Thursday, October 6, 2011

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.

3 comments:

  1. I was thinking of doing that with a zipper, but at the bottom of a garment. I need to cut an ill fitting dress into a shirt. Do you have any advice for how the secure the zipper at the bottom so it doesn't zip off there? Cover it with some fabric maybe?

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    Replies
    1. You can cover it with a little fabric tab, but you might also want to sew around the bottom of the zipper several times to secure the tape itself. http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/17475/pulling-teeth-tips-to-shorten-zippers

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  2. Oh gawd...I remember that dress...I have something very similar made of a stretch thin material that was impossible to pull off, and it shall not see the light of day until I can lose these baby pounds. *hides*

    ReplyDelete

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