Posts Tagged ‘sushi victorian’

Sushi Victorian Bustle Gown

Posted by Trystan on October 6th, 2003

I’ve lived in the South Bay most of my life, yet somehow I’d never visited Hakone Gardens. It’s been nestled in the Saratoga foothills since 1918 & open to the public for nearly 40 years. What a treasure this place is! Delicate & structured yet wild & natural, all at the same time. Gentle waterfalls, swarming koi, snappish turtles, climbing wisteria, elegant cedar buildings, all arranged so precisely on the hillside & lush with authentic plants, dotted with traditional stone lanterns. It’s a must-see for Japanophiles & a really lovely spot for anyone to visit.

But we didn’t just go for the zen goodness, oh no! We went to dress up & play among costumer folk. I was delighted to see all my old friends there, all looking resplendent in Victorian finery and/or Japanese elegance. This was such a simple costumed event too — all you had to do was throw on a kimono or hapi coat over a dress or pants & shirt, as about half the guests did. That was enough to get into the spirit of things.

I must admit, I felt almost like the belle of the ball. Everyone loved my Sushi Victorian. People would do a double-take. “Oh what a lovely bustle gown” (thinking it was just a bright red floral print). Then, upon closer inspection, “Oh my goodness, that’s sushi! And the parasol & purse match! And look at her hat & the hair sticks!” I even did a few peep shows where I unbuttoned two mid-waist buttons on my polonaise to reveal a strategically placed image of a California roll on my corset (Yosa must have planned that!). Of course, that just got ppl asking if I had sushi-print knickers (note to self: get black sushi fabric & make proper Victorian bloomers to match ;-).

Even aside from the gluttony of praise, it was a great afternoon. I chatted with amazing people in a beautiful setting. I admired everyone’s costumes & took pictures of many. It was exactly what a good costumed event should be.

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Su- Su- Sushio!

Posted by Trystan on August 11th, 2003

Finally! The gown itself is done! Finished the last rows of the blasted ruffles and hemmed and trimmed the skirt. I love the ruffled skirt now — when I put it on, I realized how perfect the ruffles go with the polonaise. Ruffles give extra fullness, as a petticoat would, but better. The pouf of the ruffles balances the pouf of the pleated polonaise “bustle” in the back. It looks absolutely faboo together, and, yes, it was worth it!

Sushi necklace & earrings

Sushi necklace & earrings

Finishing touches: Hung some of the sushi beads (plus tiny black bugle beads) from black venice lace to make a choker. Did the same idea on earring hooks, for a matched set.

Sushi hairsticks

Sushi hairsticks

Two of the sushi erasers already had holes in the bottoms — the perfect size to fit on the ends of chopsticks! I can use them alone as hair sticks or poke them through the bow at the back of the hat, a la hat pins.

For the hat, I gathered up a tube of black tulle and tacked that around the brim of the hat, to give the sushi erasers something to nestle in. Added a black silk flower from the Stash. Glued the erasers down and used a couple more of the large sushi beads too.

Decorated sushi hat

Decorated sushi hat

So the gown is complete. (And I hear you all breathing a sigh of relief thinking “thank the frickin’ gods, now maybe she’ll shut up about the damn thing!” heh, no such luck, kiddos ;-) See, you must understand, I will have almost nowhere to wear any of these costumes. I just don’t go to that many costumed events, & the ones I do attend don’t necessarily have anything to do with my latest costume obsessions. The sushi victorian is a slight exception, in that I’m making it specifically for an picnic in October. But still, I’ll get to wear it that one day for a few hours, & that’s all.

I’ve resigned myself to not wearing my costumes. I don’t have much choice about it. Yet, I can’t stop myself from creating more of these ridiculous outfits. Thus, I feel compelled to take & post as many pictures as possible of the process & finished project. Pictures online have replaced wearing costumes in public for me. Egotistical? Sure. Narcissistic? You bet. But it’s all I’ve got, so gimmie a break ;-)

Another thing — I think I missed my calling in costuming. I’m really enjoying these silly costumes much more than the serious ones. I should have been a costume humorist. I wasted so many years making proper Renaissance court gowns & serious fantasy things when I’d have been better at funny costumes.

Finally, let me crow a little bit about the fact that I have completed the vast majority of the whole costume (only hat, choker, & T’s cravat & pocket square to make) this far in advance! Based on tonight’s meeting w/a contractor, it looks like September will be taken up with remodeling the garage, so it’s a damn good thing I’m done w/the sushi victorian now. The picnic is the 1st wknd of October, & I’ll have no time next month to do any costuming. Whew.

