2 and half hours well spent!

I'm rather pleased with this. I picked up 3m of this fabric for a song last week with the vague intention of turning it into a circle skirt one day. Yesterday, I got home from work and decided to get started on it while my dinner was in the oven. I started by getting to grips with pi all over again.

2.5 hours later (not including a break to feed my face) I had this skirt made of 2 semi-circle panels. I've not used a zip as I wanted it to have a cleaner look and feel. The button has enough overlap that you can't see anything you shouldn't through the placket!

The only problem is that it's a smidge see-through! It should be ok with the petticoat underneath it, though I'm a bit nervous of UV lights... I'm currently trying to convince the world (or myself) that the petticoat size is perfectly appropriate day-wear, so far I've only knocked a couple of small light objects off shelves, had several Marilyn moments in the breeze and taken up a seat and a half on the bus!

16 pieces of fabric for a skirt?!

Yeah I didn't really consider the complexity of this skirt before I decided to make it. I bought the pattern from some dodgy market stall years ago after which I completely forgot about it. It came to the top of the pile recently and when I saw this bold print 100% cotton I felt inspired to make it.

To be honest, I think something more synthetic would have been better as it creases a LOT which is tricky in terms of keeping the pleats in place. It's got a static-free lining which makes it quite warm too, not exactly the cool, summery skirt I was after for this hot weather!

The pattern was for the wrong size so I had to scale it up, but it's still a little tight which makes it just a smidge too short. Hopefully by winter I'll have slimmed for it!

Pretty though!

They've got to be easy to remove...

So 2 new burlesque routines were put together recently, 1 of which was a double-act so lots of costuming has been a-foot.

The corset is entirely spiral steels to allow flexibility for dancing in. It doesn't have a busk as it stays on for the whole performance and as I had to make 2 of everything it kept cost down too! When I first made it I put 2 wide inflexible steels at the centre front which gave a lovely flat front but had a couple of drawbacks.
1. As it was based on the same pattern that I had made for an entirely spirals corset, the flats stopped it tightening quite so much at the waist and although the silhouette from the front was gorgeous, the back lacing had that upside-down 'V' of a poorly fitting corset.
2. It didn't work very well with a bra as it made the underwires dig in.
3. It was a lot more difficult to bend over in, which was essential for my solo act, which used the reverse side of the corset. (Yes, reversible too!)

The skirt is a riot of liquid satin and garish colour. The complimentary skirt was made with the blue satin that you can see in the trim and pink and yellow ruffles. Everything had to be overlocked or roll-hemmed, including the ruffles as liquid satin unravels quicker than a ball of wool in the clutches of a kitten. I was hoping my Ultimate Ruffler would make light work of this, but sadly it just wasn't up to the job and I had to gather by hand. It wraps around and the ribbon waistband turns into a side-tie for easy removal.

This is the reverse of the corset, which I designed to go with my other new costume. This saved me having to make yet another corset for the event, and saved money obviously. It was a little tricky trying to work out how to do the lacing panels without interfering with either side but I was very pleased with the final piece. Both outers are 100% cotton with a cotton coutil sandwiched in between.

I really didn't know what I was going to do about the modesty panel - in the end I just made a loose one that the person lacing me up could push into place for me. This corset was an absolute nightmare to lace as it had to be so loose in order to get it over my head, it needed so much tightening once on and I'd accidentally bought a new type of lace with no slide whatsoever. Trying to get it off in a hurry was no fun either as the easiest option was to just unlace -tricky on your own at the end of the night!

Kitsch... I think I can manage that...

Well it's been a busy month or so behind the sewing machine so hopefully the drought of blogs will be replaced by a tidal wave. Starting with this one.

This was my outfit for the kitsch-themed Dystopia night. I had to find quite a lot of fabric for decorating the venue so was in a good position for getting myself some perfect prints. In the past I've been rather reticent about buying fabric online - "you need to feel the schmatter" as a good friend of mine would say. However, despite a slightly annoying colour mix up it was a very successful venture, including this rather funky cotton tattoo print.

The dress pattern is a Butterick Retro Collection pattern - retro patterns re-drafted for the modern seamstress, a godsend! The pattern and instructions were simple and easy to understand, and the sizes were much more modern too. I had originally intended to make the wiggle dress version which is what I made for my mock up, but at the last minute I decided a full skirt had more kitsch value. It took about a day and a half - not bad at all.

The contrasting corset has been made with the pink tattoo print on the reverse so hopefully it will function as a reversible corset. This will make the busk a little weird I think, but I'll see how it goes - I only finished putting the grommets in an hour before the event so it wasn't able to do up very tight sadly, it's based on the simplicity 9769 which gives such a wonderful curve to the waist. It has a bit of a strange height (about mid nipple) which works quite well over the top of a dress but not on it's own.

As for accessories, I made a facinator with a kitsch-tastic button and a healthy amount of white veiling. Sewing into memory foam is always a bit risky for tearing, but I made good use of UHU too :) There was also a matching croissant handbag that sadly I have no pictures of, based on a 1940s pattern. I made it from the pink fabric with a rose decoration made from the blue fabric of the corset.

I was a bit concerned it was overly demure for the event, but the entire outfit went down very well and I received a lot of compliments which was really lovely.

I also performed at the event, and created a couple of little gems that I will post about as soon as I get some pictures.