Steampunk Refashion

Something that has been close to my heart for about... forever has been thrifting. I was married very young and we had to make do with what we had or make a trip to the second hand shop. 19 years later it is still the same. Only now, my refashioning/repurposing/upcycling skills have been refined a bit more.
Now the point is to not create more waste. Now I don't want anything to go to waste. At least as much as possible anyway.
Most of the items and fabrics used in my work and products are repurposed and salvaged. Everything from fabrics to beads to jewelry findings to entire pieces of clothing.

Take this for example. I was an artist in a RAW Artist- Atlanta show last month (I'll post on that later). I was told I could have a couple of models wearing my pieces to help draw people to my booth. I chose to go with steampunk and woodland, my two most popular generas. And I only had 2 models to work with.

After thinking about it for a long while I decided I did want them walking around in just whatever wearing my pieces, so I made outfits for each of them. The woodland character has been mulling around in my brain for a while. I've been wanting to do a photo shoot with this character for quite sometime. But more on that later.

With the steampunk, I wanted people to see everyday steampunk. Things one might wear for normal occasions and not just festivals, cons, or themed weddings.

I started out with this, a grey plaid a-line skirt and a sheer black blouse.

With the skirt, I added a corset/lace up back by sewing large jump rings to the skirt and lacing black satin ribbon through the rings. When tightened it gathers the skirt and acts almost like a small bustle.

 

In the front of the skirt I sewed 2 pick ups and placed black sating bows at each of the gathering spots. 

For the blouse, I cut off the sleeves and used the material, along with some chiffon ribbon to add to the ruffles around the neck. I also added some lace and rhinestones around the neck. I wanted it to look reminiscent of the collars seen in women's clothing during the Victorian era.

Here is how the outfit turned out. Unfortunately and fortunately both the blouse, corset and skirt sold right away so these are the only images I got of the entire outfit. Which was on the day and location of the RAW Artist Atlanta event. Next time I will be sure and do a full photo shoot before advertising the pieces.

 As of November 8th, 2015 the fasciantor and veil are still available. They can be purchased here in my Etsy shop.
Not bad for some second hand shop finds, eh?