Our Steampunk Accessories

This will be the last Steampunk post until we start working on clothes and jewelry again.  In fact there should only be a few more sewing/stitching projects and posts until I can start back to some minis again.  I'm going through withdrawal. ;-)

FH was in charge of the accessories, for the most part.  He did have time to get a few things put together in between work and sleep.  Here's what he wore.  Spartan, I know but he's not one for a lot of ornamentation.  The flower was a gift from the bridal couple.  The watch we found at Hobby Lobby, near the checkout lanes. His lapel pin was made from some jewelry findings.

Here's his workspace with things in progress.

Some of what he made for me is in the background of the workstation picture.  Here's the clip on brooch that used to be a ring with a beaded (elastic) band.

Next up is the macrame bracelet with brass hex nuts.

We found this watch (without chain) in the jewelry aisle at Hobby Lobby.  He added the chain and a clip on the end.  I love the owl on the lid.

Lastly FH made me a chatelaine.  He started with some modern pieces and added the same bronzer used for the goggles.  (Note the tape measure was abandoned for this part of the project.  He will revisit it when he has some time.)

With a more chain, some gears, a bit of leather, and a gorgeous clasp:

Sadly the knit picker tool fell out of it's case during pictures after the ceremony.  Happily I can replace it for less than $2.00 and some more bronze-effect paint.  FH added my trusty loop from my days in the world of geology and my thread cutter pendent to the chains.  Also pictured are the needle case I whipped up to tuck in my bustier and the thimble I had on my hat.  Everything a Steampunk seamstress would need!  Some of it was needed during pictures too.  This was the nicest way to carry my sewing kit to a wedding.  Next time I'll be working crochet hooks into the hat somehow.

Ta Da!

Here's us (censored of course) in our costumes after the wedding.

Not bad given the amount of slow downs I encountered and all the other things needing done at the same time. :-)

I will be finishing my hat, his frock coat (which never got started), and my coat (after I'm done loosing more weight) before the next Steampunk event we attend.  This won't be the last, I'm certain of it.

I'll try and get some pictures of the jewelry and whatnot for next time.  It's still packed in a box from the trip.

Hats and Goggles!

What Steampunk event is complete without hats and goggles?

FH found some older style welding goggles at a local welding supply place.  Note the he found them and I fetched them. Then we bronzed them with some nifty paint we found at Michael's.

Sadly with his job being what it is, he didn't have time to make buckled leather straps for them.  But that's on his to-do list now.

FH ordered himself a handsome bowler hat to rest his goggles on.

My hat didn't get finished.  Again FH's real job ate up time and he didn't get very far with making leather and metal flowers to decorate it with.  This is his practice rose which I do think looks very nice.  He hadn't had a chance to put the center petals in place.

Instead one of our friends had an extra prop hat from a costume shop and a feather band to spare.

I added my goggles, a couple of flowers, and a scarf I had in my dresser.  I worked very well, but I think I'll be finishing my hat for the next time we're dressing up.  Especially if it's a lovely sunny day again.  I was really missing the brim on the unfinished hat.

Brocade Bustier

This project was a bit of a thorn in my side.

Resizing and reshaping the pattern pieces to fit me wasn't the issue.  It was time consuming sure, but not irritating.

And deciding the finished product didn't need non-working buttons down the front to be gorgeous was a good thing.

No the irritating part came when I was done and the finished product fit the dress from perfectly and then fell off me.  I lost too much weight between making the dress form and sewing this garment.
We did make it work though.  My old strapless from our wedding was brought into service and since I didn't have time to make my coat I wore a white blouse under the bustier.

Saga of the Linen Shirt

Not really a saga per se but it sure felt like one. 

I started out doing a muslin just to make sure there was enough ease for FH to wear a smaller size.  When I looked at the initial measurements on the pattern envelope I was suspicious.  Turns out I was right.  He could get by with a smaller size.

At this point I veered away from the shirt to do a quick muslin for the waistcoat, which was a good idea.  I needed to make the largest size of the waistcoat to go over the billowing shirt.

I think the shirt looks really good in linen.

FH picked the darker buttons.  I like them too.  Due to time constraints I did veer away from my usual love of hand-sewing hems.  Only the collar and cuffs were finished by hand.  The hem was done by machine.  At least it gets tucked in.

