Cosplay

For Christmas Jeremy finally got a bowler hat to finish up his steampunk outfit . It was a surprise to him and he was thrilled. He wore it all day--including playing croquet outside with my brother.


It really is a "gentleman's sport."

In Jeremy's Christmas stocking he also got movie tickets to go see Sherlock Holmes in the theater. Of course I knew he would want to wear his outfit to the show, so I packed his pants under the guise that I wanted my mom's help redoing the hem job (they really could actually use it) and his vest he which wears regularly anyways.

I felt like I really needed an outfit to wear with Jeremy, so at my mom's house I spent a few days with an old bedsheet turning it into a steampunk skirt. (Any kind of top is just going to have to wait until this baby comes out.)


I've spent a lot of time looking at female steampunk attire online. It ranges from totally skanky and goth to completely classical conservative Victorian. I wanted something in between, as the purpose of steampunk is not necessarily to mimic history verbatim-- but to alter it in interesting ways.


So a few elements of my skirt:

It's higher in the front than in the back. (I don't know what that's called "training?" but it is a historic possibility.)

It's almost up to my knees in front. This is a contemporary artistic license that I took.

It ruffles with layers in the back, but I only wanted minimal bustling as I don't have a bustle cage or pillow.

It has a criss-cross corset-style lasing up the back of the waistband. This will probably be more visible without a maternity t-shirt on.

The "pinstripe" look is good for the casual every-day feeling of the skirt. I really want a fancier satiny dress with an actual--but not too big-- bustle. But that will be for another time, when I actually have some money to spend on it and real time to put in (and most-likely a pattern, for at least a jumping-off point). Jeremy also really wants a tophat, but that also would go with a more formal outfit more than his current one.

We also have this pattern for traveling clothes on our radar:


It's super-cool and would lend itself more to accessorizing in the adventurer/explorer steampunk fashion that many people expect.

We went to the movie with my brothers (and their wives where applicable) and they even sat by us and talked to us while we were in the theater, so I guess we didn't look like too big of nut jobs.


It was a pretty fun Christmas adventure.

I haven't been sure when the next time we'd pull out our costumes is. But I hear our church is having an activity soon with a "Family History" theme. I'm not sure exactly what that is supposed to mean in regards to being an activity--but I'm pretty sure it's going to necessitate us wearing our costumes. Yep. . . definitely.