Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Sari Dress Concept and Planning

First order of business for Steampunk World's Fair was to get a list of costumes together that I'm planning to make.

My general overview is two Japanese fusion costumes, both involving kimono that I already own but will modify for the costume.  Another one will be a menswear outfit for traveling because there's no way in hell I'm driving several hours in a corset, bustle, or ridiculous dress.  One "dress" for the dance based on an absolutely gorgeous Worth design using Turkish trousers.  And then an Edwardian style dress using sari fabric.

I may have turned this into a spreadsheet because I'm an overachiever and slightly crazy.

And yes,  I do have five costumes for three days and one evening.  Yes. I'm crazy.  I know.

I'm totally justifying this by telling myself that I don't really need to make much.  The kimono dresses will just need some alterations.  The menswear outfit is going to use stuff I already own plus one pair of modified men's trousers from the Goodwill.  The only major construction that I'm going to need to do is for the evening outfit and the sari dress.  I've already made Turkish trousers, so I know can bang the out pretty quickly...the sari dress is going to be where I spend most of my time.

Because it's the outfit that I'm going to need to do the most work for I'm starting there.  I am, however, feeling slightly overwhelmed.

I'm using Butterick 5970 with some (probably major) modifications to the blouse and I found some serviceable sari fabric on eBay that I'm going to use for the dress.  I am in love with this pattern.  In love.  Or I was, until last night.  





You see, last night I cut out the pattern.  I spent about thirty minutes just cutting out the pattern.  It is forty two individual pieces.  FORTY TWO!  The skirt is four pieces, which is reasonable.  That leaves thirty six pieces for the two blouse variations and the belt.  THIRTY SIX!  A lot of the pieces are very small and I'm going to have to sort through them to see what I'm actually going to need once I make the changes I want.  And I need to lay out the skirt pieces on the sari to see if I can actually get this idea to pan out.  If not, I'll have to go to plan B*.

I'm also planning to make one of those giant touring hats.  I looked into buying one and it's...not cheap.  And I'd prefer to make one to match.  That's all well and good except I've never made a hat before.  Well...I've never successfully made a hat before.  I had one attempt at making a hat several years ago and it didn't end well.  I'm a little nervous.


 



I own two out-of-print Butterick hat patterns, B4210 and B4697, both of which have some base patterns that look like they could work.  Goodwill has not been helpful with providing me a base for the hat, so I suppose I'm going to need to learn how.  Plan B involves a different hat, so I'm pretty much screwed either way as far as hat making goes.

So I have a good idea of what I want to make, some fabric, and some base patterns.  I'm pretty sure that I can make this work, but I'm definitely a little intimidated after cutting out that pattern.  The plan is to at least get some work done on the skirt this weekend.  The blouse is probably going to take the most time, especially since I'm planning to modify it, but I guess can always use the skirt by itself if I can't get the blouse to work.

And there's always Plan B.


*Plan B may not actually be any easier or more feasible than Plan A.











Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Change of Plans or Full Steam Ahead

Due to unforeseen circumstances I'm not able to go to Wicked Faire.  It's probably for the best since I wasn't really into the designs I'd come up with and now I'll have more time to get something together that I'll really be excited about.

Plus now I can get started on my Steampunk World's Fair outfits!

Initial planning is fully underway and I have a reasonable amount of time to execute.


We're planning to head up on Thursday night and then stay through the weekend, which means I'll need several costumes.  My initial thought is to do some multicultural/cultural fusion outfits.  I have a background in anthropology and an absurd love for kimono that I never get to wear.  And it is Steampunk World's Fair after all, I feel the need to bring that into my outfits.

I have some inspiration boards on Pinterest for my ideas.  Definitely going to use some of my kimono, though I'm likely going to need to modify them for the shape I'm going for.  I'm also going to try to something with sari fabric, though not a traditional sari wrap.

Full steam ahead!