Genre Mash-Up: Steampunk Sailor Mars - Pt 5

As mentioned in Part 3, the finished skirt was a little limp and lifeless... and anime skirts are almost always full bodied and full of movement. This skirt requires a petticoat.

After looking at many petticoat tutorials, I became frustrated with the amount of math required.... I hate math! So, I decided to wing it. Again.

I measured the total length of the finished red pleated skirt. I cut a piece of lining that is the same length. I used the full width of the material, and will gather the waist and finish with a drawstring. This will allow me to adjust the waist to fit whatever corset I might be wearing with it. I stitched up one side and hemmed the skirt, so what I am left with is a hemmed tube.

I cut two pieces the full width, and half as long. (My lining is about 30" long, so this layer is about 15" long). I stitched the sides of these two pieces together so I have a tube that is now half as long and twice as wide as the lining. Hem this also, because it is much easier to hem before all the tulle is added. Next, I cut a piece of tulle that is the same size as this layer. This, I stitched flat to the top edge. Because this will be gathered, I didn't bother gathering the tulle before sewing it to this layer.

Next, cut strips of tulle. I cut them to 12", the full width of the material. I now have a nice stack of 12" x max width of tulle. I took each piece to the sewing machine, and with my longest stitch available, ran a straight stitch up the centre of all the pieces. So, if you look at the strip, there is a long stitch line the entire length of it, dividing my 12" strip into two 6" sections.

Once all the pieces of tulle have their line down the middle, I pulled one of the threads to gather the pieces. I now have a pile of slightly gathered tulle strips.

Laying my lining flat, I pinned the gathered pieces of tulle along their stitch line. The plan is to have the edge of the tulle hanging over the edge of the lining by about 1-2". This will hide the lining and allow for the ruffled edges of tulle to stick out slightly from under the skirt.

I repeat for the shorter layer. Once the gathered pieces of tulle are pinned securely to the lining pieces, I stitched them down over the long gathered stitch I had earlier. This will leave you with a ruffle sticking out up and down. Fold down the top half so it hangs down over the edge of the lining with it's bottom ruffle, and there you go! Two layers of gathered tulle, and you only had to do it all once! I hate working with tulle, and this just saved me the trouble of having to go through the gathering and stitching once! Yay!

Once all the tulle is stitched to the lining pieces, it is time to put it all together. I ran another long stitch along the top of the short piece, where the single layer of tulle is, and pulled the thread to gather, like I did will all that tulle. Once I had it gathered to fit around the inner lining, I stitched it in place. Once the waist band is pulled tight, the layers of gathered lining and tulle puff out nicely!

This is what it looked like putting all the layers together! Quite the mess!

It gives the overskirts the much needed volume! It was a huge relief, because with the convention only two sleep away, I was starting to enter panic mode!

Much better with added volume!

Genre Mash-Up: Steampunk Sailor Mars - Pt 4

Props. These can be big, small, simple, elaborate... They can be incredibly descriptive for the character, like a trademark sword, or can be a fun little detail.

I had decided that Sailor Mars needed a prop. A few ideas came to mind... I would love to have made all of them, but time will only allow for so many.

I wanted to make a fiery crossbow, rather than the full scale flaming bow and arrow. Non-functional, of course... most conventions stipulate that all prop weapons must be made of safe materials, and cannot be functional. This crossbow would be made from various pieces of wood, and would be permanently in the drawn position and glued into place, never to fire its arrow. I didn't have time for a crossbow. Sorry if this is a disappointment... it was for me too, and perhaps one day, I will make it. There are just so many logistical issues with it, and I don't even know where to start.

I figured I would go for something simple... something easy to make Marsy and Steampunky. How about the  Transformation wand? With several variations of that throughout the series, it shouldn't be too difficult to make one that at least resembles on of them. My personal favourite was the star version. I just think the star that repeats on Sailor Mars' outfit is great, and having several stars on it already, this seemed like a natural choice.

I trolled the aisles of my local craft and sewing stores for the pieces I would use. With Christmas coming up, I was able to find a felt star that had a nice filigree pattern cut into it. Glue this to a stable layer (a wooden star, in this case), paint it gold, and I have a nice Victorian version of the topper on the star wand.

I found a nice wooden something or other in the woodworking section of Michaels Crafts. I squashed a piece of Fimo (polymer clay that hardens when baked) to fit between the star and the handle.

I painted them as separate pieces, and glued them together when they were dry. I didn't like they way the red and gold Fimo piece stood out, so I painted that gold after I assembled everything. It looked much better once it was painted gold too!

