Edwardian Garters

First of all, she is so cute! I love Edwardian underwear. More importantly, this is an interesting opportunity to see how you wear your drawers or combination, while also taking advantage of those beautiful garters hanging off of so many Edwardian corsets. You just bunch them up a little and go with it.

Klockwerq

Last night I went to Klockwerq, a steampunk event at Club Oberon in Harvard Square. It being steampunk, I wore my underwear on the outside with a bustle. For a very thrown together outfit, I though this was quite respectable. Well, not respectable from the point of view of "Oh, I forgot to wear an actual skirt," but respectable in terms of "I threw this outfit together last minute and it looks fundamentally intentional." The event itself was lovely, though entirely devoid of waltzes. You would be amazed how much music it is possible, if ill-advised, to polka or charleston to. A waltz needs a waltz, though.

I caught a ride on a very snazzy scooter to get there. And just for the record, it is possible to ride a scooter side-saddle. And just for the record, it is much cooler that way.

New Plaid Silk Hugenot Skirt and Temporary Hat

Plans just didn't work out today. First, we were going to go to a birthday party picnic for a friend in Boston. A medical situation canceled the picnic. Then we thought we would go to a different event, but it started raining. Not wanting to ruin the lovely new skirt I had just finished, I didn't want to wear it out in the rain, so we canceled those plans too. Bummer.

On the other hand, I had a delightfully productive morning because of these potential plans. I finished this new plaid Hugenot skirt. I started it on Wednesday, finished cutting pieces on Thursday, completely assembled it Friday, and then woke up to throw together a hat to match! Remember how into Tissot and the Tissot-bow-hat I am. Well, this is made from scraps, and I intend to re-do it later and do it more justice. But for 20 minutes work, not bad at all.I also, this morning, put most of the eyelets (I couldn't find enough! Boo hoo!) into this gorgeous blue plaid silk Edwardian corset I made. It's been sitting around, finished except for eyelets, beautiful but totally unwearable, for ages. Now it can be worn, and I am inspired to add the last four eyelets soon! So please enjoy the pretty pictures and forgive the slight weirdness of the lacing... I just adore the shape of this corset. The pretty swoops over the hips are so pretty. It is a Past Patterns pattern... check out that company for some lovely things.

Charles River Museum of Industry Steampunk Event

After driving home from Dances of Vice, it was time to hit the Charles River Museum of Industry for an event that we had helped to conceive of (so we certainly had to attend it!). The museum is not very well known, but it is really lovely. It is all about industry and machinery, so they have really cool things like a watchmaker's bench set-up, a stunning early telephone booth (my favorite), a steam powered fire engine, and more! Unfortunately, with the recent flooding (and since the museum is right on the bank of the Charles River), it was pretty severely damaged. This event had to be postponed, and even so some of the damage was evident. It is really a shame. Hopefully the success of the event will help somewhat with the costs of the damage. Hopefully it will also have raised awareness and found new members, because the last time I asked, before the event was even over, well over 600 people had come in!

The event itself was lovely... there were a number of demonstrators and vendors with great things to look at. Mother taught some dancing, with the lovely Ad Hoc Quadrille band accompanying her. More than anything, I am glad so many people showed up. Here are some pretty pictures.People doing the Gothic Dance. I love that dance.One of the display tables was advertising for a steampunk larp. They had steampunked nerf guns, and let people shoot at a stacked soda cans for a prize (a fake mustache!). Here is my little sister trying her luck... she hit the cans on the first try, actually. Her outfit includes a short hoop I made and the red corset I made for her Queen of Hearts costume for Arisia, if you remember back that far.My outfit was pretty unremarkable. Another appearance for the super-cool upholstery vinyl Edwardian corset I made. I love that thing.
Goslings! There were a bunch of geese hanging out around the museum, including all these cute little goslings! There was a goose fight when we first arrived... two geese locked necks and violently batted their wings at each other. It was really quite dramatic! There was also a nesting goose just outside the museum. She was really concerned about so many people walking by. Poor thing.

