Theresa LaQuey - Guest Blogger - Steampunk #2 - part 2, the fabrics

Today Theresa is showing us the photos she took in her studio of these costumes before sending them to New York.  The detailing shows up much better than in the fashion photo on the envelope.

From Theresa:
Fabric selection was fairly lucky this time also.  I managed to score that incredible metal brocade at Discount Fabrics in Berkeley, California and that set me towards the rest of the color selections.  

OH! ... see what I said about seeing detail in these photos ... I do believe she used a liturgical brocade for this corset! I love the way she matched up the motifs in the fabric.

I really wanted some nice acid green and purple accents and some aspects of Victorian trimming that would be easy for people to apply. 

This photo shows off the side cascade drape really well.

Another aside from me ... see all those banker's boxes to the right under Theresa's cutting table?  Well, they are FILLED with just part of her huge and diverse vintage pattern collection.  She has stuff from every decade of the 20th Century, I think, at least early to mid-century, with a particularly rich selection from the 30's - 50's!

There was a little issue in figuring out this pattern.  You see, I had wanted to have the red bolero longer than the black bolero, and I had thought it would be ok as I had sent in my muslins and they were approved.  So, I made the bolero pattern with all of the trim placement lines and also a line marked "cut off for view B".  It was just too confusing, so I had to make an all new red bolero that was the same length as the black bolero, a new pattern and get it to New York really quick.

-- 
 Theresa LaQuey

So here we end Theresa LaQuey week #1 with a view of the pretty back.  Something else the fashion photo doesn't show.

She will be back in a week or two with stories of the other two Steampunk patterns.