I glued some gears to it, and wrapped a chain around the handle. It looked quite nice when it was done. I will include some better photos in my summary at the end of the project.

Final note on props... in addition to the rules of the convention about weapons and props, remember that you are going to have to carry this thing around ALL DAY! Being a totally non-functional prop, not a purse or something else that was actually useful, I found it annoying to carry this around for 6 hours. And it wasn't even that heavy. I am having second thoughts now about taking this prop to my next convention, and instead I am thinking about making a different accessory that is hands free.

Genre Mash-Up: Steampunk Sailor Mars - Pt 3

Overskirt and Underskirt

The overskirt is from Butterick pattern B3906 - Misses Petite Costume (really descriptive name!). Basically, it was for a generic barmaid/housemaid/peasantwoman outfit. The type of fabric used would determine the theme of the costume. I had made it with a brown pinstriped material with an ivory cotton lace trim and a brown ribbon tie, as seen in the pirate photo in the previous post. For Sailor Mars, I will be swapping out the ivory cotton shift for a red taffeta pleated underskirt. The red taffeta will be the same material used in the sailor collar.

I didn't bother buying a pattern for the underskirt. I am basically going to make a shorter version of the black skirt I had made for the Victorian Dress I made earlier in June. I gather the top to a waistband, and make lots of pleats which are sewn to the bottom of the skirt.

I did go back and forth with how to do the bottom of the dress. I could do a gathers, or I could do knife pleats. Looking at Sailor Mar's original skirt, I decided to go with the pleats, even though they will take much longer. The Victorian skirt took 6 hours just to do the pleats. But, having done them once before, it went much faster this time! And, I don't think the skirt is as full, so there were fewer pleats to make.

With the pleats stitched to the bottom, I gathered the top and sewed that inside a simple waistband. I am not sure if I will use hooks or ties to close it. I am thinking about using ties, because I may need to adjust the size depending on the corset I might be wearing with it.

It is lacking in volume, and as anyone who has watched any anime knows, their skirts are never limp and lifeless! I don't want to go full out Lolita, but a petticoat will finish this off nicely.

Genre Mash-Up: Steampunk Sailor Mars - Pt 2

A couple of years ago, I made a pirate costume. I had every intention of using most of that costume in a Steampunk outfit. The over skirt and the bodice are the big ones. The pirate hat doesn't really transfer that well!

My stagette was pirate themed, so that is my explanation for the crown on top of my hat!

In my design for Steampunk Sailor Mars, I kept those two items in mind. 

The bodice was a lot of work, and the boning took forever. I used Butterick pattern B4254 - Misses Stays and Corset - View A.

Each boning channel must be sewn in a specific order, and each bone must be inserted before the next channel is sewn. This is because they go in all sorts of directions, and the next bone will close off the previous channel. I drew on the lining side with a marker each stitch line, traced from the pattern. Following the instructions, I wrote the number on each channel, so I would know which ones to sew first. After each channel, I inserted the bone, and moved on to the next one. Because of the high number of bones, and the fact that this was a costume piece, I used plastic boning from the fabric store. Each bone is sandwiched between the fashion layer and lining. There are two layers of material in the corset. The edges are finished with bias binding, hand stitched all the way around. The grommets are two piece, hand set. The lacing is 1/2" ribbon.

Because the original stays took so long, and involved so much boning, my plan was to make "covers" to wear over the original when I wanted to change the colour. This meant that I could sew the basic stays, put a few key pieces of boning in place (the very front and next to the laces) and wear it over top of the original piece. The structure and shape would be created by the original heavily boned garment, and the top layer would simply be for fashion. Lots of layers, yes, but much easier to make! This is exactly what I have done for Sailor Mars.

During design stage, I decided that I didn't want to tabs on the bottom of the bodice.  I removed the tabs from the bottom, smoothing out the bottom line. The whole thing is hand stitched with ivory bias tape, and then ivory lace is sewn to the bottom edge. I had lots of ivory lace left from the original pirate skirt, so I used the same lace to edge the bottom of the bodice, tying the whole look together.

When raiding my grommet stash, I discovered that I had no gold coloured grommets. A trip to the notions section of my local Fabricland left me disappointed... in a last desperate attempt, I looked through their clearance section, and found these adorable brassy star grommets!! They did not come with a setting tool, and I was unsure if my various tools at home would do the job. I resigned myself to trying these with my last resort being to use the silver grommets I had in my stash at home. Lucky for me, these worked just fine in the setting tools I had!

