Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Romantic Hobble Skirt-- Finito!

Well-- I finally garnered the motivation to just finish the skirt once and for all.
I probably should've stopped once I finished basting the pieces, but my urge to sew overtook me and I finished the darn thing, eheheh... it didn't take long in my frenzy-- but afterwards I felt remorse for having finished it.

As I have said in previous posts; my supplies are rather limited and projects aren't as abundant as they used to be for me. So I have to conserve, conserve, conserve!

Alas... you can't keep a crafter from crafting.

So, to recount what was used:

High quality stretch velvet in black
Venetian lace trim in black
Ruffle lace trim in black
Black satin ribbon
Pattern and design by yours truly.

Side view

Back view

My sketch book

I didn't end up using button or a zipper, as the velvet was stretchy enough so that I didn't need to use them at all.

I need to make a minor adjustment to the fit of the waist as it's too stretchy, but other than that it is peachy.

Featured self made jewelry in this post:

Worked with black art wire and a stone skull with pewter spider charms

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: The Romantic Hobble-- Step 2: Drafted and Cut

URGH!

Let me start of by saying I hate having to take my time with projects.
But I've been purposely taking my time with all my projects lately because our disposable budget was blown with an abnormally high electric bill, preordering Guild Wars 2 for the both of us and some other rather expensive extras.
We predict that 3 months of austerity will bounce us back up to the "comfortable" line.
So I need my projects to keep me entertained every so often, for a little bit!

So, without further ado, I give you the second progress report on the romantic gothic hobble skirt I planned out in a former Creepy Crafty Crusades post.

Drafting panels

Today I spent my time drafting, cutting and marking.
It occurred to me while doing all this that, while it is totally possible to sew without the aid of short cut tools... I totally hate it.
I realized how much I missed having all my sewing tools during the drafting stage...

Thankfully on fabric the curves look a little more "curvy"

If I wasn't using a textile as forgiving as stretch velvet, I would shudder at the sheer blockyness of my pattern-- and with this I would personally prefer that then disproportionate hand drawn curves as they may throw me off; I miss my french curve rulers, and my quilting grid rulers...

My next step is to serge the individual pieces, and begin ruching the side panels.

A bonus complaint: I forgot to buy pins and only had three to work with while marking the pattern onto the fabric... time consumtion FTW... ??

Skeleton Closet: Venetian Details

I always seem to have this issue of not feeling like I look goth during the summer months despite wearing black all over. So as often as I want to, I'll be posting up my outfits for the public to decide whether it's just black clothes or gothic summer time flair.

Today's showcase is the outfit I wore to meet up with friends of my husband's.
It wasn't particularly hot in our area, but where we ended up was; and this time it didn't occur to me to bring my parasol and I regretted every minute I didn't.

Anyway, I digress.

 

 In this outfit I wore two articles chock full of venetian details, which ultimately made the outfit-- or so I hoped it did.

I wore another lovely little lace vest number, that has an oh-so-yummy-lace fringe around the bottom. It was bought brand new at a shop in a mall I had previously worked at called Latitudes. The tag, just like many others, has been cut and long has the exact brand been forgotten in my head-- the only thing I ever recall about this one is that it was made in Italy, from the same company that made the lace over-top in the previous post. The skirt was thrifted and is just a simple black hobble pencil skirt.

The top underneath was a surprise gift from my younger brother (technically the majority of my clothes are gifted but one or two were bought for me without my knowledge). But I know exactly where he bought them because there is only one store I know of back north that sells this Seduction brand, and that is Sirens.The straps of this top are detailed with venetian lace, the front is accented with venetian lace over satin, and has a cute lace detail which you tie into a bow. The back of the top is smocked, and the cups are padded.

My make up was done relatively the same as the last post; I'm not very creative when it comes to my make up.

This time I used a darker shade of red lipstick: 36 Black Cherry by Estée Lauder, with a touch of a black gradient effect using Annabelle Smoothliner waterproof in Black (I know it's an eye liner, but it really does go on smooth and stays on for a very long time).


The shoes I chose to wear were pumps I haven't completely broken in... so they killed my feet-- they are black lace with scalloped trim, open toe with a bow detail. The lace is really hard to photograph as it was so subtle and it just looks like a black shoe.



And finally we come to the single piece of statement jewelry I wore. It is one of my own creations (I very rarely wear jewery I didn't make), and I think my favorite one to date. It has a ribcage cameo and I always get a lot of queries and compliments when I wear it.

So... goth or not?

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: The Romantic Hobble-- Step 1: Materials Gathered

Today's post I will begin by saying this is the very first step of progress into one of my designs for a romantic goth hobble pencil skirt.

I had this design along with sooo many more in my books and head for quite a while, but only until now can I realize many of my designs (I lacked a very loving and giving husband-- lulz).

The Idea

He and I made an agreement that I may buy the materials once a month to complete one decadent design; the materials I require for these aren't cheap! And this way, I can give progress of one exquisite design every month... of course this doesn't count the other, less expensive, projects I do in between heheh!



To start I had to choose one of my designs and as said previously my romantic hobble was it. They may be hard to walk in, but dang they are sexy!
For this design you can vaguely see that the side panels will be ruched, and the front and back have some small but tasty details.

I bought a high quality stretch velvet, and enough of it to perhaps complete another project (woo!)

So soft... so elegant!

 Now there is something I am debating as to whether or not I want to have a button up closure, or an invisible zipper on the back;

Buttons vs. Zipper

the buttons are covered with velvet, and match the initial material. Though there is a high likelihood that I will just use the buttons on another project instead.







For the trims and things, I chose a floral pattern venetian lace, and an raschel ruffle lace.

Stay tuned for the next progress report!

All images and designs copyright Madame Mari Mortem©. Do not copy or reproduce without the explicit consent of the owner.