Sewing Machine

 

I Gots a Sewing Machine!!

(going to come back and change this- don't worry)

:D

Gathering

Hey Everybody! 

Yes, the above picture is me. I'd been looking around the things I had in my room, and I rediscovered an old watch that I had randomly found and kept. Now, one of the core parts of steampunk is gears, and clocks are infamous for having their guts made out of just that sort of thing. So- naturally, I took it apart. To my great surprise (and pleasure) I found that the outside of the clock looked nearly perfect for part of a pair of goggles! I just need to find another watch (of similar size) and I'll have the eye-pieces for my goggles! It's a happy thought.

 

  

Pictured  below are the components of about 2 1/2 watches. I'm not sure how I'm going to incorporate them into my outfits yet, but I'm sure something will come up.

   

I also gathered up some other things that I thought I could use, including my clock pendant, the leather bracelet my little sister Hannah gave me this christmass, and the little vile of glass my older sister Sarah gave to me for my birthday, all of which are pictured below.

 

~*~

 

My oma (that's german for grandmother) and my mum also gave me some patterns for skirts and dresses, which I'm not so sure I'm going to use, but are nice to have around. The pattern on the left (8305) seems to hold the most potential.

~*~

Anyway. On 2/23 I went down to Sew Green, because they were having a $10 stuff-a-bag sale. Because the sale started on Monday, and I went on Thursday, the bags were down to $7. I went through and picked up a lot of fabrics, most of which were shiny and soft (liners my oma called them [with slight disgust]). I did find some really cool scale-ish pattered cloth, though I'm not sure what I will and won't end up using. But, even if I don't end up using any of the fabric, it's still good to have around (just in case), and I can always use it later/give it away. 

As you can see (above) I got a lot of cloth for just $7. 

~*~

 

The above pics are of the vests I got at salvation army- one is leather (needs to be cleaned) and one is wool (needs to be taken apart and fitted for me)

I'm rather annoyed at blogger right now- so I'll come back to this later. 'Till then, bye.

In Progress

     Hello everybody! It's been a few weeks since my first post- and I've gotten a few designs down- though they all need some work. I have found the sticky notes are my best friends for my journal- they let me add in information later on, record assignments in without making them permanent, and put side notes/reminders in that I can remove when they are no longer applicable.

     I've decided that I'm not going to be working on Modern Renaissance design; this means I will be focusing exclusively on Steampunk. This seems like a better decision to me because it will allow me to aquatint myself with the genre better, instead of switching back in forth between the two. This does not change any of the due dates or requirements- it just means everything has to have an element of Steampunk in it.

    I've been working through different design ideas and concepts- but I find that my favorite designs start from an already existing piece that I copy.

~*~

Above is one of my first designs- just a simple combo of  a pair of shorts, sleeveless shirt, and a (short) short sleeve jacket. The only things is that I like my clothes ling and loose- a short jacket would probably get on my nerves.
The shorts wouldn't have pockets- and to make up for that I would use a belt bag (made of leather/faux leather). I got the idea for this design from a bag on ETSY

 Leather Round Possibles Bag (original inspiration)

~*~

This outfit is also based off of something I found on ETSY- this time it being a shirt that made me think of corsets. The detached sleeves look very cool- and I have ended up incorporating them in my other designs. There are two possible differences in this outfit- revolving mainly around the two different coat/jacket styles. The design on the far right is my favorite of the two. 

Detached sleeves shirt (Original)

This leads me to the second design idea on the page- Goggles

Goggles are such an crucial part of Steampunk that I wouldn't be doing the culture justice without a pair. The thing is- goggles restrict your peripheral vision. You can't see anywhere but ahead of you- and that would bother me a lot.

So- my friend Helen came up with the brilliant idea of putting little triangles of opaque film on the sides- giving me a little bit of peripheral sight. 

This lead me to think about what I could do to further this idea- and I came up with making camera goggles- which means taking old cameras and recycling the parts to create my goggles!
Not only that- but if I use old film for the lenses- I can make them sunglasses of a sort, giving them a practical purpose on top of them looking really cool!

~*~

I know that there are two designs in this section- but I don't like the one on the far left (it has a lot of technical problems and I'm unclear I how I would make it work, even if I wanted to try and make it)  So I won't go into it.

This design, though, I like a lot. 

It's basically a knock-off of the mini web series Riese: Kingdom Falling's main character's outfit- but that's okay. It looks really cool. But it would be more form fitting and constrained due to the fact that it does have a corset as part of the major design; meaning that it wouldn't be something I would automatically think of as comfortable- which is a major part of this project.

~*~

The above shows three designs, I was just sort of trying out different styles, but nothing too fancy. The design in the upper left hand corner is my favorite of this lot. The hand in the lower right corner is due to stumbling a crossed the Tailor's Assistant on Etsy.

This design is a combo of a shirt and a dress- giving me the length and freedom I love- but without the bother of it being too long. Keeping the pants is also nice- just because it would allow me to stay within my comfort zone. (Any dresses/skirts will have shorts under them)

I would definitely want to have at least three different belt bags to go with this outfit- because I feel like it has an 'adventure/exploration' feel to it.

~*~

I was trying to design more outfits with squirts, seeing as I have a dirth of such outfits, and they are so critical to the steampunk genre. The top two designs were also exploring vests/jackets.

This design was experimenting with the look of a jacket that could be worn loos, but also pulled and tied at the sides for a more fitted look. It has a sort of office worker vibe to it.

I was trying to integrate a swallowtail jacket, a garment that shows up frequently in steampunk outfits. 

I'm not so sure if I really like the look of it though.

~*~

That's if for now, I'll be back later with more updates on my progress. Until then! 

The Start

Dear Reader,
 I'm starting this blog as an effort to keep some sort of organized record of my progress and process in my WISE project; which, in essence, is fashion design. My project concept is centered around the idea of taking fantasy fashion- focusing mainly on Steampunk and [Modern] Renaissance- and turning them into several comfortable, versatile outfits that I could wear day-to-day; but still contain key elements to their corresponding genre. I need to have at least four outfits by the end of the school year.
Mainly what will be found on this blog will be summaries of my week, excerpts from my journal, scans of design concepts, and photos that correspond to what I'm doing or of my progress.

In explanation for those of you who are unfamiliar with the genres I've chosen to work within, both are based around specific time periods, but are given a bit of a twist.

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. (Wiki)

[Modern] Renaissance is based roughly between the 14th and the 17th century (though most people associate it with the middle ages), and deals more in fantasy and magic; Many people are more aware of this culture due to its high publicity rate through things such as Robin Hood, King Arther, and even Lord of the Rings (though LOTR doesn't exactly fit within M.R., but that's something else altogether).

 It's going to be interesting to see what I can do with these styles, but I'm looking forward the possibilities.
Hopefully my next post will include some scans of designs  from my notebook. 'Till next time, Kathryn.