What a perfect little detail! It is highly unlikely that ANYONE is going to notice these, but by golly, I know they are there, and I just L-O-V-E that they fit the theme and character so well!

Genre Mash-Up: Steampunk Sailor Mars

The first anime I ever watched was Astro Boy, but I was far too young to realize what it was. Instead, I am going to go back to the first anime that had an impact on my life. I know that may sound silly, having any tv show, especially a cartoon impact your life in any meaningful way. But, this was in fact the case for me.

As a child, I always did like to draw. In grade six, Sailor Moon (even the horribly dubbed Dic version) was the first time I really sat down and tried to imitate a style with such loyalty. When the network moved the time slot my grandparents taped it for me (this was back in the day of VHS cassettes!) and I would pause the tape so I could draw the scene. I also started collecting the cards so I could draw all the characters without pausing the tape.

I was getting really good at it! By the end of grade nine I knew that I either wanted to pursue science or art. In high school, I took as many art and science classes as I could. My school even offered an animation class that I was fortunate enough to take! By graduation, I knew I wanted to be an animator. I even applied at Sheridan, the school you want to attend in Canada if you want to do animation. It was not to be, and I ended up going to the local college to take graphic design, and that is what i have been doing since. Long story short, I can thank Sailor Moon for the career path I have taken.

Recently, there has been a huge move toward the Steampunk trend in the cosplay world. Go to any convention and you will see someone in Steampunk garb, and at least one vendor selling accessories with gears and brass all over them. I have to admit, I do really like the Steampunk theme. And for a while, I have been tossing around the idea of doing an outfit.

I have long wanted to make a Sailor Moon outfit, but it has been many years since I have had the figure to pull it off. I am a stickler for details and would have this compulsive desire to make the costume as authentic as possible. And the crescent moons should be on the tiara, not under the back of the skirt!

Then I saw an image that had been shared around Facebook. Someone had done a drawing of a steampunk Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask! I loved the fact that it was an alternate version, with a longer skirt. I began to look at each of the senshi. I hate wearing wigs, and a good Sailor Moon wig with the odango and pigtails is way more money than I want to spend on a wig! I have dark brown/died black hair that is currently shoulder length. With a bit of pinning up, I could pull off Mercury.

The mercury symbol was proving very difficult to find, and I couldn't find a nice earthy blue in the fabric store. Mars is the male symbol, so that was much easier to find! And rusty earthy reds are everywhere right now, with fall and Christmas coming. So, Mars it is! I will have a partial up-do, to get away with having much shorter hair, and my skirt will cover my bum!

Corset Design, Drafting, Construction Pt 2

I have finally ordered my corset supplies! They should be arriving in a couple of weeks. Farthingales ships on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so my stuff won't be in the post until next week, but that is ok. As excited as I am to start working on my corset, I am also relieved to have a break from sewing for a few days. But I do need to sit down and get those curtains hemmed.... ugh...

I have ordered enough materials to do two corsets, and "fix" one of the purchased corsets that I have. I have plans to make an underbust (that will be the first one), and an overbust, and I would like to reinforce the bones in the back of my gold one. Last time I tried to lace it up, I noticed that the bones on either sides of the laces are quite flexible, leading me to believe that they are spirals. Not the ideal bones to have next to your laces! I will find out when I open it up and take a look inside... I am really hoping that I don't find the dreaded plastic inside! That would make me very disappointed, and I doubt I would ever shop at that store again, since that corset was almost $300 and they pride themselves on selling quality product.

Anyways, my shopping list consisted of spring steel bones, the flat white ones, that I will use for backs of the corsets to keep the grommets nice and stable. I also ordered a spiral steel kit. Because I am not 100% sure of the length I will need for each individual bone, I decided to get a spool of spiral steel and the tips, so I can cut them to fit. I am making up my own pattern, and have never done it before, so I can really only guess the actual final lengths of the bones. This gives me total flexibility. If the panels I made are too long, and they dig in on my lap or under my breast, I can shorten them, and make the bones the appropriate lengths.

I also ordered 2 busks: a shorter one for the underbust, and a longer one for the overbust. There is only a 1" difference between the two, because I am planning to have the peak in the top of the underbust, and a plunging sweetheart shape to the front of the overbust. I also ordered coutil, one metre each of black and white herringbone. I am not certain yet which one I will use for which corset, or if I will save one of them to do an entirely different corset. I have a hard time making anything that isn't black! Lol! Trying to expand my horizons. I do have light coloured outfits, and it would be nice to have a lighter corset to wear with those. I might do an underbust in white or a light colour, because I honestly think I will wear that more often....

