fucking around and finding out

i make a mix of cosplay, historical clothing & fashion (gothic/cottagecore/vintage inspired) pieces, depending on what takes my interest at the moment. ive also been getting into bagmaking recently, so there may be more of that around too!

‼️there will be discussion of body image on here as it relates to sewing, especially under the context of fitting garments and with pictures of corsets (one of my favourite things to make!) if youre not comfortable seeing that then i would warn you away.

the goal: a loom capable of weaving a bookmark length piece, thats packable (read: dismantles), would be easy to make in bulk, and isnt going to cost much. heres what i came up with

for my first draft, im pretty happy! i think the workspace needs to be longer, and i maybe need to figure out a different way to secure the frame section together, but it does fundamentally work! the legs are just attached through the clamp mechanism & unscrew, which will make them easy to travel with.

as i see it, theres two ways i could tackle this project:

the screen accurate way: pretty sself-explanatory trying to make my costume as close to the one from the show as possible

the slightly historical way: for me this would involve making minor changes to the costume design to more accurately resemble historical fashion- following a historical shirt pattern, making the blue over-bodice slightly differently (i feel like this garment most closely resembles a set of jumps- completely the wrong century for our 17th c. girl, but i think that would be the best historical inspiration to take while keeping visual cohesion) this way would still keep the overall impact the same as the show, but add that element of play & research into the sewing process

I did consider a third option of playing with historical accuracy, but my research suggests that i would need to make significant changes to the design, to the point where i don't think it would be recognisable as Mary any more, so that way is out!

Another thing worth noting: i was thinking about competing some time soon, and if this costume build goes well.... well its an option. Its possible judges would be more interested in seeing a screen accurate build than one where ive diverged just in small details.