#midwinter masque

Midwinter Masque 5/ 

Jasmine House flaunted, as ever, the exotica of faraway lands, and their Dowayne’s young second danced in naught but dusky skin, black hair and a cloud of veils.

Midwinter Masque 6/ - House Mandrake as the Court of Tartarus

I dismissed the Pasha’s Dream that was Valerian House, and thrilled instead to the arrival of the adepts of Mandrake House, arrayed as the Court of Tartarus.

There, amid all the froth and gaiety of the other masquers they struck a deliciously sinister note. Black velvet, like a moonless night, and silk like a black river under stars; bronze masks, horned and beaked, at once beautiful and grotesque.

It took two more tries, but I ended up with a dress pattern...I hope

I got the dress muslin more or less figured and tried it on – due to using the blazer pattern instead of the dress pattern, I actually ended up with a mock-up that was too big, among other issues: Too much gaping in the front armscye Too little room in the back armscye Needing a tiny bit of waist curve at both side seams and the center back Amazingly, I’m not going to need a full belly…

I’m switching gears to start thinking about my underdress. I knew I wanted: Something nice enough to be worn alone A deep square neckline (so it couldn’t be seen under the neck of my gown) Princess seams to lessen the need for bust darts Knee length, to not add to the bulk and warmth of wearing it, but also Long sleeves with a prominent cuff, since those will be seen Does this pattern…

The corset is finally completed, and I probably leveled up at least twice while making it

On Thursday evening, a generous friend let me use a local maker space to set the grommets on Shoryl’s corset. (Our condo neighbors are deeply appreciative, even if they don’t know it.) Back view of the completed corset I knew this would be the most challenging piece of the costumes (we’ll see if that ends up being true) but I definitely didn’t expect it to take a month on its own. Some real…

I go back to the drawing board and finally, finally find success

I managed to rip out the offending stitching on the twill tape, though the trim itself was damaged and I had to cut a new piece. I briefly forayed into hand stitching the damn thing down, but after two hours of tying to neatly back stitch black thread on black fabric, I admitted defeat and ripped that out as well. Meanwhile, I had managed to get around the inability to buy $4.80 worth of boning…

Things begin to go...less well, in corset making

Having basted the seams of the outer shell and interlining together, I started looking at the hardware: busks, boning, and lacing. I immediately noticed a problem: the bones I had gotten from Corset Making Supplies were 1/4″. The twill tape was 3/4″. This is… a large gap. I raided my supplies of trim and found a navy grosgrain ribbon that was 3/8″ instead, thinking that would work…no. In theory,…

First cuts into the actual fabric for the costumes!

The first actual fashion fabric work I started with was Shoryl’s corset. I can’t measure for their waistcoat or cape until that’s done, and we also can’t go get their pants tailored. It started off well: I had previously transferred the duct tape pieces to an old sheet, and used that to cut out the pieces. Corset outer, interlining, and lining went together well, though there was some seam…