FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Steampunk Lady of Shalott
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
Model shots taken by Arisia's Photobooth 2017
Outline the story …
The Victorian era poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Lord Tennyson (and Loreena McKennitt cover) + the 'Steampunk Everything' movement of the mid '00s were the initial inspiration, plus research into Victorian-era costuming and DaVinci-Punk. I finally completed this costume in 2016, after 10 years of design attempts, and 5 years teaching myself to sew, despite the combo of CFS brainfog + ADHD.
I tried several times to assemble this idea with pre-made purchased costume elements, but between cost, plus-size fitting problems, and overall design fails I realized I'd just have to do it myself. Also spent years combing the internet for tapestries that matched the poem, but eventually had to settle for Arthurian scenes she might also have seen in her magic mirror.
This Lady of Shalott is also a Spoonie/Chronic Illness icon in my opinion - trying to find solace in art while trapped away from the rest of the world by circumstances beyond her control. When she breaks those careful protocols, disaster immediately follows. Unlike the original, this Lady has managed to venture outside, albeit still lugging her curse behind her, because those wounds never fully heal. But at least she's found some way to survive outside her tower and eek out a life on her own.
And after all those years of effort, all the fashion-show hosts at that Dragoncon2016 called me "Lady of Shallot" (including one self-proclaimed Victoriana expert) and one friend still calls me "The Onion Fairy" for that -__-'. It was far better received at Arisia2017.
Outline the construction…
Picked up three large cotton-yarn tapestries with polyester backings. After cutting through both layers, I basted them together for some extra, much-needed structure, and turned them into a bustled skirt using TrulyVictorian216 pattern (without the ruffled layers to utilize the wide tapestry panels). That alone took around 8+ hours to construct. However, this is all machine sewn, which definitely decreased the time and physical strain.
Also made bustle/Tournure TV163 of quilting cotton, shrug M5006 (without sleeves, after trying a Davinci-punk style sleeve w steampunky grommets that looked terrible), M5050 in black linen for the under-shirt, hand-drafted full-circle under-skirt of quilting cotton, and commercial corset pattern B5662 with remnants of what was used in the larger pieces. Bones of bustle + corset are all flexible plastic. Gloves + giant embroidery hoop were purchased & painted.
The backpack is also handmade. The base is a fancy cardboard box I adorned with paint, 3d decorations molded from hot glue, detailing, old repurposed belts, embroidery thread, a clock frame, fairy lights, and a mirrored privacy-tint window film for the cracked-infinity-mirror. Plus 5+ years of saved thread spools. I was able to skip a lot of trial and error with this piece thanks to the infinite number of online tutorials for Steampunk painting and design. It's also VERY lightweight, and works as a practical backpack at conventions.
There are more pictures of sewing, previous versions, and backpack-construction in the album linked above.
This is so cool! I love the idea of using tapestries 😍
I’m sorry WHAT! This is amazing!
I have been thinking about this all day since I saw it. What a wonderful dress and story of how it came to be.
Remarkable!
Wow!
The years!! You must feel so good that you did it! Well done!
Delightful!
I love the look of being wrapped in art!
This is so cool! The idea of using tapestry designs for the dress is so fun, and the backpack is just the icing on the cake! I love all the different coloured spools along the sides! So creative!