Heck, I don't even know for sure if I want to do an overbust, now that I think of it!! I would most likely wear an underbust, because modern clothing just doesn't fit well with overbusts.

I am rambling now, rather than doing a simple update on the corset construction situation. I hope, once I have hemmed those curtains, that I will be able to start on cutting out and testing the shape on the pattern I drafted a few weeks ago, and do a proper informative update then!

Bridesmaids - Flower Girl - Pickups

An exceedingly rare event has occurred: I have taken on a sewing commission. This is usually only done for friends and family, people who are far more understanding, and willing to lend a hand to finish the project than a stranger. 


In this case, I am doing bridesmaid dresses. There is a fairly tight deadline, and a few techniques that I am new to, or rusty at! The two adult dresses are pretty basic, with the addition of a sash at the waist. My first attempt at the sash was a disaster! Too many straight lines in satin, and it was a wobbly mess. I don't know a seamstress who enjoys working with satin, and I have taken on three dresses made of the stuff. The patterned parts of the dresses have turned out as well as to be expected... it is the experimental areas that are going wrong!


I will break this up into separate posts, detailing some of the additions I am making to these dresses. Today, lets look at the pickups on the flower girl's dress.


The little flower girl dress is the most complicated of the three. Using a Disney princess dress pattern as a base, I am adding to it in an attempt to "match" the bridal gown. It has "pickups" on the skirt:

(not the actual gown, but similar style of skirt)

Having never done "pickups" before, I went in search of tutorials. One very clear tutorial was on the Burda website: http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/pick-up-skirt-technique . It is on a short skirt, but the concept is the same.

I don't have pictures to go with each step, as I had hoped to. This tight timeline has me focusing more on the sewing than the photos. I will share what I do have.

You will need a skirt with two layers: Your outer layer that will have the poofs, and the lining, which you will attach those poofs to. 

The outer layer will need to be longer than the lining. The extra length needed will depend on the size of pickups you are doing, and how many. It is better to have too much, so if in doubt, cut more fabric than you think you will need. 

The lining should be marked where you would like your hem to be on the finished piece.

Attach the two layers, gathering at the waistband. It works best if at least the top layer has a gather to it. You want the extra width for the volume. 

This mannequin is over 5ft tall at the neck, and the girl who will wear it is a little over 4ft tall. You can see the extra length on the skirt.

Put the skirt on your dress form, mannequin, or anything that will hold it as if it were being worn. Probably not a good idea to have a human model wearing it, because they are going to be standing there for a while! I am doing this for an 8 year old girl, so my dress form isn't small enough. This is the first time I have been thankful for my store mannequin having such a rediculously small waist!

I stagger the pickups so they don't look like lines up and down the dress.

With the skirt in position, I choose the first "pickup" location. In this case, I want two side by side at the top of the skirt front, one in front of each hip. You can pull a lot of material up for big voluminous pickups, or a small amount for a short distance for a smaller poof. This is for a young girl who is NOT the bride, so I want hers to be more subtle. With the little pinch of fabric picked up, I pin it to the lining. I check to make sure that the little poof of fabric above it will cover the little stitches that will hold it in place. Satisfied that the pickup meets all my criteria, I do the next one on the other hip. I go around to the back and do the same thing with 3 and 4, my top row of pickups now complete. Time to move down to the second row. I stagger these so they are in between the pickups in the row above. So this will have one in the middle, with pickups on the sides of the dress, and around the back.

If the pickups are close together, or the skirt is longer, you may want more rows of pickups.

Because this dress has a train, I do an extra set of pickups in the back only. 

I waited until I could try the dress on the girl before marking the final hem. I had a rough placement of it from an earlier fitting, just so I didn't put the pickups too far down the skirt. But I needed to see everything finished before marking the final hemline. Wearing her shoes, I had her try it on, and marked on the front and sides where the hem would be. I would leave the hem in the back where it is because she will have a train and bustle. I also took this opportunity to see which pickup would be used to hide the hook for the bustle.

After the fitting, I trimmed the extra material from the bottom, and pinned the hem. To keep in line with the fullness of the rest of the skirt, I chose to do a bubble hem. I will take photos of that when it is complete. Because of the bubble hem, the actual stitched part of the hemline will be hidden. I used matching satin bias tape to finish the hemline, just in case little flashes of it become visible when she walks, but I don't think it will be an issue. 

I will cover the bustle in another post, as this one is already getting far to long, and I still have to stitch the hooks in place!