Steampunk Halloween Costume Completed!

I'm back at home now after a whirlwind trip to London, and fighting off a nasty head cold. My time got really crammed trying to finish my costume and all of the other preparations for the trip, so I have a lot of catching up to do here.

To complete the petticoat, I had to gather 9 1/2 yards of fabric, and then stitch that to a little more than 4 yards. Then that 4 yards had to be gathered and attached to the round yoke, which was probably the most difficult part of the entire project.  I was really intimidated by the gathering, but it was quite easy.  My only real issue was when I didn't stop my two rows of gathering stitches at the same spot.  That made gathering consistently quite difficult.

The hemming of the overskirt was also easier than I expected.  It took a long time, but I was pleased with the result.  I basted the entire skirt at the hemline that my husband was nice enough to pin for me.  I then stitched a longish stay-stitch about a quarter inch from the edge of the fabric.  I then pined up the bottom edge, pulling up the bobbin thread as I went to pull in the extra fabric (thanks to Vogue Sewing yet again!).  I then pressed that up into another fold and stitched.  Somewhere in there I removed the basting thread.

I then stitched the lace trim onto the face of the overskirt with two rows of stitches, and attempted to put the whole thing together.

This is where I really did myself in.  I was attempting to insert the zipper so that the netting layer would be treated like a lining.  I wanted the fabric to be finished to the zipper on the inside and out.  I basted, stitched, and stitched again all of the stitches to insert the zipper and put the two layers together, except one.  When the time came to turn the fabric right-side out, the two skirts sat next to each other not one over the top.  So, I tore out all of the stitches and started over with the zipper just hanging out inside the skirts.

Then, on the top of all of the layers, with the fabric right-side out, I stitched a top stitch to hold the zipper in place.  All went well until I got to the very top of the zipper, where the head was, as my sewing machine needle got pushed aside.

It wasn't the most polished zipper insertion known to man, but no one would see it anyway, and the petticoat was complete!  Straight-away I tried it on with the bits of the costume that I had ready.

You can see a little bit of the ribbon-trimmed net layer peeking out.  I realized part-way through the under skirt layer that I had an extra 5/8" on that layer because the pattern expected a 5/8" hem, which I did not do.  I attempted to compensate, but only compensated by adding an extra 1/4" to the seam allowance between the two net layers for a total of 4/8" reduction.  I didn't imagine that my sewing would be anywhere precise enough for 1/8" to matter, but I don't think you'd be seeing that hint of ribbon at the bottom if I had pulled out that extra 1/8" somewhere.

The completed costume (along with my equally steampunk-y date):

Allow me to share some of the details on the rest of the costume.  The corset is Fredrick's of Hollywood's Hollywood Dream Corset, appearing in Halloween costumes everywhere and which I happened to have lying around.  I added a braided trim to the seam/boning lines with hot glue to punk it up a bit.  The choker and wristlets I made with some ornate trim and gathered lace leftover from the petticoat trim.  I also attached a brassy button to disguise the closure of one snap.

The hat I purchased on e-bay from a woman in the UK who makes them, and had it shipped directly to my brother-in-law.

The jewelry I purchased on etsy.  Vintage copper flowers turned into earrings and a vintage vacuum tube with copper necklace.

The shoes were an indulgence, costing as much as the rest of the pieces put together, but I couldn't pass up their steamy awesomeness.  They have a spats-esque style, with ruffle details and gorgeous suede.  I might actually wear them with normal clothes.

And I have to show off the back of the corset, because I love it so much.

It was a lot of work to put it all together, but I was extremely pleased with the end result.  The only thing I would have changed would be to add more details.  But I think it came across steamy enough.  Our costumes were a big hit at the party, especially my husband's.