So I’ve decided to make myself a Victorian costume to wear to my World Fantasy 2010 book launch party. This is not unprecedented, as last year I also sewed a costume to wear at World Fantasy. Because, you know, World Fantasy is the one con where they don’t like you wearing costumes, so that’s the one con I go out of my way to make costumes for. This is the kind of person I am. Anyway, this year I am getting an early start, because last year I didn’t start sewing until the beginning of October and I ended up with a bustle skirt but no top, so it was just me running around in a corset and a little bolero jacket and it was just wrong, wrong, WRONG. So this year I am going to have a completed ensemble or else I’m not going to wear it. And if that happens, World Fantasy will have won, so trust me, I won’t let that happen.

As I have said repeatedly, I will not be making a new corset. I already have a corset, which I made last year from a Laughing Moon pattern. As long as I do not lose a whole lot more weight, it should still fit me. I will, however, be making a bustle petticoat, a draped skirt, and a bodice. Here are the patterns I will be using, from the wonderful “Truly Victorian” Website:

First up: the bustle & petticoat overlay. Like any good Victorian lady, I want to get all my undergarments in order right from the get-go. I ordered some nice cheap (thanks to a 50% off coupon) black broadcloth off the JoAnn Fabric website this weekend, so once it arrives that will be the first project.

Before I can get much further into making the dress itself (especially the bodice, which will need to be gussied up substantially to hold its own with that skirt) I need to make myself a duct-tape dress form. That will be an exercise in hilarity which you should all stay tuned for.