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 😉

Outfit 

Onto the outfit. I decided to use the grey dress as a coat, but put it over my Poison Ivy top:

And the underskirt from the Dragon Age Inquisition cosplay:

Combines to this, which I wore to the shopping centre afterwards... one lady said she loved my dress: 

From there it was a matter of adding layers of detail to the grey coat, and that was an awful lot of fun!

 Some eco-dyed fabric on the back, as well as the fabric necklace I made myself last year.

 More flowers and brooches keep coming out of boxes and places and being added to the outfit. IT weighs a bit!

And the flower from my friend's wedding to finish off one shoulder.

Final outfit

All dressed up and ready to solve a murder! 

#lovelypennypatterns

Steampunk skirt refashion with eco dyed fabric

Take an op shop skirt that you bought because it had a cool pattern (and was still cotton!):

Add a cotton vest that only took up some of the eco dye:

 And a curved pillow case that you don't have a pillow for but would look great as a ruffle layer:

Layer them over each other, making sure you can see both:

And it's a pretty good start for a steampunk skirt! Final product, almost ready for the stall (unfortunately slightly too small for me!) It didn't sell this time around, but maybe next time.

#lovelypennypatterns

Steampunk Seamstress Cosplay

Now you may be able to tell from this blog that I don't tend to do things by half. So when my husband and I decided to go to a Steampunk Murder Mystery night (and put our names down to be guests/suspects!) I had to do something crafty. My thinking went kind of steampunk --> Pinterest for inspiration --> ruffle skirts, top hats, goggles, what could I legitimately be? Oh wow, steampunk seamstress! It surprised me, but there was lots of inspiration for Steampunk Seamstress out there. 
What did I already own that I could use?
This dress:

This shirt to go under it:

This belt I already owned:

 These op-shop boots I already owned:

These things I already owned:

These things a kind person at work donated to me for crafting:

Something my husband owned that I borrowed:

These presents from my mum!

These things from Spotlight:

What I made. 

I needed a top hat for an upcoming Mad Hatter costume anyway, so I got a decent one to play with. 

I have a hot glue gun and that's what I used to attach everything.

When I found the cheap sewing section in the local store I think I actually laughed out loud. $2 for most of those things, some of them multiple things for $2!

 No need to buy a $20 pair of those gold bird embroidery scissors just to put on a hat, not when I could get another pair for $2 that would do the job.
Necklaces: layered look, with ones I already owned and the pressie from mum. I was originally going to wear a cameo around my neck, but decided that the scissors were more appropriate.

Couldn't resist the little bottles to fill up with buttons, needles and beads to hang from my belt. 

As well as the folding scissors on a velvet ribbon. Had to be prepared!

My belt looked like this, all detachable so that I could continue to wear it normally:

 The embroidered pouch was an amazing birthday gift from my mother, my 21st I think!

Dress and shirt together:

Some half gloves:

Makeup and some buttons stuck to my face with spirit glue:

 Complete costume:

And I won best-dressed female on the night 🙂
I also took green food dye with me, to add to my drinks to make them into "potions". But I had to stop because it was freaking the bar staff out!! Oops!