9/16/07

The corset is drafted from the Mina Sebille 1863 corset patent and made from a layer of heavy silk satin, interfaced with cotton organdy for reinforcement, and a layer of coutil. Its boned with 1/4" synthetic whalebone. I'm still not finished flossing the whole thing, which isn't all that apparent in the photos, anyway.

I do like this style of corset, however it doesn't really cinch the waist as much as I'm used to. Perhaps once I break it in, it'll have more waist definition, but for now it offers a 1" reduction at best. I'm not going to sweat it, though... I'm determined to spend this Dickens Fair at least somewhat comfortably as I've suffered for my fashion too many years previous with plenty of migraines and upset stomachs to account for my follies. ;)

I had eschewed the cage crinoline kit from Wooded Hamlet Designs since it was almost $200, and instead opted for the $70 kit from KayFig Designs. I'm kind of wishing now I hadn't. The instructions for the KayFig crinoline are very good, but the materials in the kit leave a lot to be desired. Particularly the rivets which are noted in the instructions for falling out and needing to be replaced. In fact, the main reason the picture above shows the crinoline unfinished is because I ran out of rivets by the time I got to the last hoop after having to replace about a dozen or so as they popped off while I was working on assembling the hoop. After getting thoroughly fed up with the entire thing, I ranted about it on my other journal, and a friend of mine mentioned she'd had better luck getting the rivets to set properly using a wrench rather than a hammer as the instructions suggest. Emboldened, I went back and did the next two hoops using the wrench to smash the little buggers flat and had much better results. Except by that time, I had run out of rivets. I'm debating right now over ordering more or simply sewing the final hoop to the tapes and being done with it...

After getting the crinoline squared away, I decided to see what it would look like with my big froofy petticoat over it:

Yep, its froofy!

The petticoat was designed to be worn alone, and low on the hips, so it doesn't fit properly over the hoops. But the effect is exactly what I wanted, so I'll be taking in the waistband and extending the length of the skirt with an additional ruffle (it's hard to judge from the angle of the photo, but the skirt is a good 8" from the floor, so it needs to be a bit longer). I'm all about reworking things to save time and money. :)

On to the gown...