Sartorial Sundays
What I would like to say before beginning my final Sartorial Sundays post is, that while I am slightly above the novice in costuming, being that I don't just buy off the rack and do do customization, I am still only starting. If you have ever seen the work of a true maker, then you know how much people take this lifestyle to heart. They are amazing and their work reflects that. While I too am a maker at heart, I sadly don't have the time or the skills to reach their level of awesomeness... YET! So take these posts as from a person continuing the journey into Steampunk, who will probably not be a master, but who gives a shout out to and tip of the top hat to those amazing people who are.
Ok, back to me.
So, I actually changed out to a more Victorian skirt, because I found it online and just fell in love with it. As for the basket, I actually found that at Teslacon and it was perfect. Reminds me of something a bee keeper would use... don't ask me why, but it does. Sadly, despite knitting up to the very last minute, I kid you not, it was 5AM of the day I was going to wear this costume, it still didn't fit as a wrap. The reason? Because the lady who designed this pattern is a freakin' midget. I'm not the only one to think so. My friend Amy did one of her patterns and also said it was way short on her too. Amy and I are of similar heights (I'm just shy of 5' 10") and when I tied this on, the back should still rest about your wait/tailbone, and it was seriously the middle of my back. Those who know me well enough know that even though I "finished" it for the con... it's not "finished." I will frog that last line and make this pattern work gosh darn it!
As for the underskirt I spent all that time on, I used two corset clips to layer the back so you could see it underneath, and it was also REALLY comfy to sit on, like your own ass pillow. Sadly, one of the clips died at the ball, which pissed me off, because they weren't exactly cheap, so I couldn't wear this outfit again for the con and went with costume two for the final day.
For the hat I actually made a wide band that snapped so it could be removed from the hat, therefore it didn't damage the hat and made it multi-purpose. Also, best place to store your passport to the con that they check all the time... in your hat band. I also had a lot of fun sewing on little gears and flowers to the band, and unlike the goggles I did, I didn't glue myself to any furniture.
Overall I really like how my costumes turned out and I love that I have enough stuff to mix and match now. Of course for this next year I have even more ambitious plans... it's going to be at Halloween... so I think the minimal is a Steampunk Harry Potter costume...
Ok, so here is the color palette I'm working with. I would like a yarn with more than one color in it, so not a uniform brown, but with hints of the warmer cream and pink... maybe a twill thing going on. So, I was going to go to my uber elite, high end yarn store, but that way leads to temptation. Instead, having been to Wisconsin Craft Mart and seeing that they had tons of yarn and more in the nice mid-range selection that they do carry at the elite stores, but without any of the elite yarn temptations, I thought going back there was a better bet.
The yarn was nicely priced at $6 a skein (aka ball o'yarn), and promptly upon making my choice I took apart the display. The owner of the store walked by and nodded sagely, dye lot, asked if I needed help and moved on. See dye lot is key! Most people don't tell you that all skeins have their dye lot on them. What this means is all the yarn with the same dye lot number where dyed at the same time and will therefore be the same. Because say you bought two skeins and didn't check the dye lots, then there might be a weird color shift, which you don't want in the least. So I was able to get enough of the right dye lot and skipped my way up to the register happy in my find and even happier when I got home and placed it on my outfit and it looked like they where made for each other! Now to get my knit on!
Here is the skirt, originally and holey. 
So, what I first did actually was to see if my skirt, while wet, would fit in the pot I had (yeah it did) and then I left it to soak in the bathroom sink. Look at my olde tyme sink, you can either burn or freeze your hand, no nice lukewarm water for you! Also, wet fabric takes dye better, which I remember from my days in the theatre (say it fake posh please). I had to help bulk die fabric, which had the coolness of being in a giant vat, so I felt like a witch! 
Here is me waiting for my pot to slowly boil... yeah, 16 cups of water takes some time. Time I should have spent cleaning that other burner, but, whatever, I'm really lazy at heart, though you wouldn't know it.
So here are all my calculations. I gauged the skirt at about three yards of fabric, but water for four yards covered the skirt better, so that would mean... 32 tea bags! Oh my! Luckily I had this new box of 50 tea bags, black tea as recommended, and what was nice about this brand is that they don't have a string or a tag, so just throw them in the pot! Although, as some have said (Gail), what a waste of all that tea... but it actually has a longer life as part of a skirt, because usually tea just passes right through you (oh, don't look at me like that, you know it's true). 
So the brave little bags did jump to steep in the giant pot of boiling water. Side note, my whole house now smells of strong bergamot tea. I think it's kind of nice, I mean, I don't like my tea strong, but the smell is nice. Other members of the household have been more vocal, I think brunt fruit loops and piss have been mentioned more than once this day...
So, as recommended, I didn't try to squeeze the bags by hand, but used a slotted spoon and a wooden spoon in tandem, and it worked quite well. Though my slotted spoon now has a brown tinge... hopefully it will all come out in the dishwasher...
So, I wrung out the skirt and shook it out, so as to get an even color, and into the vat it went! I steeped the tea a long time (about twelve minutes) because I wanted a darker color, so I was also planning on keeping the skirt in there for awhile. Perhaps if I do it again I will leave a lid on the pot so that the vocal member of my house will shut his yap. I left it in for about 90 minutes.
After pouring out the tea you can see that it's not quite as dark as you think it is, but I was forewarned, so I knew it would be lighter. 
A close-up of the fabric post rinse pre-wash, because I am going to use the cold water washing machine method and maybe a few minutes in the dryer as well to be safe.
Here it is all washed and dried! It has a wonderful peachy tone that I just adore. Also, whew, it looks good with the top and my over skirt! The skirt has amazing uniformity of color, so I must have done something right! Only near the waistband is there a little splotchiness, but it's under the over skirt, and even if it was, character right? The skirt is now definitely darked than the shirt. Now that they dying is done, time to get me some yarn on!
