Wednesday 3 July 2013

"Lining" the Corset, Pannier Hips and long Blue Wigs

My bits arrived from Vena Cava so I can push on with the corset again.  I'm really in the mood for a little handsewing of an evening so I've been looking forward to lining the corset seams with bias binding.  I'm trimming each seam to 3-4mm and then slip stitching the binding in place.  

Before, during and after.
It's a lovely clean finish, so clean in fact that when I proudly showed my two the results of my work, they didn't know what they should be looking at!  I also have my new eyelets and the spiral bones for the hips; it's all a little exciting.

I've also been a-googling and became very interested in pannier hips, particularly their reappearance in the 1920s which, until then, I had known nothing about.  I had started off on the Mermaid tail trail but the more I looked the less I liked.  Well, with the exception of this Steampunk costume which is kinda cool!


But, going back to my original costume, there wasn't a hint of Mermaid tail and the more I thought about making one, the more I felt like I don't want to turn this one into something so different.


I prefer hint 'o Mermaid and I like the idea of recreating my rather pitiful attempt all those years ago with my new and improved skills!  So, a little googling more, and I found this, this and this:




Lots of gorgeous pannier hips, Mermaid hips and everything.  To add to the general madness, I then found these.  Yep, can't go wrong with a little Miss Gomez!  It's the fringed skirt I love, it makes me think of seaweed.



I'm not sure how it all goes together yet but I'm already far more comfortable with it than I was the tail idea.  It sticks with my vintage vibe, includes trying something new and is far more "me" than any Mermaid tail would have been.

I've never been so confused by a costume before... there's a lot to be said for following a pattern!  It feels a whole lot messy most of the time, but I am also enjoying the randomness of it all; it's been giving me idea after idea, after idea.  It also prompted a rare moment of pre-planning and I ordered a wig.

Usually I'm so tied up in the costume that it comes to Halloween itself and I look blankly at my head and wonder what to do with it!  Last year's hairpiece was a very lucky last minute find.  Mermaid's, however, need Mermaid hair and I want no repeats of the shocking green nonsense I was so proud of on my first attempt.  I found a blue-grey wig quite by accident on Ebay and bought it before I could talk myself out of it.


Excusing the bags under my eyes and the rather goofy grin, I think I look good with a blue rinse ;o)  Now I need a big plastic crab or shell or something... every Mermaid needs a hairpiece!

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