As a part of my Loki costume I needed to make a petticoat to go under the green skirt. I wanted it to have some decent "pouf" - that's totally a technical term - and so I used a pattern intended to go under a 60s poodle skirt. I used the same pattern to make the skirt as the base of the petticoat. See here it is, innocuous, quick, easy, but I should have listened to Admiral Ackbar because the simple beginnings of the petticoat... wait for it... It's a TRAP!!!
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For the next step I began to cut strips of tulle (the "pouf" of almost every petticoat.) I cut 36 strips 6 1/4" wide and as long as the normal bolt length they come in, so 54" in in this case. Again, very simple, even my cat and Duncan were helping. I then sewed the strips together (using a piece of the cotton skirt material to bind the tulle netting together at the seams.) In order to accommodate the difference in circumference in skirt as it narrows to the hips I sewed 14, 12 and then 8 strips together to make giant loops of tulle. All the while being careful not to make mobius strips of tulle.)
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Here is where our tale takes a darker turn.
For, in order to gather all of this light and airy tulle, you have to sew two line of thread into the tulle along one of the edges and then hold the string and pull, thus gathering one edge of the fabric together, where you then sew it to the base skirt. So I started to do just that. Sew one line 1/4" from the edge, sew another 1/2" from the edge. OK, one piece done...sew one line, then sew another. I hadn't really thought through just how much thread and time it would take to sew essentially 54" x 36 strips x 2 lines of thread per individual piece = 50 miles of tulle, okay, maybe not that much, but that was what it felt like. Time flowed past like both water and sticky, hot tar as I sewed 324 feet (or 107 meters) of straight lines into the tulle. TV shows passed, I swear I could feel myself aging as I sat at my steadily growing warmer sewing machine for hours just sewing straight lines. The only punctuation to this activity would be when my bobbin would run out of thread and I'd have to stop, un-thread my machine, reload the bobbin, re-thread the machine and start back up on the endless desert of grey lines in the black tulle.
- it was at this stage, after it had been 8 hours of work and I still had miles of tulle to sew that I almost gave up. I almost went to Etsy or eBay and just ordered a damn petticoat. But I dug deep, like a marathon runner or that moment in action movies where the hero is down and has to make the choice to get back up just one more time, yeah, that was totally me. I ranted, raged and then returned to the sewing machine (who, I think, was getting close to forming a union against me) and I labored on. -
For, in order to gather all of this light and airy tulle, you have to sew two line of thread into the tulle along one of the edges and then hold the string and pull, thus gathering one edge of the fabric together, where you then sew it to the base skirt. So I started to do just that. Sew one line 1/4" from the edge, sew another 1/2" from the edge. OK, one piece done...sew one line, then sew another. I hadn't really thought through just how much thread and time it would take to sew essentially 54" x 36 strips x 2 lines of thread per individual piece = 50 miles of tulle, okay, maybe not that much, but that was what it felt like. Time flowed past like both water and sticky, hot tar as I sewed 324 feet (or 107 meters) of straight lines into the tulle. TV shows passed, I swear I could feel myself aging as I sat at my steadily growing warmer sewing machine for hours just sewing straight lines. The only punctuation to this activity would be when my bobbin would run out of thread and I'd have to stop, un-thread my machine, reload the bobbin, re-thread the machine and start back up on the endless desert of grey lines in the black tulle.
- it was at this stage, after it had been 8 hours of work and I still had miles of tulle to sew that I almost gave up. I almost went to Etsy or eBay and just ordered a damn petticoat. But I dug deep, like a marathon runner or that moment in action movies where the hero is down and has to make the choice to get back up just one more time, yeah, that was totally me. I ranted, raged and then returned to the sewing machine (who, I think, was getting close to forming a union against me) and I labored on. -
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And as I was languishing away on the petticoat of despair...I ask you, where was my cat then, she who had been so eager to play in the tulle earlier?
Trying to catch lizards, that's where.
Me: "It's on the other side of the window, you fluffy little deserter."
Her: "Then my actions are as futile as yours!" she quipped back.
Me: "Touche"
Trying to catch lizards, that's where.
Me: "It's on the other side of the window, you fluffy little deserter."
Her: "Then my actions are as futile as yours!" she quipped back.
Me: "Touche"
To break the monotony, once finished with a full strip of tulle, I would stop and gather it into the smaller circles of pouf which were then ready to be sewed to the base skirt. This was only slightly less monotonous than the sewing. But I was starting to see some shape and form to my actions, I felt hope for the first time in days, and once gathered I began to sew the now puffy tulle to the skirt.
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And then, all of a sudden, after 12 hours of work, like sunlight breaking through after a storm, it was done. All I had to do was trim the excess thread from the gathering process and I was done...and my evil little petticoat was even standing up on it's own tulle feet...they grow up so fast...*sniff*
To get some good pics I paired it with a black corset, which ends up looking a little Black Swan-ish, but still cool. And when I am done hemming the skirt and jacket of my Loki outfit I will post the rest of the process "On the road to Dragon*Con 2012."
30 days left, holy God, OK, I'm going back to sewing now...
To get some good pics I paired it with a black corset, which ends up looking a little Black Swan-ish, but still cool. And when I am done hemming the skirt and jacket of my Loki outfit I will post the rest of the process "On the road to Dragon*Con 2012."
30 days left, holy God, OK, I'm going back to sewing now...
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