Summer and Steampunk

Wow, there's a lot to catch up on. This summer has turned out to be incredibly busy for me. I'm working on the First Oval Office Tent project re-creating George Washingtons original Office Marquis stitch for stitch. I won't say much about it here, since there's quite a bit out in the internet from Colonial Williamsburg and The Museum of the American Revolution. You can even watch us on a CW webcam during our work days!
With the left over time I've been working on shoes and starting up a Steampunk Couture business with Gwendolyn called House of Grey.
First, the shoes. I have another pair almost finished, but those will be their own post. This is a pair of slippers I made for working in the shop. Much better than wearing shoes inside all day. They are of turn shoe construction, the uppers of red moroccan leather trimmed in white silk grosgrain.

Next is the really exciting part. Steampunk! Right now we have a good starting selection up on our Etsy site. We're planning quite a grand fashion line for the Fall, which we'll be debuting at Teslacon. In the mean time, here are some of the items I made. Almost everything includes antique or vintage pieces,  making each piece completely unique and will never be made again!

Red Velvet Mini Top Hat

Striped Tilt Hat

Most Top Hat

Silver Starburst Purse

Lace and Silk Reticule

Golden Gibson Girl Vest

Reversible Silk Bodice with Belt

Iced Plum Victorian Waist

Interestingly enough, the gown I'm wearing in most of the pictures I made last fall for the Halloween party at Disney World. It's inspired by the Bride in the Haunted Mansion. The shape is taken from Cut of Women's Clothes. It's mostly a very thin cotton lawn with piecing of antique lace. Loads of tiny pin-tucks on the bodice and skirt!

We sat around waiting for the parade to start, staring at people silently. We freaked out a few kids that way!

Steampunk Boots

My speed with shoes had been increasingly greatly when, for some silly reason, I decided I could manage to throw together a pair of Victorian style boots for Teslacon.  In two weeks.  Yes, I managed it, but boy was that stressful!

I had some left over satin coutil from my corset which I had dyed a raspberry tone.  I actually found a few original shoes from the late 19th century in similar tones, so it seemed appropriate and horrendously bright.  There's a pair in light purple leather from the 1890s at the Russian Shoe Museum that was the basis for the final design along with a canvas pair I purchased and used for some patterning.

The uppers are lined in unbleached linen.  The strips, toe, and heel are all whittaw leather.  Most of this was assembled by machine.  The back seam has a reinforcement strip down the exterior and the lacing holes have whittaw on both sides so I didn't have to stitch any eyelets.

The construction was done the same as my common shoes.  Last the upper to the insole and whip it down.

Stitch on the heel cover.

Paste in wood heel, then paste on outersole and stitch through all layers.

I laced up the fronts with silk cord.

You can see the grove where the big stitches go all the way to the inside.

Common Shoes

Next is a pair of common shoes worked off of images of an original pair at the Russian Shoe Museum.  There aren't very many examples of lower class womens shoes out there- they were, not surprisingly, worn to pieces.  These were the type of shoes given out by the church to the extremely poor.  There are some mentions of them being worn by "country people", but there are also mentions of silk being popular with both upper and lower class.  Almost all references to women's uppers mention wool, silk, or even tickens being a great detriment to the leather trade.  Looking at the original pair, it looks like the uppers might even have been originally for a man's shoe, just lasted to be a womans.

These are made up quite differently than anything I have made prior.  The uppers, being from calf skin, are thick enough that you work the seam stitching through their middle.  This way, there is a nice line of stitches on either side of the seam on the exterior, but nothing inside to rub.  There is also a heel stiffener whipped into the back, the stitches not coming through to the outside.

The actual construction technique is different as well.  The uppers are lasted over the insole and quickly whipped to it.  You do stitch the heel cover on as normal and paste in the heel.  Then, the outersole is heavily pasted on and a large awl is used to go all the way through the sole layers.  It's fast, but not easy to reach the bristles coming through in the toe area.  It unfortunately leaves an exposed line of stitches around the insole, which can be covered by a linen "sock" pasted in.  But...I don't have enough room yet.

All of the edges, stitching, and the heels are blackened.  I made a few cheats on these, though you can't see them.  One of the straps on each shoe is a good deal shorter and the tongue is pieced.  All for economy when cutting out from a hide.

Silk Brocade Shoes

I realized today that I have three pairs of shoes I haven't posted about and two more in progress.  I need to catch up!  So, in chronological order we go.  In October I finished my third pair of shoes- 1740s silk brocade with randed construction.

