Steampunk and its growing following

[Tammy]

This is my friend Tasha (in purple)as a Mad Hatter, her brother Hunter as the White Rabbit, and myself after watching Alice in Wonderland.

[Rani Zemirah]

You guys so totally rock!!!  I just love playing dress-up... 

[cowgrrl]

Glad to see we're not the only ones who 'dressed' for Alice in Wonderland.  DD, DH & I all dressed tea party-ish for movie.  We got a few odd looks but I still had fun.

[sitarserpent]

woo steampunk! also don't forget to check your local flea market... there is still a real world outside the virtual one

[Taffy Saltwater]

Phoenix, where did you get the fabboo corset? I vow, it's td4!  Y'all are so cute.

Hon. Lady Benton, the Victorian period is the jumping off spot for SP and is totally SP.  

I'm so glad people took the opportunity to Alice it up for the movie.  It's such a fun premise.  Here I am in a very unflattering photo of my Alice night:



EDIT:  Some of us are Girl Genius fans.  The following is the sketch I commissioned from Prof. Foglio at WindyCon of Taffy & Dimo:



The same sketch colored by Cheyenne Wright and made into a desktop by Kaja:

[sealion]

Taffy- That looks fabulous all colored in!

I still haven't made it to see Alice. I had planned to go to the midnight premiere but changed  my mind at the last minute since I was going out of town in the morning and hadn't packed. I'm kind of "losing steam" on the Steampunk thing and haven't added any more garb since I haven't connected with anyone here in West Michigan. It seems all of the outings or events are in the Detroit area.

[Taffy Saltwater]

Sealion, it's hard to stay motivated when there is just so little action in one's neck of the woods.  In Texas there's a LOT of SP in Austin and Dallas, but I don't have the funds or oomph at the end of the week to make that drive/hotel/etc..  I'm planning on going to ComicPalooza here at the end of the month, but that's it.  Maybe next year I can try to swing a trip to one of the big cons in Cali or Seattle.

And, frankly, I'm pretty much over the honeymoon w/ren, but will hit TRF once or twice over the next season.  For sure on AHE.

[The Lady Mercedes]

Ya got me there Taffy! Lol. I hope you can make ComiCon...sounds super fun & Charlaine Harris (writes True Blood novels) will be there this yr.! Super cool drawing btw!

[LadyElizabeth]

I just started reading the Charlaine Harris books, they follow the HBO series really well!  Kind of great!

[The Lady Mercedes]

Steamness from a local shop called Ipso Facto:
http://ipso-facto.com/p541.jpg
http://ipso-facto.com/p542.jpg
http://ipso-facto.com/P188.jpg
http://ipso-facto.com/wr40.jpg

Here's the pages I found them on should you feel like ordering any of them: http://ipso-facto.com/jewelry.htm
http://ipso-facto.com/access1.htm

Oh & I just found the link to this on there too: http://www.steampunkmagazine.com/ best part is, you can download issues for free!

[The Lady Mercedes]

Wow it seems to be a lucky day...yet more steamness!
http://www.bibianblue.net/-c-28.html?osCsid=b4b0c12f01915fc9aeef518ae5da7c1a
expensive but gorgeous...

[LadyStitch]

Quick bit of background: I had heard of steam punk but hadn't done anything with it until the DH and I saw Pendragon's line at So Cal. Pleasure faire.  The DH fell in love with it, and then seeing more of it appear at TRF this year.  (BTW if you see any of pendragon's Steam Punk stuff, get it then. She is not sending it many places, and it will not be on her site.) The DH has been working on a steam punk-esq character named"Mudge" since 2003ish, but it never went too far. Now he has the bug again. 
Jump to a couple weeks ago, I went to an Alice in Wonderland premier party.  I won a licensed replica Mad hatter hat as the grand door prize. I fell in love with it. 
As we were leaving one of my friends said "It's fitting you won.  You are the Mad costumer!"  For a couple years now my actors at the theater I work for have called me "The Mad costumer" because I do seeming odd things with costumes but once they are on stage look great.  And also I keep coming back to the theater to do shows. What can I say, I must be mad! ?
I have been looking for a new outfit for Lady Stitch.  The Mad hatter's hat inspired me.  I obviously couldn't wear the mad hatter's hat but why couldn't I take come of the concepts and run with them in my world? 

A top hat but use a measuring tape as a hat ribbon. Use giant sewing needles as hat pins.  Fabric roses, and pin tomatoes as decorations.

Frock coat would have mismatched elbow patches.  There would be safety pins on a lapel.  I would have a citation cord of a tape measure.  I would have functional and random pockets in different colors and shapes.  In each pocket is some thing I could use.  I.e. embroidery thread or chalk. The coat would have random buttons.  And decorative stitching in different colors.  All of it done by me at some point.  I would love to be waiting for a show at fair and just whip out a needle and thread and just start sewing embroidery on my coat hem, for no reason.

I would have a bandolier/baldric made of thread spools.  And it would be functional.  Though how to make the thread stay on the spools, and still see the colors would be a challenge.

Lastly collage skirt would be made up of scarps of everything I have made ever.  The thing is that they will be sewn together not so that you don't see the cut edges but so that you see them. Then make a skirt out of the sewn together patchworks.  Make it so it has a lot of "stacked pleats in the back so that if I wanted I could add a bustle. I could pull it up if I want o wear tights under it, or let it down if it is cold.  Basically anything I wear it looks like I pulled it out of someone's old trunk.

Character concept:  Lady Stitch was a seamstress for an old theatrical company.  She made many, many beautiful things but never anything for herself.  She was happy there until the theater was sold.  The new owners didn't treat her well. They moved her sunlit sewing room to the basement of the theater where she only had one small window and no heat. When winter came she started wearing old bits of costumes in the hopes of staying warm.  As she was never allowed to leave the costume shop the left over bits of the beautiful things she made were all she had to wear herself.  As time went by the chemicals she used to glue things onto hats, and dye the fabric started to go to her head.
Sadly the theater shut down, and she had no where to go.  She tried to stay in her little workshop, but the loneliness got to her.  There were no more pretty things.  Again she ventured out into the sunlight to again find pretty things.  Do not shun her if you see her looking at you funny. She is merely looking at your pretty dress, and if you are kind to her she might even fix your tears or your buttons for you. 

[Manwariel]

Here's a photo of my crew and I at MomoCon.

From left to right: Time-traveling person who appeared out of thin air and landed on our airship and was taken captive by us and who knows why we left the prisoner a gun, resident novelist & musician, rich kid funding the voyage, random-guy-along-for-the-money, pilot (in front of him), captain (me), navigator, weapons specialist, rich kid's sister.

[renfairephotog]

Very cool group! We talked about going to MomoCon but had a conflict. We did another show in Chattanooga. Maybe next year.

[renfairephotog]

Disney release Steampunk pins
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/03/the-mechanical-kingdom/