HA (Historically Accurate) Steampunk (Pt1 -shirtwaist.)

 For the longest time... huh, how many times do I write that? but then, so many ideas, so many thoughts in my head, and when one of them comes to life it is a reason to celebrate, isn't it?

Anyhow, steampunk always fascinated me. I was a fan of captain Nemo as a child, even before I went to university and had seminars on 19th century literature and fantasy literature as well.   But since then even more. And even more than that, since I make historical clothes. I wanted some steampunkish clothes for myself.

Because what is steampunk? 

Not easy to define, as it has many  subgenres,many way of realizing, many substyles. 

However, basically it is an imaginary historical period, an imaginary "what if". What if, around the turn of the 19th/20th century, the world, instead of going and developing toward electricity, would have gone to a different direction: steampower. Stories feature steam powered machinery, clothes reference late Victorian /Edwardian/turn of the century clothing, but with a twist. The emphasis is on the words "imaginery" and "referencing". 

Since it is not a real historical period, there are no hard rules. With HA (historically accurate) reenactment, we are always try to be as accurate as possible. We look at pictures, paintings, read letters, journals, etc. and leave as little to our imagination as possible. With steampunk we use our imagination as much as possible. Clothes do have a distinct style, but the variations are wide, from round cage crinolines to bubbly bicycle bloomers, from corsets, to waistcoats, from chains to cogwheels, from top hats to tricorns. 

The genre has its books and movies: Think of Jules Verne, 2000 Legaue Under the Sea, Think of H.G Wells, Time Machine. Think of movies like the Stardust, the Golden Compass, and some Dr. Who episodes.

For the clothes there are some recognizable elements, like the cogwheel decorations, tophats, brown-ish colors, black and white, black and red, black and purple colors, and stripes. Stripes scream steampunk, especially in black and white or black/brown.

As for a time period -fashion history-wise, things could be placed anywhere from the 1860-ies to the early 1900 (from crinolines through bustles to the Titaninc-era fashion, but since it IS an imagined time, almost anything goes. To tie to a real time period, I chose a year that has significance in our own history. 1896 the yeal of the millenium. According to history, Hungariany came into the Carpathian basin in 896, and the country celebrated its millenum with a gian set of events. From a huge exhibition through a lot of events, building, to the first underground line of the continent.

I wanted steampunk-ish clothes, so I needed some stripy clothes. I started with a shirtwaist. A shirt. 

If we are talking about the "turn of the century fashion", I prefer the years just before 1900 to the ones that came just after that. (The thing is, that even the fact that I am doing things this close to that 1900 is a miracle in itself, as I was never a fan of the period. Much preferred the earlier times. But the 1890-ies did grow on me).

Anyhow, the shirt. With big, puffy sleeves, wide cuffs and striped linen fabric, and dark gray mother-of-pearl buttons.

I used the Truly Victorian 494 pattern with slight modifications. The shoulder piece (yoke) is a cm or two narrower, I omitted the peplum-y piece at the waist and/or the waistband at the back. Also I made the sleeves shorter and added a wide cuff. The original pattern instructions would have you simply turn up the hem and sewn down, but that felt so unfinished to me. 

I found a bit of leftover lace, so I added bits of it to the collar, the buttonband and the cuffs. 

This way the shirtwaist is fully historically accurate, but can also function as a part of historibounding and steampunk sets to.

Fabric: I love Textil

Pattern: Truly Victorian 494

Photos: Norbert Varga @Bodeszphoto.