Marie Antoinette Progress

My Marie Antoinette hoops are too big to easily adjust which is why it has taken the entire 7th Season of New Who to get them to the point I can just push the hoops out or in.

These are deceptive, a little. The first test wound up kidney shaped and I wound up with more elliptical and normal shape tonight!

They are currently 160cm wide, but the hoops are a little deeper than I want and they’ll be flattened a little more once the tapes are in place at every level I’ll also have to drop the diagonal short hoops.

I still will be able to layer both fine cotton and tulle to soften these. In photos of Normal sitting there are a few indicators of hoops but they are subtle. SO I definitely need to remember all the fluffy layers needed and that adds bulk both depth and width. But I really think it’ll be the tapes inside that help. I may even wind up sewing in a few more sets than I normally would.

I originally wanted to make this to join in with the Robes de Cour group Kendra had organised a few years ago, but I wound up setting that aside as I wanted to be in the group and between me saying I was thinking about making the gown and not saying so in time and what not I wound up shifting to starting an actual Robe de Cour based on the various silver gowns from Sweden. I stalled on that as well as I just wanted to not use the dead dino fabric I had!

Basically I knew how much fabric any of these options needed and I wanted the best fabric for my needs. And I only managed to find that in may this year! That is the fabric above that had to be decoloured. It was very brown originally 🙂

But since then I have become completely smitten with the “confrontation” gown too, so well there may be a few gowns to wear over these hoops and eventual petticoats as well.

 

Crossposted from my blog, but please do comment here :)

steampunk corset photos

This was my favourite set of stays I have ever made for myself, and I am totally struggling to remake them! I am also trying to illustrate why I love them so much to help someone with their gussested corset.

So the first part was the pattern. These are all the pieces I used laid out. (whoops, the back hip gussests are on the left, the front hip gussets are on the right.)

I had already semi mocked the pattern. It’s a mix of 1870s and 1900s corsets. Mainly 1870s but I knew what I wanted was a long torso and defined bust. I am pretty small but I was able to get really good uplift by making sure the gussets were as deep as possible To do this I turned back the edges on the body panels and stitched them down then fitted the shape of the gussets on the form.

I also fitted the body panels and hip gussets separately. This allowed the body panels to do all the vertical shaping and pulling in while the gussets were made slightly larger to add to the illusion by allowing what was displaced at the waist to sit in the gussets.

 

When laid flat you can see how the gussets act independently of the torso. And you can also see a principle I try and use in everything- no bones over the bust. I use long stays to the inside and the outside of the bust but not over it. This just helps with definition like nothing else. I used a similar method for my Mina lining as well as my Elsa.

And I am very happy with how well this worked!

Like I said, this is the best pattern for me and I needed this boost to remind me to remake it in silk and with a real busk!

Crossposted from my blog, but please do comment here :)