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!$~&#()@!?! ruffles

Posted by Trystan on August 9th, 2003

Note to self: Never, ever sew anything with more than one ruffle ever again.

The ruffled skirt is killing me. Hemming and trimming the ruffles was a piece o’ frickin’ cake compared to actually gathering and attaching the ruffles. All nine goddamned rows of ruffles.

I used to think it’d be neat to someday make a can-can skirt or flamenco dress with rows upon rows of ruffles. How hard could that be? It’s all straight sewing. Sure, it must be a little tedious, but nothing that difficult.

Yeah, but the tedium will drive me out of my tiny little mind. Actually, it’s not tedious. Hand-sewing on trim is tedious, and in comparison, I enjoy that lots. But gathering and attaching all the bloody ruffles is just so frickin’ fussy and bothersome. I’ve never liked adjusting gathers. It’s a major pain in the ass. Why did I forget this? Why didn’t I just leave it with a plain, unruffled red skirt? Because I had this silly idea about the ruffles edged w/black and all that pouf and texture. Me and my great ideas.

Thrift-store hat, waiting to be trimmed

Thrift-store hat, waiting to be trimmed

I’m two-thirds of the way thru. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the last three ruffles done. These are the only ones that go all the way around the skirt too. So they’re the longest and most bothersome. Goody.

But I’m so close! Three rows of ruffles, then I can hem the skirt. Then the dress itself is done, and I get to play with the hat! Last weekend at the thrift store, I found a red felt, saucer-shaped child’s hat that will be a great base for a frou-frou Victorian hat trimmed in ruched black tulle and sushi erasers. Feathers would be nice too, if I have any in the Stash.

Sushi purse

Sushi purse

Finished the purse today too. It’s a pointed drawstring bag half in red sushi print and half in solid red with red ribbon handles and a black tassel at the bottom with four of the large sushi beads, stacked two on two, between the head of the tassel and the purse itself. Quite freakishly cute, if I do say so m’self. Hope the hat turns out somewhere as good.

Should make a cravat from the sushi-print fabric for Thomas to wear to the event too, but only if he still has a simple black waistcoat hiding in the closet. Maybe a red pocket square too, if his wool frock coat has a breast pocket. Because I like to be all matchy-matchy like that.

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Mo’ Sushi Madness

Posted by Trystan on July 27th, 2003

I hemmed and trimmed all the jillion miles of ruffles for the skirt. Hemming would have been enough of a pain (though let us all take a moment to praise the high and mighty rolled-hem foot!). But I had to go and edge each layer of ruffles with narrow black lace. Yes, I am officially insane, thankyouverymuch. But I really wanted the look of black trim on each red ruffle. It looked way too cool in my head for me to not do it. Besides, I ran out of matching red thread when I started hemming, so I was forced to put on the black lace to cover up the not-quite-matching stitching. And yes, I had to hem then trim each ruffle (thus sewing the same length twice) because the raw edge would have shown through the lace, and the lace had to be top-stitched because of the lace’s design.

I am *not* a nitpicky anal costumer type. Very, very rarely do I plan or attempt any project that would require me to sew the same thing twice or top-stitch or do most any kind of fiddly fussy work like this. I’m not that costumer, and I don’t even play her on TV. I’m a slap-dash, who-cares-it-won’t-really-show kinda gal. I’m a “lining? who needs a lining” costumer. I’m a safety-pin-is-good-enough costumer. I’m a “who sez velcro isn’t period as long as it doesn’t show” costumer. I sew hems by machine and then sew trim over the stitching line (also by machine) so it’s not as obvious. Hell, my standard-operating procedure is to throw trim onto anything that doesn’t work out, which in my costume closet is a lot of things.

So I’m still a bit gob-smacked that I trimmed all those ruffles. And that, a few messy areas aside (which won’t be noticeable once the ruffles are actually ruffled and attached to the skirt), it looks pretty good.

Also finished the polonaise. Made and attached the sleeves, made $@?%#! buttonholes (must. not. sew. anything. with. buttonholes. again!), sewed on the buttons, trimmed the neckline, and trimmed the bottom edge of the polonaise with fat black lace. Looks awfully cute, IMO.

Worked on the parasol too — made a fussy little rosette-like thing to go just below the finial, which in some ways was more trouble than it’s worth. Eh, had to cover that spot somehow. Realized that the parasol isn’t as taut as it could be, but, remember, I am not a perfectionist costumer, so I don’t care. Nyah!

