I did the thing!

So when I started the Victorian Femme Supernatural Cosplay project, I sat down and drew up design sketches for each of the outfits I was making. However, I knew that none of the designs would survive the creation process as-is. They were influenced by the Late Bustle period, but they weren't period proper. As I continued to look at more and more fashion plates and surviving garments online, I became more and more disenchanted with my original designs. So a little while ago I sat down and drew a new design for Samifer. This was the original design:

In the show Samifer wears a white suit with a cream shirt. I drew a white suit top, cream shirt and cuffs, white embroidered skirt and a cream over skirt. It's . . . costume-y. It definitely doesn't look like what was worn in the late 1880s. I wanted the skirt to have a train, and I realized most of the trains are on overskirts, not usually on the underskirt. I looked at reception dresses of the time, which have the trains I liked, but more restrained and with longer sleeves than ballgowns, and I came up with this:

A pleated cream false shirt with a white false vest, white bodice with pleated ribbon trim, white cuffs with lace and cream pleating, white overskirt with lace and buttons, and a white underskirt with cream pleating and ribbon.

The skirt was easy, it was flatlined with muslin and sewn the same as all the petticoats. A hem facing was added, and then came the cream pleats.

And they just kept coming.

See that giant pile of fabric hanging off the ironing board and onto the floor? Yeah, I pleated all 360 inches of that into half inch pleats. Over the course of three days, stopping when the board was full to press them with vinegar. It worked like a dream.

You can see to the left that the vinegar pressed pleats are flat and crisp while on the right the freshly ironed but no vinegar pleats look loose. After pressing the pleats were basted together, moved to the far end of the ironing board, and the next section was pleated. The finished pleats were machine sewn to the skirt, and then covered by ribbons that were hand tacked on.

The bottom ribbon is a plain white and the top is slightly sheer with gold stripes straddling a brocade pattern.

'But wait!' you say, 'what's that red peeking out?' You know that hem facing I mentioned? Well it wasn't white, and it wasn't turned to the inside.

Under the pleats is a fiery rose pattern, to be glimpsed as the pleats shift and bounce. Because we ARE talking about Lucifer.

Here's a picture of the hem facing before the pleats were added. It was an eight and a half inch strip of bias tape, sewn to the wrong side, and then turned the the right side (encasing the seam). The top half inch was turned under and hand sewn in place.

The inside of the hem facing. The skirt length was measured on Samifer and cut off at the exact length, so an extra half inch was added to the hem facing so the skirt would be the same length when finished.

The finished skirt. The overskirt will be made later, after the necessary fabric has been measured for the bodice.

Next up will be Castiel's skirt, since her petticoat is now finished.

It's about two inches too short in the back, so her skirt will be cut longer so make up for it (they're both based around the same pattern). Hopefully an update on that will follow soon.