The Airship Project: Mrs V

A couple years ago at Dragon*Con after the Steampunk Ball and, apparently, much alcohol, some friends of ours decided that we needed to have our own Steampunk Airship. For those of you new to steampunk, I'll sum it up by saying that it's a world where today's technology has all been reimagined to run off of steam, and it has a very Victorian aesthetic (although some folks are starting to move into other areas as well). It's pretty cool, and there are some crazily creative folks out there doing it! But back to me...

So these friends of ours, with the help of much alcohol (I think I mentioned that), set about assigning parts. My husband, bless him, can't find his way out of a paper bag without a GPS, so of course he was given the position of ship's navigator (Rex McNally). How did Rex get this coveted position given his innate handicap? Well, because he's the boytoy of my assigned character: Mrs. "V", also known as "the money". In exchange for giving Rex a chance to live out his dream, "V" fronts the money for the whole shebang (it also gives her something to talk about at those dreadful tea parties).

So, here's my husband in his Rex McNally get up:

No, I didn't sew that. He invoked his astonishing powers of "Captain Off-the-Rack" to put that together. Not too long after this whole thing kicked off, if I recall correctly.








As for me? Well, I have this horrible habit of wanting to do everything "correctly". So if I was going to do "V" as a well-to-do society lady, then I was going to do it right! Right, in this case, means "start from the inside and work your way out", so now, two years later, I have reached this stage:

Yep, that's right, two years later and I have ....


... underwear.



I'm such a quick sewer.




There's also a corset that I bought, but I wanted to show my friends I'd actually accomplished something, so it's not in this photo. :)

For the terminally curious, that's the 'Chemise and Drawers' pattern from Truly Victorian. It works up pretty easily once you figure out the fabric origami in the leg ruffles. :) I imagine all that will be quicker now that I have a ruffler and a gathering foot for my sewing machine! If I had a time machine, I think I'd go back to the Victorian era and punch the first guy who made all those ruffles fashionable. Yes, they're pretty, but Oh! such a pain! :)

This weekend involves massive sewing: the petticoat for "V" here, work on my Imperial Officer I talked about earlier, and another costume that is the brainchild of some other friends of ours (our friends get us into so much trouble, I swear .... ). More on that one later! :)