As of July 30th, I’ve finished the parasol. Sewed black venice lace around the edge, glued the rosette and finial on, and glued red ribbon around the handle. The ribbon ended up being easier and looking better than the chopsticks would have. Oh well. I’ll use a couple chopsticks on the hat and pack some to use at the picnic.

Sushi beads bought on eBay

Sushi beads bought on eBay

But I did luck into finding an artist on eBay who makes awesome beads shaped like sushi rolls. I plan to sew the small beads at the tips of some black venice lace for a choker. The large beads I might make into earrings and/or trim the drawstring bag that I’ll make to match the outfit.

Sushi corset made by Yosa of Silks & Velvets

Sushi corset made by Yosa of Silks & Velvets

Bought some sushi erasers on eBay to decorate the hat. I’ve lost one hat auction already and not having luck finding anything else. Need to scout thrift stores. Good thing the event isn’t until October!

And I can’t forget the fabulous sushi corset I bought from Yosa! It’s absolutely stunning, like everything she makes, so I couldn’t possibly resist it. Now I’ll be wearing sushi from the skin out.

Really, I am Theme Girl. Once I get a theme into my head, I have to take it as far as humanly possible. I’ve done this with parties, home decor, costumes, you name it. I hate to be half-assed about a theme. I really can’t be stopped once I get a theme going ;-)

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It’s Always Better With Accessories (and Lace)

Posted by Trystan on June 30th, 2003

Finished the base of the skirt, including the cartridge pleating at the center back. And I took the GBACG’s parasol re-covering workshop, where I covered a reproduction Victorian parasol frame with the sushi fabric and red contrast.

I bought some black venice lace from Cheeptrims to edge the parasol & the polonaise & for the sleeve ruffles. Also bought some narrow black loopy trim to edge the ruffles that will go on the skirt.

Lastly, I need to make a little ruffled bit to put around the top of the parasol spike, then glue on the fancy finial (unless I can find a suitable piece o’ plastic sushi for the finial ;-). Still not sure what to do w/the handle — could leave it as-is, which is boring & screams “hey this is that cheap repro that you see all over.” Could cut it off & glue on the ball handle provided at the workshop. Must look around hardware & craft stores for interesting turned wood bits to use. I purposefully didn’t cut it off at the workshop, tho’, just in case I can’t find anything else.

So this project is officially on hold for a couple weeks until the Cheeptrims order arrives.

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Sushi Sewing

Posted by Trystan on June 22nd, 2003

Finished the muslin for the polonaise tunic and started sewing the polonaise itself. The pattern was a decent fit, but needed some tweaks. Modifying the fit was made more difficult by the three long, lengthwise darts in the front of the bodice. I had to reshape and expand them a bit. Also had to take in the shoulder seams a smidge as I’m a smidge short-waisted. Wasn’t originally planning to wear a corset with this outfit — it’s more hysterical than historical — but when I tried the muslin on over my wedding corset, it looked much better. So this will be a corseted costume.

This pattern is deceptively simple. It *looks* complicated, but I think a very patient beginner could do it, and it would be a great “first intermediate” pattern for someone who is stretching their sewing wings. The darts are tricky if you need to modify the fit, but that’s why we do a muslin. The coolest thing about the pattern is how the pleats on the side create the bustled effect. It’s actually quite easy to do, just requires a lot of pinning and checking before sewing. But the results are awesome! You get a lot of bang for your sewing buck out of this pattern. I am definitely going to use the pattern again!

For pictures, I put the in-progress polonaise over a black petticoat on my dressform. The final skirt will probably be worn over this petticoat, but it depends on how fluffy all those ruffles make the skirt.

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Start the Sushi

Posted by Trystan on June 1st, 2003

While I’d planned to buy the fabric from Repro Depo, I ended up buying the five yards of bright red cotton printed with rows of sushi and sashimi from an eBay seller. I’d had Past Patterns’ 1880s Polonaise With Walking Skirt pattern for years but never made it up. It seemed a good choice for sushi, so I decided to make the polonaise tunic of the print fabric, then make the ruffled skirt from solid red cotton, maybe with black piping or trim on the edge of the ruffles. I’ll use black trim throughout the outfit.

To top it all off, I could hunt down some of those plastic fake-sushi pieces that Japanese restaurants have, and use those to trim a little hat. Somehow, I will have sushi on my head ;-)

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