Steampunk Botanist Costume / Cosplay

Last year we attended a Steampunk Murder Mystery night and it was great fun, so when another one came up this year we jumped to get tickets.
Unfortunately I had re-purposed my Steampunk Seamstress dress for my Ursula costume, so I had to think of something new. What a shame! 😆
Luckily I had picked this cotton dress up at an op shop, because as soon as I saw it I knew that it had a future in Steampunk.

But what kind of costume did I want? I have this metal ornament and it made me think of the Tinman from the Wizard of Oz:

Or the garment could be a coat over another dress?

But I didn't love either of them.

Steampunk biologist?

Steampunk Marine Biologist - I have beaded fish, an octopus necklace?

That idea nearly made it up, but then I had a sudden thought when I saw the dried plants outside our house: botanist!

I gathered everything that I could possibly use at home, as I was determined not to buy anything for this costume. And it turned out that I have a lot of flowers, brooches, pins, scraps...

Accessories

I did end up buying one thing: a hat that I could decorate. I could have used one of my own, but didn't want to permanently alter them. Off to the op shop!

You have no idea how tempting this one was... I should have bought it anyway.

The next one was also tempting, but not quite the Steampunk I was looking for.

And then I found it! Plain, just ready for things to be added to it.

I saw the hat as an eclectic collection, of things haphazardly stuck on throughout interesting travels.

After burning my fingers with the hot glue gun, I was really happy with how my hat looked. The white flower at the back and the green beading I wore in my hair for my wedding day!

I decided to wear my pearl jewellery, but also craft some small bottles that I could pin/hang from the dress that I could put live plants in on the day.

Perhaps... I can be a little bit much 😉