Small Stitching

Two small stitching projects were completed in time for the wedding this past weekend.  Nothing too fancy, but they were quick and fun.

This one was for the bride.  I used blue in case she wanted to wear it for the wedding ceremony.  I switched out the gold finding piece for a brass ring after the picture was taken.  Then I slipped it on a piece of blue ribbon, similar to the one pictured second.

And this one was for me.  Of course it had to be done in purples.

I'll be blogging more about the wedding, clothes, and other accessories this week.  Right now I'm going to go find a nap.

Two Sets of Baby Gifts

The first two of the six babies arrived at the end of September.  I managed to do the finishing touches on their ponies and other gifts just in time.  I'll be back to making baby gifts after we get back from the wedding.  It will be a nice change of pace.

Baby Evelyn joined big sister Anna.  I crocheted her a set of sandals in addition to the sewn gifts because her sister has a crochet pair of sandals and I wanted them both to have an heirloom when they were older.

 Here is the purple pony with it's face embroidered on.

 Baby "Charlie" came early.  Her daddy grew up down the street from me and used to maintain my parents' lawn.  I figured she is going to grow up as a bit of a tomboy, so I chose the green pony for her.  I didn't have a green floss that would work with the fleece, so I used a pale yellow for the face.

When I made the booties I picked these fabric for her in mind.  Just a touch of pink with green.

Hopefully we'll have an uneventful trip back home today.  Last weekend was crazy enough to last us for a while. ;-)

Second of Three Wedding Samplers

Here is the cross stitched sampler I made for the wedding last weekend.  This is the same design I used for my niece's wedding in September.

Their wedding colors were dark aqua and purple, so I chose the colors for the birds to match.  The purple was the most difficult because I had to guess.  The shade was dependent on the colors of the flowers, so I chose the best floss color to go with the aqua.  The brown was chosen last as a compliment to both birds and the whole piece is stitched on 14-ct. cream Aida.

I can't wait to show you the final wedding sampler.  It's a completely different design. ;-)

Clothes for the Modern Wedding

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous!  I hope this coming Saturday is as lovely.  The wedding was in a gorgeous park and FH took the opportunity to take photos of my new dress with a fantastic backdrop.

 Here's just the dress.  I used Simplicity 4664, view A.  The pattern was designed by Khaliah Ali who is my absolute favorite plus-size designer.  Her designs are feminine, graceful, modest, and elegant. The dress is done in 5 oz bleached linen.  The fabric worked so well with the design and you can see the wind picking up the hemline in the breeze.

Here is the green jacket with the dress.  I think they are a perfect combination.  I couldn't have planned the pair better. 

And because the park was so beautiful and filled with awesome landscaping that made my miniaturist's mind flood with ideas, here are some pictures that will hopefully inspire some of you.

See you next time!

Old Favorites

A continuation of older projects from this post.  These are some of the older clothes I've made that we still wear often.  There are other pieces but I doubt FH wants his boxer shorts on the internet. ;-)

Cream colored gauze, trimmed with pale blue lace.  This was McCall's 5281, made to wear to a wedding in May of 2007.  I love, love, love this shirt and wear it at least a dozen times a year.  I goes with blue jeans just as well as it does with the skirt that's next.

My blue skirt that goes with the gauze blouse.  This was Butterick 4445 (view E) and is the same fabric I used to make the blue dress and purse back in 2007.  The dress was worn to the rehearsal dinner and the purse I used both days.  Love the look of the flounce at the bottom.  I have a wearable mock-up of this skirt only partially sewn in the sewing room.  You should see it appearing before too long.

 

Hats for FH.  These are Simplicity 5581 (men's hat) and were made while we were still in college (circa 2003-'04). 

 This shirt is also Simplicity 5581 (shirt, view A) and was the first time I'd ever made a man's shirt.  As you can see it matches on of the hats.

 This poor skirt's details have been lost, or at least semi-permanently misplaced.  I don't know what pattern I used.  There's a small chance that I didn't use one at all.  There are just two pieces of fabric sewn at side seams.  I remember the fabric was about 54" wide and is a heavier weight similar to home decor fabric, which means I could have just cut two pieces to length (plus hem allowance and elastic casing) and sewn it up.  I did leave a 6" slit on the right side to make walking easier.  You can bet I'll keep looking to see if I used a pattern or not. 

Until next time!