Gypsy Steampunk: Crazy Quilt Skirt Progress

Gore #1 is finished with the embroidery, courtesy of my mother! And I'm almost done with the gore I've been embroidering, so hopefully by the end of this evening, I'll have it finished and we'll be one third of the way there! Each of us are doing three of the six gores, and have plenty of supplies. We're mainly embroidering the seams, with some trim and applique application. I told Mother that I'm taking whatever she has done when I'm home for Easter. If I have to finish some of her work, that's fine, but that's the last chance I'll have to get it from her before the Symposium.

I'm getting most of my embroidery from this website. Good directions and step by step diagrams. A lot of other how to websites I found just gave you word directions with no diagrams, and were basically useless.

Picture time!


The gore my mother embroidered. Yes, she totally sent me a photo, without prompting!


Part of the gore I've been working on. You can see some feather stitching in the orange thread, and there's a herringbone done in two shades near the bottom.


Another part of my gore. The white in the upper corner is a buttonhole stitch, the blue / purple is called a basque stitch and then there's a double line of herringbone in a blue pearle cotton.

What I need to do to finish my gyspy steampunk costume:

• Embroider my three gores
• Assemble the gores into a skirt, attach a waistband and closure (current thinking: hook and eye closure on a side seam), hem with polyester horsehair braid and maybe attach lace to the bottom
• Make a petticoat: I'm seriously leaning towards a gathered tiered style because I feel like the skirt is heavy and is going to need some support. I'm going to make it out of white broadcloth and muslin and may cannibalize a white eyelet skirt I have for more fabric (I rarely wear the skirt). For maximum fullness, I'll probably cut the tiers a little on the narrow side. I'm also going to try a new gathering technique: zig zag stitch over cording. The bottom one or two ruffles will be black broadcloth. I'm also planning on a yoke instead of an elastic waistband to reduce bulk.
• Finish decorating the head scarf.
  
• Gather lots of jewelry to wear.
  

In other Symposium news, I'm stopping by Edwina's quarters this evening for a fitting of my Paris bodice. I really feel like the gypsy costume is doable for the Symposium, and hopefully the Paris outfit as well. *fingers crossed*

EDIT On my lunch, I stitched down a piece of lace trim along one of the few seams I had left to cover. I now only have two long seams and one short one, the latter I plan to use a little applique on.