Tales from the Dances of Vice Swan Lake Ball

Stories of this weekend's adventures are coming a little late, since I've been too busy to post about them for a couple of days. Friday we drove out to New York (my mother obligingly signed on for this crazy adventure). We found miraculously good parking and got dressed in the street. I didn't actually teach dancing until one in the morning, so I guess that was Saturday technically. Then we drove back, to be home in time for the next event! What a busy schedule.

It was well worth doing, however. The event was lovely, and everyone was very nice. The Galapagos art space was fantastically fun to see - imagine a stage, and the seating for the audience suspended on platforms with walkways over water. There were some excellent performances - an ugly duckling themed ballet, some wonderfully dramatic opera (with a little Lady Gaga thrown in for good measure), and a fashion show with stunning wigs. After that, I got to teach a few easy contra dances, which went really well. In fact, people were so excited to dance that when I invited them to come to the stage and learn, I got more volunteers than would even fit on the stage! It was really wonderful. As is always the case, it took a little while to get people set up, but after that the dancing went very smoothly. I am still thrilled that it went so well.

(Talking to some nice people after the dancing)

The organizer, Shien Lee was a very courteous and generous hostess. She really did a great job with this event. There were also lots of really incredible outfits to look at - I think it is really wonderful that there is so much enthusiasm for dressing up. There is a Dances of Vice flickr group with lots of pictures of people all dressed up for events, if you want to go look. The high standard for costuming inspired me to throw together an outfit for myself, aiming for dramatic and over-the-top. I hope I got close, even though some of the construction ended up being incredibly last minute (meaning that Friday before jumping in the car...). It isn't clear from the pictures quite how cool the skirt was. It is made from a crispy organza with a life of its own. If I moved the skirt, it would sort of hold whatever shape I had put it in. I was also very worried about the floating candles on the water, because I could practically see my large ungainly skirt of highly synthetic and probably flammable material bursting into flames as I walked down a walkway and brushed over a candle. Eek! But there were no unintended flames the entire night.
This is a picture of me, with my reflection in the water. Isn't that incredibly cool? It was a lovely and enjoyable event, and I really look forward to going to more events by Dances of Vice in the future.

Also, there was one last funny moment. As I was finishing getting dressed in the street, before actually going to the event, a couple of (mildly tipsy? I think) girls were wandering by, and started congratulating me. It turns out they though I had just gotten married. Personally, that is not what I would wear for a wedding, but I guess I can see where they are coming from. Maybe.(Getting out of the car. Or getting married?)

Stripey Corset

A couple weeks ago I made a stripey black and white corset. Read on for detailed blathering on about that, if you're curious about corsets. I made it as an experiment, but as I was throwing together a last minute outfit to wear to the Dances of Vice event, it turned out to be useful for that.

This is not a picture of a corset, but it is vaguely similar looking. I find it to be a really interesting bodice design. For pictures of my corset, stay tuned...
My corset was an experiment, and a learning experience, I suppose. Lesson one - this is a viable pattern for me (it is a significantly modified version of a Past Patterns pattern), and fits my difficult measurements well, but in the final analysis is a little too big. I can lace it completely closed and it is still a little bit loose. I think a well-fitting corset should have a little bit of space in the back where it laces... not many inches, but the edges shouldn't completely touch. The important measure for the fit of a corset is not how wide the gap is, but how parallel it is. For example, if a corset laces closed at the bottom, but there is a gap at the top, it was not made to accommodate your bust size. If the opposite, it is not big enough for your hips. You get the idea. If you wear a corset that does not fit, it will never be comfortable the way that a perfectly fitting customized corset will. You ought to be comfortable if you wear a corset. Unless, I suppose, the intention is to be uncomfortable, in which case I probably don't want to hear any of the details anyway.

Lesson two is that trying to make the stripes vertical was not particularly effective. It causes some weird optical illusions at the bust and hips, and I think I don't like them. Perhaps with thinner stripes this would look a little better. Perhaps with a less curvy underbust pattern this would be more successful. Perhaps I will angle the stripes the next time I use this fabric, and see how that goes.