Steampunk Photographer
I’ve been working on making and putting together a Steampunk outfit for myself for a while. It’s taking a while, but I’m finally getting a significant amount of it done! I haven’t quite pinned down how I’m going to incorporate photography into my outfit, but I think I have a few ideas.
Here’s a sketch of the major items I want to pull together for my outfit. I’ve made the skirts, purchased the shirt and corset, and plan on making the jacket in the near future. The hat and goggles will have to wait until I can save up some more!
The skirts I’ve made from McCall’s pattern M4090. A warning to anyone considering using this pattern: it really does run true to the measurements on the back! I made my skirts too small for myself because I bought the smallest pattern without paying attention to the measurements. o_o; Thankfully if I wear a corset, it’s not so bad. The lower skirt is black cotton look-a-like linen, the top skirt is made from brown linen with two hike straps.
The shirt I purchased from Retroscope Fashions, removed the buttons and replaced them with pewter buttons.
The corset I purchased from Heavy Red. It’s something I’d wanted for a long time, and came very close to not being able to get. I think I got the last one in my size from their site!
The hat I would like to get is made by Gypsy Lady Hats. I’m hoping to have one custom made with a mix of both brown as the main color and black as the accent color. The goggles I want come from Dark Wear. If I want to stick to my photographer outfit, I really don’t need the goggles, but if I were to live this kind of character, I would want to ride a motorcycle.
Of course, I really want a camera that goes with all of this… and I have one in mind. But I won’t be linking to it because finding it was ridiculously hard, and I don’t want it to disappear again! It is a beautiful wood and brass 4 x 5 camera that I would take tintype photographs with.
Coming soon… a photo of what I have so far all put together!
come up with! The past Steampunk Balls we’ve attended at Elysium have had many people who dressed up, but not to the extent you often see on sites where people show off the costumes they’ve put together. There would be frills, some gas masks, a bit of leather, and a few top hats, but most of what we observed had more Victorian influence than Steampunk. We’ve always been disappointed that there isn’t much of a hardcore Steampunk community in Austin, but then again we’re not really hardcore ourselves.
The first mention of Saturday’s event I saw was actually on another blog rather than any of Elysium’s official announcements. I’m sure this is why there weren’t as many people dressed up or even attending the ball, but those that were dressed up exceeded what I had expected based on the previous events! So much work and skill went into some of the pieces I saw, which of course completely made me jealous of what I don’t have the equipment or the skill to do. Unfortunately we missed the costume contest for the night; I’m sure it would have been much better this time around. But the event always makes me want to work to complete my outfit even more. I have items planned to purchase as well as sew for myself, but all of them will have to wait until I have more cash I can dedicate to my outfit. I did get to wear my newest skirt this time, and I modified the collar on my sister’s shirt from a simple folded collar to a shaped stand-up. Hopefully we’ll be closer to having completed outfits next time around!