To begin, they aren't terribly different than turn shoes.  I stitched together an upper, this time lining it in linen.  There are many shoes lined in leather, many in linen, and a number with a combination.  I chose linen this time because I wanted to try something different and because it's much cheaper than whittaw in modern terms.  The inner sole is only different in having the hold fast around the front as well.  Because it's there, the heavy outer sole has only skiving around the edges for prep.

This way you start with the inner sole.

Last the uppers right side out.

Then, stitching through the inner soles hold fast, you go through the uppers and a narrow strip of whittaw.  This strip then gets folded over to the inside and lashed down.

The heel cover is sewn in the normal way.  Since the heel is going to be covered in fabric, I lined it with a light weight leather to help hold the stitches and stress.

Paste the heel in with lots of tugging and pulling to get the wrinkles out.

On the first shoe we stitched the outer sole to the rand before working with the heel.  It wasn't easy.  So, second time around the heel was pasted in first, then the sole was stitched on.

In order to keep the toes properly pointed, there is a small piece of whittaw in between the silk and linen that continues back along the last line to the ball of the foot.

Such big heels!  Shaping them was such a chore I went out and bought proper wood working tools.

Steampunk 3: Silvery Moon

The final ensemble (but not the final post) was for the formal ball, themed to our weekends "Trip to the Moon".  There was a grand Civil War era brass band playing while we walzed, polka-ed, did the Virginia Reel, and so much more.  This is where my skirt lifter became absolutely necessary, clipping the long train up so I could dance.  Though I did manage most of a waltz with it down!

The gown was based on Worth-style gowns of the late 1880s- particularly the infamous red one from Vintage Textile.  I am wearing a full length, very large bustle underneath along with an extra ruffly petticoat.  The base skirt, which is completely covered, is light blue silk taffeta.  Over that in front is a piece from a sari which I purchased six months ago and designed most of the dress around, keeping a starry sky in mind.  The back bustle and bodice are silk satin with a slight iridescence (the wrong side is mint).  Finishing off the bodice and peeking out from the skirt is changeable silk chiffon.  The jewelry is all family antiques- all starburst shapes.  I made the fascinator from coque and biot feathers which I found in the absolutely most perfect colors to mimic a crescent moon shape.  This was all meant to pair with Gwendolyn's Dark Lady of the Night gown.

The bodice lower edge is finished with piping, the interior flat-lined to a sturdy silk weave with bones on each seam.  The back spiral laces shut with silk cord and the drape hooks to the other side to hide the top.  The skirt hems (both under and top) have deep facings from cotton.  I stiffened the outer one with gum tragacanth, which I can't recommend enough.  There's also lace gathered onto the taffeta underskirts hem facing.  I'll eventually do a post detailing the insides and under structures of all of my outfits.

From here down there is no more text.  Gwendolyn and I went out to a local antique store called Charlies and spent quite some time taking pictures (be sure to check her blog for more!).  So much fun and the perfect location.  And, yes, that is a weeping angel.

Steampunk 2

Of course, I can't be caught wearing the same outfit twice, so the second day brought a completely different ensemble.  This one has its roots in numerous gowns and jackets of the 1890s.  The first pictures were taken in front of an antique desk that was steampunked into a cigar rolling factory- a combination of Dr. Grymm Laboratories and Foundry Cigars.  And yes, even the cigars have cogs on them!

The main body of the dress (which is two separate pieces) is claret worsted wool.  The sleeves are antique lace which had long since lost their bodice, the fur trim is actually dyed raccoon, the lapels are a woven silk mix, while the waist is based around an antique ribbon.  The skirt diagram came from The Cut of Women's Clothes while the top was patterned, inspired by this jackets lapels.

The sleeves were inspired by this image of Japanese lady in western dress.  The two items hanging from the waist are a small watch and a skirt lifter.  I found the lifter on Ebay, still with it's original cord.  It's not only beautiful, but saved my hem numerous times (and as you'll see with my ball gown, it was absolutely necessary).

The hat is probably my favorite part of the whole ensemble.  The shape was based on this rather infamous hat, covered in silk velvet.  The ribbons are all antiques, mostly sections too small to do much else.  Wrapped around the hat it's a checkboard with floral, while the bow is black and white stripes.  I worked in a hidden section of ribbon to hold the giant pheasant feathers, making them easily removable (necessary when sitting in talks and panels).

Though you can't see it in the pictures, the lapels are embroidered (mostly by hand).  I used a silver Aesthetic Movement picture frame as the basis for the design.  Some of the threads have metallic wrapped in, but all are silk.  The buttons are embroidered as well.

The sleeves are cartridge pleated so they aren't puffy on top, but lined with silk taffeta to keep them stiff.

The waist ribbon is backed by black moire taffeta and copper taffeta.  It wasn't very strong anymore, though it looks to have originally been a sash.  The center back peaks up slightly.