Tag: 2172

Waltz on the Wye 2012 – Friday

Friday

We arrived in Chepstow at lunchtime on Friday. After we’d settled into the hotel and had something to eat, we got changed and went off to explore. I checked out Chepstow Castle with my sonic screwdriver. As you do.

Friday

I only saw five of these coats over the weekend, including my own! This was a bit of a surprise, because I’d expected to see lots of people wearing outfits made from Simplicity’s steampunk patterns. Too obvious, perhaps? The coat is Simplicity 2172, and the skirt is Simplicity 2207. I learned the hard way that it’s not a good idea to walk around on wet grass, in the rain, in a floor length velvet skirt. By the end of the night it had soaked up what felt like all the water in Chepstow, and my shoes and socks were soaked through as well. The skirt still wasn’t properly dry when I brought it home three days later, but thankfully it seems to have survived a trip through the washing machine and tumble dryer relatively unscathed!

Friday

I also learned the hard way that when you accidentally drop your beautiful new sonic screwdriver onto the pavement, bits can break off. Oops…

My absolute highlight of Friday evening (and indeed of the entire weekend) was Morgan & West’s magic show. A pair of Time Travelling Magicians who’ve fooled Penn & Teller, they were extremely clever and absolutely hilarious!  At the beginning of they show they explained that there would be a lot of audience participation (argh!), but promised that they wouldn’t embarrass or humiliate anyone. They were true to their word, and the show was funny, exciting, and extremely clever without ever resorting to being shocking, sweary or gory. (The only thing I didn’t like was the needle-and-thread-swallowing, but that’s just my own personal squeamishness.) I loved the part with the apple and the shoe, and the trick which looked as though we were being shown how it was done but we actually weren’t. I’m not sure how descriptive I can be about a magic show without venturing into the territory of terrible spoilers, so you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that they were absolutely brilliant!

After the magic show we headed out into the rain to grab something to eat from the Strumpets with Crumpets (goat’s cheese and blackcurrant jam, yum!) and to watch the end of Boxcar Aldous Huxley‘s set in the bandstand. Any band with a french horn player usually gets my vote, but add a harmonium, saw, banjo and euphonium, and you’ve got a very interesting sound indeed!

We went back to the Drill Hall for the headlining band, Rogora Khart. A sort of bonkers Welsh Russian circus punk folk band, with clown make-up and a bellydancer. It took me a little while to get the hang of them, I must admit, but by the end of the evening I was really enjoying the music. Although Paul says I’m not allowed to learn to play the Bombarde. Meany.

Steampunk Silk

Steampunk Silk

This is a costume that I made for a friend, way back last October for a Hallowe’en event. She already had a corset and a mask, so they dictated the copper, gold and brown accent colours.

The ivory silk had a previous incarnation as her wedding dress. The slightly distressed texture is a result of putting it through the washing machine, but it left the fabric amazingly soft and a joy to work with. There was enough to make a jacket and a bustled skirt, with some left over for accessories.

Steampunk Silk

The jacket is a modification of two Simplicity steampunk patterns – 2172 and 2207. The back and sleeves were taken from 2207, with the front from 2172. I added lacing into the princess seams at the back, and beading to the cuffs. The buttons were from the original dress, as were the Swarovski crystal beads.

Steampunk Silk

The bustle and swags are in sections, all interchangeable so they can be worn in lots of different ways. They simply tie at the waist with ribbons. The skirt itself is bustled at the back, using ribbons sewn through channels in the centre back seam. This can be let down into a train. There’s a little bit of ruching at the front too, conveniently placed to disguise a stain that wouldn’t come out! (Shhh, don’t tell…)

I also made a petticoat to go underneath, to give  the skirt a little bit of extra fullness. I don’t know why I didn’t take a photograph of that, but you can just see the ruffle peeking out, here. There are better photos of the outfit being worn to stunning effect, but I need to get permission before I post them here. Thankfully it was well received, and looked absolutely fabulous!

As always, I wish I’d had a bit more time to make this. The bustle and swags were a bit rushed, and I would have liked to add much more beading to the cuffs. But I absolutely loved making it. It was a real treat to work with such sumptuous silk duchess satin, and to swap creative ideas with a friend. In fact, it’s inspired me to modify my own wedding dress for an event I’m attending in May.  You’ll have to wait and see how it turns out!

Simplicity 2172

Simplicity 2172

I know you’ve seen this one before, but I just wanted to show you Simplicity 2172 in its completed state.

After the Wild Boy’s Ball I removed the feather collar, and added the sleeves. I decided to leave off the shoulder flanges and the ruffly bits because they’re not to my taste and I wanted to keep the style very simple.

I’m hoping it will be a nice versatile evening coat. For all the glamorous events I get invited to in my imagination, obviously. It’s probably a bit over the top for wearing to choir practice.

Steampunk Coat

Almost finished...

Here’s the final part of the outfit – a somewhat modified version of Simplicity 2172. Actually, it’s not as heavily altered as you might think – I just left off a few pieces that were surplus to requirements. Like the sleeves.

The buttons are the original ones from my friend’s military jacket. There are four on the front (complete with more hand-sewn buttonholes), two on each pocket, and an extra one at the centre back.

Almost finished...

As you can see, I decided to bustle the back of the coat, so I made thread loops in the seams which simply pop over the buttons on the pockets and at the back. The coat was exactly the same length as the skirt, and the red lacing looked a bit out of place without being able to see the red of the skirt to tie it in, so to speak.

The feather collar is actually a cape that I bought from Next, last winter. Sewing it into place around the neckline of the coat forces the feathers upwards into a more wing-like shape, rather than the cape simply sitting flat around the neck.

In case you’re wondering where on earth I’m going in this outfit, it’s for the Wild Boy’s Ball at Kensington Palace. All I need to do now is add some more feathers to my mask, and carefully choose the rest of my accessories. I’ll make sure to show you photos of the entire outfit when it’s finished!