Choir Dress Refashion for My Steampunk Costume

All ready to sing Dona Nobis Pacem!

Every time I go home to SF, I love rediscovering all kinds of craziness -- whether it be my well-loved (almost to death) copies of the Little House books, my old horsey security blankie that I've had since I was born, or bags of fabric my mom doesn't want anymore -- in the laundry room, stashed away in boxes, in the back corners of the closets. This gem, rediscovered about a year ago, is my choir dress from freshmen year of high school! That was half a lifetime ago...gosh I feel old. I took it home with me thinking I could keep it around as a souvenir? I'm not really sure, but I would try it on every once in a while just to see if I still could. The top had gotten uncomfortably tight, but I like to think that's because I filled out a bit more in the bust area since the age of 13.

At an original $89 (why??? for cheap polyester?!), I figured it was a pretty expensive souvenir, and I needed a long skirt to be part of my steampunk costume. I realize that steampunk is supposed to be a reimagining of the Victorian era, but I just don't have it in my budget to do ginormous bustles and bell-shaped skirts. Thankfully, I think the community is fairly forgiving and will overlook my use of a an anachronistic polyester silhouette. Anyway, I cut off the top part of my dress, saving it of course (who knows, I might need it one day!), and then hemmed the waist of the skirt. I even went so far as to use bias tape since the material was fraying quite a bit, but somehow I messed up and got a weird pucker on the front of the skirt. Oh well, that part will be under the corset anyway.

I kept the original zipper, but I cut it down to the right size and sewed a little bit at the top to keep the zipper pull from just zipping right off. I also added a hook and eye (I only have white, unfortunately).

Front, with the weird pucker, back, and side.

Close up of the braided trim, my mom's 14-year-old hem since the original dress was long enough for a giantess, and some choir room gunk that wouldn't wash out.

I had bought two different sizes of braid since I didn't know what I wanted to use to trim my skirt, so I used the smaller one around the collar of an old button-up dress shirt I'll be wearing under the corset. I plan on tying or pinning it, kind of like a cowboy tie. So now my costume is a weird Western, Firefly-esque steampunk look. Right. Also, I'm pretty sure that a poly-cotton-spandex shirt is malapropos.