corselet number one - done!

Today I sewed for about seven hours total.  And I reffed a roller derby scrimmage.  I'm not entirely certain what my kids have been up to, though.  Thank goodness for other responsible adults.

This is how I found my dress form, aka Other Mother, this morning.  She wears a new outfit everyday.  Girl child likes to dress her up.

After a few moments work stripping Other Mother, I put on the first of twelve steampunk skirts we will be using in the children's theatre production of Alice in Wonderland. 

I did not cut out and sew the skirts but I am adding waistbands to all of them.  Which is twelve skirts worth of gathering. By the fourth one I pulled out my clear elastic to help the job move quicker, or at least, neater.  It was so reminiscent of making patchwork twirlers I had nasty gathering flashbacks and had to go outside for some fresh air every couple of skirts.

The gathers in the skirt, just so you know, are just pinned on the inside.  We haven't decided yet how the skirts are going to look and there will be a massive crinoline going on underneath too. 

The really exciting bit about today was finishing up the corselet I started yesterday.  Grommets, by the way, are not that hard.  But don't ask my finger about that, because it will disagree, having almost been severed today during the cutting of holes.



It was worth it because, boom, corselet!

And now I get to dress Other Mother up a little too, with a lace collar and the Queen of Hearts' hat.

corselet number one

There are few pleasures in life less complicated and more gracious than a line of well behaved gathers slipping evenly under a presser foot.

I am in the midst of making the first of many corselet with bustle from this pattern:

I think we will need a four or five corselets to grace the hips of Victorian Alice in Wonderland characters before I'm done.  And girl child will want one of her own to wear around the house.  I might also.  They do a fabulous job of hiding the whole midriff area and creating the illusion of a narrower waist.  I can see me wearing a corselet with a t-shirt and yoga pants.  Perfect for the school run and grocery shopping.

itty bitty goggles

I am just starting to get into the heavy bit of costume making for the production of Alice in Wonderland girl child is in.  Girl child, in case you are wondering, is a member of the chorus for several songs and dances as a seaweed.  A humble start in theatre, but she's very happy to do her bit. 

Still, I get to work on all the costumes for this steampunk Alice.  There are quite a few things planned for the next couple of weeks to work on, but I've been playing around with the steampunk aesthetic at home here, seeing what I can come up with, with whatever is laying about.  My first job has been to come up with a mini set of goggles to grace the Dormouse's small hat.

Using a couple of nuts, a ribbon and the dead batteries from a small electronic, here is girl child modelling the Dormouse's headpiece (with about the worst expression on her face possible... honestly, she's happy to help her mom out).

And because they fit so well, the number two white rabbit, out for a ride.

I think they fit him rather well.

Now to make a full (child) size aviator hat, nine, NINE, Victorian steampunk fascinators and several lace collars.  Somehow oysters need hats too and I think there is something about outfitting a dozen Victorian ladies tomorrow night along with a Cheshire cat costume that isn't quite yet... lots to do.

Three point jester hats. Seriously.

One of my first assignments for the costume committee of girl child's play Alice in Wonderland is to make a couple jester hats.  The Internet is surprisingly bereft of jester's hats patterns for sewing.  So I made up my own.

They still need bling'd (which is what happens to everything made for the stage) and I haven't decided if they should be stuffed and shaped yet, but here they are, with both possibilities for comparison, modeled by the kids.  I feel they should have bells on them also, but that may cause unnecessary noise on stage, so I'll have to wait and see what the director wants for that also.

I swear most of the fun of making stuff is forcing the children to put it on afterwards and smile. 

Boy child, why you so serious?

No, seriously.  You're serious.

This is funny, you know.

Side view.  Try not to laugh.

First one to laugh is a rotten egg.

With Halloween coming up, I was wondering if I should do up a little jester hat pattern and tutorial for the masses.  What do you think?

please, please

So these are my kids.  Sometimes I have a lot of things to say about them.

Sometimes they render me completely mute.

They are the engineers of this contrary world that I dwell.  It's hard to describe the mix of utter vexation and complete joy they evoke in me, a state so bewildering yet familiar to every parent.  Simultaneously sublime and mundane.

Like the mightiest of deities, they both destroy and create at once.  

If I could send only one message to my children, to carry them forward throughout their childhood, it would be this:

You're very cute but could you please, please, stop trashing my furniture?

Thank you.

three rabbits

Rabbit number one, on the left, we have already talked about.  He lives quite comfortably on the bookshelf when he is not hanging out with Alice.

The middle bunny is version 2.0 of the white rabbit.  He also comes fully nekkid-able.  See him with his little pile of clothes above?  This wasn't supposed to look so much like he was just issued his kit for prison.  I assure you, he is quite dapper when he is dressed.

Here is his little shirt.

Which tucks handsomely into his pants.  He is a neat bunny.

His vest.  Made of felt because the few times I've tried to make a lined vest of this size in woven cloth has ended in tears and half a bottle of wine.

I love his sneery expression.  Perhaps he is a bit of a pirate after all?  Swashbuckling rogue dressed in a fancy vest and a sneer?

And finally his jacket.  Here he is commandeering Other Mother (girl child's name for my Sally Stitches dress form). 

(Hey, I've just learned oxy-acetylene glasses work very well for steampunk in a pinch... can't wait to get to work on girl child's steampunk Alice in Wonderland.  These, above, The Man just pulled out of his garage.)

I have plans still to provide him with shoes of some sort, but in the meantime, he'll have to deal with a barefoot bohemian look. 

Bunners number three is, unfortunately, yet to be clothed. 

Three has quite a different look to him (and, apparently, is a bit of bookworm too).  Given that his body shape doesn't encourage the wearing of trousers (nor did the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland), I was thinking that I would focus on a jacket and maybe something to keep his head covered.   Anyone ever make an aviator's helmet?

Three also stands up independently but I didn't, for whatever reason, take a picture of him standing.  Lazy bookish rabbit.

white rabbits

This is where we are at today.  Finishing white rabbits. 

On a side note, do you like my new friend on the wall?  I think he could use a jaunty bowler and a pair of aviator glasses?  Girl child has just been cast in a steampunk version of Alice in Wonderland and, as I am once again helping with costumes, there will no doubt be many hats and goggles in my near future.  I have been pining for just this situation.  A little practice for around the home wouldn't hurt.

White Rabbit

A little while back, girl child made herself an Alice doll.  Today, I finished making Alice a little friend.

May I present the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. 

'I'm late!'

He is just ten and a half inches high and the first fully undressable doll I've made.

All dressed up:

And then...

All dressed down: 

(But we'll leave his bottoms on.  This is a PG rated blog.)

The white rabbit has quite a few areas for improvement.  I was thinking of making up another one with some modifications.  But then a new white rabbit would need another Alice companion and I'm quite sure none of them feel comfortable without a couple of Mad Hatters, who would require attendant March Hares and Dormouses... could be quite the undertaking.  Or maybe I should leave well enough alone?

But probably not.

A couple more pictures, before I go, for the derbies out there:

Lead Jammer

No pack!