Finding closure

I have now finished my re-creation of Elizabeth's first outfit from Bioshock Infinite.

When I last wrote about the shirt I said I was dreading the buttonholes. Turns out it was most fortuitous that I left them for a while as eventually I noticed something else in my reference images.

Elizabeth's shirt doesn't have buttonholes. The buttons are on the right front (the side that is on top) even when the shirt is open. Cue great rejoicing.

Fake buttons over other kinds of joins is also period accurate so after this discovery I lost no time in finishing the closure. Buttons on the outside, snaps on the inside, and hooks and loops at the very top, as, in the picture, her outfit has no visible fastenings when the neck is open.

The yoke is attached with flat-felled seams. The back has a central pleat and is gathered (unevenly) into the yoke.

To keep the bulk of the shirt at the back, the pleat is secured below the skirt level using a technique I found in Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques.

The scarf is a bias-cut rectangle sewn into a tube. I used the wrong side of a soft satin. The choker is made from eyelet lace with a ribbon running through the middle. The ribbon is used to fasten it at the back of the neck.

I entered this outfit in the Canberra Show and won first place in the Summer/Winter Garment category.

Bioshock Infinite belongs to Take-Two Interactive Software

Start simple be hanged II

The first post about my Tia Dalma costume covered the bodice and mantua.

Skirts
The two skirts are both constructed from two rectangles of fabric with an elastic waist (because I had not yet developed a distaste for elastic). The underskirt is made of lovely satin and the overskirt is made from two printed cottons which don’t have quite the right drape. Both skirts are intentionally unfinished to allow them to fray. The skirts are worn over a bumroll.

Jewellery

Some beads I painted to match the reference images but since the photos weren’t great I just put stuff together that had a similar look. I didn’t work out what the chicken’s foot was until after making the necklace, so I just have some shell beads tied together. I also bought the Master Replicas version of Tia Dalma’s crab-shaped music box necklace but I was disappointed by its quality. By my standard of ‘replica’ the locket should have opened (I would forgive it for not playing music) or at very least it should looked like the original from all angles but the one I bought is hollow in the back.

Hair
I curled my hair the night before the Disney party and, on the day, I styled it with a mixture of curls, plaits and teasing (and feathers). I have since made fake dreadlocks by fingerweaving featherwool.

Modifications

Of course, the most significant improvement is the addition of the sea.

There were several parts of this outfit I wasn’t happy with. After the party, I decided to take the bodice apart and remake it. And gradually, over the following years, I did. I made the bodice shorter and replaced the boning with cable ties and added some extra boning channels. The boning I had originally used came on a roll and never really lost the curve which meant it stuck into me in some places and didn’t follow my shape in others.

I also replaced the trim on the overskirt with two layers of fringe.

Belt 

I also made a new belt. The original belt I made was too short so I had added an extension in the centre back. This wasn’t a problem for wearing it, because it was under the Mantua, but I was unhappy with it and it meant I couldn’t use the belt with other outfits which I had a notion to do. I was also unimpressed with the fabric I had used – it was a knit fabric and kept stretching out of shape. In the meantime I had found some better reference pictures so I was able to do an improved decorative scheme. I had originally used red sequins along the edge (I don’t know why either) but now I was able to use more accurate rows of beads – although still not wooden beads because the amount I’d need was outside my budget. The cowry shells on my first belt were actually another belt sewn on, but for the new one I was able to use individual shells (salvaged from another belt, naturally).

It was a good idea to start costuming with such a big project – it made my subsequent projects appear quite reasonable to my family.

Canberra Show-off

Just a quick report from this year's Canberra show.

I entered my Assassin's Creed II costume in the Performance Costume category (sadly the only entry) and Elizabeth in the Summer/Winter Garment section.

I won firsts for both outfits. I got some nice comments from the judges about Elizabeth, complimenting my pintucks but also recommending that I user a neater finishing technique on the inside; this is something I will work on.

My assassin won overall champion of Non-professional with more than Two Years Experience entries.