Okay, for those of you following along at home, this is the chemise, skirt, corset, and bustle of my Steampunk Mermaid costume, plus trident (the pole will be painted gold tomorrow along with the crown once I finish it). And yes,that’s my cello in the background.

I couldn’t put on the whole thing (wig and makeup) because the cats picked that moment to go completely apeshit and start hissing and fighting all over the place, but this gives you an idea of what I’m working with. It’s not very clear unless I spread the skirt, but those are sparkly blue tulle fins on either side, and the white and gold rope trim close to the bottom of the skirt covers the marking line where I was supposed to put a bottom ruffle before I found out that 1) I didn’t have enough blue satin material and 2) the bustle material simply wouldn’t work that way (note for costumers — if you ever work with a foil material, be aware that you’ll need to stabilize it somehow, either by using a lightweight iron-on interfacing or doing a zigzag stitch along the edges, because that shit will tear apart at seams at a harsh word if it’s not reinforced). Que sera, sera. At least the trim looks nice, and I have pretty white fishnet stockings and gloves that will finish off the piece.

Shoes? Pewter granny boots. Totally steampunk.

The corset, by the way, will be covered in a teal hologrammatic scale fabric (shown below), but I’m literally just tacking it to the corset so I can do that any time between now and Friday. Now that I have the actual clothes done I need to get a move on and finish the crown tomorrow so that I can vacuum up the metric ton of blue glitter that’s been shed all over the house from the tulle trim (I found some in my eyebrows this afternoon. I ask you).

The bustle, despite being made in that shreddy foil material, turned out to be gorgeous. There was a drape section in the pattern that went across the front of the skirt, but I didn’t make it because 1) I ran out of time and 2) I didn’t really want to add more mass to that particular area of my body. I’d like to take a crack at doing a proper bustle skirt and matching jacket one of these days, especially now that I have the pattern for it. And I pointed out to Ramón that my corset comes in three other colors, including maroon. Seeing as he loves me in a corset and we just got our tax refund, I may be getting some pressies soon, whee.