image provided isn't to scale, so I had to guess for most of the angles and stuff. Plus it has some odd design features, so I didn't know how it would turn out and I didn't want to risk making something I would be unhappy with. So I finally decided to make the circle cape, with a tier at about elbow length. I'm making it out of this odd brown wool/knit type stuff I found in my mom's old stash, and I have a bunch of black fringe and bead fringe that I originally bought for my steampunk outfit. I need some really rad buttons too, and I don't think I have any that would be appropriate.

I'm a little annoyed because I spent $50 on quilted lining and fake fur that I thought I would use for my outerwear, but now I'm not. Boo. Oh well, I suppose I'll use it for something eventually. I may even use the fur to make a muff. We'll see.

I'm also making a bonnet. When I first decided to do it I thought "It's small! It's probably easy; I'll be able to do it in an afternoon" oh, how woefully wrong I was. I'm glad I decided to get a pattern (McCall 5129) because I'm pretty sure winging it would not have worked out well. But there are a lot of pieces, a lot of layers, and it looks quite complicated. Like, corset complicated. I'm looking forward to the challenge, and I really hope I make something that looks the way I want. I'm thinking about making a mock-up first, but I don't think I have enough interfacing for it. I also don't have the time to order buckram and my mom suggested using plastic screen stuff, like what's on screen doors. Well, I went to the hardware store and the plastic was really wimpy so I ended up getting aluminum instead, but now I'm worried it'll poke through the fabric, and I don't know how it'll behave. But after doing a bit of googling I found that drapery stores sometimes have buckram, so I'll do some calling around tomorrow. I also have to go through my stash and decide on colours.

I think I have enough fabric leftover from my gown to make a bonnet, but I was also thinking it might be better to make it in black. Black is appropriate for mourning, will match the dress just fine and it'll also go better with the cape. The cape doesn't clash with the mourning gown, but it's not exactly a perfect match, either. The trim is going to be black either way (I have some tatted lace I can use, and a lot of black ribbon. I was also going to try to track down an ostrich feather, but I'm not sure if that would be appropriate on a mourning bonnet). I also don't know about lining. I have a few bits and pieces leftover from various things, so it'll probably come down to whatever I have enough of (it'll probably be blue or purple/violet).

My mom suggested that if I can figure out how to make bonnets I might have some luck selling them. After a quick look on etsy and google I only found a handful of people who sold them, and very few that were actually really nice. So maybe I'll give that a shot, we'll see.

So, what's your opinion? Purple or black? Are there actually a lot of people who sell quality bonnets that I just didn't find? Also, buckram vs. wire mesh?