Steampunk Salwar

I have finished Step 1 for my Hallowe'en costume.  As you have read previously, I am entering this contest, which requires that I use Simplicity Patterns' earliest attempt at mainstreaming Steampunk.  Now, I never do anything easily, so I have chosen to totally re-imagine what happens with this coat.  I had hoped to trick-or-treat along side my husband who will be dressing as Malcolm Reynolds, because Inara has an outfit (or two) that could, conceivably, be made with this coat pattern.  My dreams were dashed, however, because my local JoAnn didn't have any (ANY!) fabric that would have worked for the Inara dresses I was trying to make.  They DID, however, have these:

With me now: "Oooooh!  Aaaahhh!"

These are all 100% cotton and suggest Western Asia somewhere between 1500 and 1880.  So, I've now got my fabric and need to figure out how to make a costume that will (ha, right?) work both for a Steampunk contest... and won't get me punched in the face in the SCA.  I am basing most of my research on SCA-period Middle Eastern clothing (helpful stuff here at Mistress Safia's) because it's my primary costuming era.  That being said, many of the manuscripts and portraits I can find for Jews in that area of the world (I focus my historic recreations on Jewish dress, as my persona is Jewish) are a little outside the purview of the SCA (fortunately for Steampunk, this isn't much of a problem!).

So, this lovely Morocco-meets-Sugar-Rush block-printed quilting cotton is going to be my 2172 coat.  I've got wooden toggle buttons to go down the front (but I may end up doing cord frogs to match the portraiture better).  I'll have to figure out how to eliminate the pocket-flaps from 2172, because NO portrait I've seen of Turks, Persians, etc (Jews or otherwise) has an over-jacket with pockets.  Since this pattern has pockets built in, I can either just remove the flap, or cut the side front panels as one piece.  I haven't decided yet.  (Pockets are TERRIBLY handy...)  And sleeves.  Hmm.  Something.

I could NOT get a good picture of this fabric to save my life.  I tried, like, fifteen times.  Anyway, this was the best approximation I could get.  It's a lovely sunshine-yellow (which was a color expected of Jews throughout much of the Middle Ages and later - think "Yellow Star" as late as WWII) and it has tone-on-tone tiny flowers all over.  This will be for a second coat, with a higher neckline (so, more supportive, right?) and a shorter hem.  It will be visible at the neckline and front center, and possibly at the sleeves, depending on how that all shakes out.

This fabric also wasn't very photogenic.  It's a white woven-stripe cotton that's relatively sheer (I put the black wool in there to give greater contrast).  This will become the kamiz (chemise; undershirt).  It will be visible in the bowl of the neckline, poking out at the cuffs and draping below the yellow coat.  I'm really looking forward to this one, because this fabric just feels SO GOOD TO TOUCH!  I wanted to buy it all.  I wish I had all the money in the world.  :(

This is fabulous cotton pinstripe shirting in turquoise and brown.  It felt more synthetic than the white cotton when it was on the bolt, but washed up really well.  This will be used to make salwar, which are (totally legit) MC Hammer pants.  Yes, really.  I actually made some salwar (using this pattern) only I mis-cut the leg: I forgot to halve the leg measurement at the foot, so I have really baggy pants instead of baggy-crotch pants that fit closely at the ankle.


Anyway, let's compare:

Legit.

2 legit.

And now I quit.

See you next time!

Hallowe'en Projects: Wreck-It Ralph and Steampunk

So, my children LOVE the movie Wreck-It Ralph.  Li'l Miss, who is two, wants to watch it ALL THE TIME.  Fortunately, since my husband and I are vintage game literate, it's nostalgic for us, so we don't mind.  To that end, we thought it might be fun to all dress up for Hallowe'en as the four main characters in the movie, as seen here:

So, obviously the 2-year-old girl will be Vanellope Von Schweetz, the 4-year-old boy will be Fix-It Felix, the 9-foot-tall dad will be Wreck-It Ralph, and the US Army Veteran mama will be SGT Calhoun.  Works out great for everyone, right?  Yeah, except for the fact that Veteran Mama has NO IDEA how to craft armor.  In two months.

I DID, however, stumble upon this AMAZING tutorial for Halo armor out of EVA and craft foam (cuz sculpting fiberglass and/or metal is totally everything-prohibitive for me) here: http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/35790-KAT-ARMOR-BUILD-with-custom-undersuit.  Not only is it a build from the game I believe Hero's Duty is emulating, it's a FEMALE build from that game!  SO AMAZING!  This gal builds her entire suit, including a custom undersuit FROM SCRATCH!  And she takes photos every step of the way, so it's very user-friendly in terms of re-creating her work.  "So?" you ask, "Why haven't you started yet?"  Well, my friends, this gal took ELEVEN MONTHS to make her suit.  So, since I have no idea how EVA and craft foam reacts when you try to build with it, I can't cut any corners, so it'd reasonably take me that long.  And I just don't have the time.

I had to make my peace with giving up Calhoun, because I'd really LIKE to learn foam armor crafting.  But perhaps another time.

Then, I was cruising around Pinterest and found that a friend of mine pinned a contest for Steampunkery.  Now, this contest is mostly fabric manipulation and THAT I can do.


For this contest, you must create an amazing costume using the very distinctive jacket from this Simplicity pattern.  She says the bustier and skirt are totally optional (as they're not particularly interesting in really any way) and you can modify the jacket as much as you like, so long as it's still recognizable as the 2172 pattern.  The deadline is November 1, which means that I have to get it done for Hallowe'en... and that gives me my replacement for Calhoun!

Now, I just need to decide what shape I'll do (I'm thinking Persian/Turkish or Moroccan Jewish), and ask my husband if he'd prefer to go as Wreck-It Ralph or as my Steampunk Sweetheart.

Ciao!