Construction and Fit

Today I’m going to show you how to put the garment together.

Here I have pinned up the side of the sleeve with the armhole so I can sew a tube for the elastic. On my machine I have taken off the detachable part so I can sew the round object.

Assemble 3 — Now I have attached the sleeves to the front and back of the shirt.

Assemble 5 — AAAAANNND now we have something resembling a top…

Assemble 6 — Not quite done yet: according to the directions now I need to make a tube for an elastic for the collar and thread the elastic through.

Assemble 7 — This part of the pattern of the shirt shows the fold line where I need to make the tube.

Assemble 8 — I followed the directions and pinned it.

My new best friend during this project: the safety pin. Makes it so much easier considering I need to thread elastic about a total of 10 times… you’ll see.

Now we are going to make the skirt. I will sew up the sides.

Assemble 12 — Still using the piece of fabric to make sure the machine stays healthy and 5/8th inch seam allowance along with making sure the pins are straight.

I need to now make a tube for the waist of the dress so I have pinned everything again after sewing the skirt with enough room to sew it again. This time closer so we can make the tube.

Assemble 15 — Thank you instructions, I’d be lost without you.

My friend the safety pin is back so I can make an elastic waist.

Assemble 17 — HOLY COW IT LOOKS LIKE A DRESS!!

Assemble 19 — Dress shell is done. Now to make the corset…

First part of the corset. I need to iron the interfacing to the fabric for structure.

Assemble 22 — And it’s been ironed. Thank you fusible interfacing…

Next step is to put on the ribbon strip to make it look like there are some corset lines.

I lay out the pattern and cut them out accordingly before sewing them on. The pattern is transparent enough where I can line up the ribbon on the pattern without needing to make marks on the fabric, and can double check to make sure what I have sewn is in the right spot.

Assemble 27 — Here’s a little sewing action. I needed to pin it horizontally so I don’t have to take out the needle and it will stay straight.

Assemble 29 — And we now have a sewn on corset line pattern.

Here I have the back of the corset. I have lined up all the pins in a straight line very carefully as a guide so I can sew on these lines. This is so we can thread a whole bunch of elastic through multiple tubes.

Assemble 35 — Here is the finished corset part.

Now to attach the cool skirt overlay to make it complete.

This is the skirt part for the overlay. I will attach some leather-like ribbon to give it some styling and then attach it to the corset.

And we have a cute and simple steampunk dress. I could stop here, but my little Bean wants a Steampunk Princess Dress and did request pink. I don’t think that’s enough pink. So let’s make the tulle skirt next

I’ve already cut the tulle, and now need to pin it and sew together the sides. SEVERAL sides. If you have never worked with tulle before, just know sometimes it’s not a cakewalk. It can get tangled and rips easily. It’s cute on tutus and other kids’ costumes, but seriously just stay away from it if you can…

Trust me, you didn’t want to see the frustration I went through trying to put this together. Soooooo many layers of tulle… But darn it, it looks good.

Now to cut out a waist and attach the skirt and then string—you guessed it—another elastic.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE……………..

Now to accessorize.

We will have a few more blogs coming up by some fellow steampunkers to show you how to make a steampunk ray gun and jet-pack. Ooooooh! If you don’t want to make a costume and don’t need accessories, don’t worry! We have plenty of vendors who will be around that day to dress you to the steampunk nines.

As soon as I finish Steampunk Batman, I promise to post it on our Facebook page and social media websites. So stay tuned and check in with Jewelry City Steampunk Festival on Facebook often. Steampunk Batman will also be at the festival, so make sure you stop by and say hi on October 28th 2017 in Attleboro, MA!

In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of my dogs Amber and Porter in their steampunk costumes. Until next time, have fun creating your steampunk attire! See you at the festival.