victorian
My Halloween costume for this year is Miss Alice Band, teacher at the Ankh-Morpork Guild of Assassins. Given that she is described as having an exploding bustle, I have chosen to make a Victorian dress, from the late bustle period (I'm estimating 1883 or 1884). There is, so far as I have found, no canonical reference to her clothing, other than the image (from the bust up) in The Art Of Discworld, so my plan is to make full Victorian, rather than emulate the style of the bodice. I have seen at least one other person dressed up as her; that dress was not Victorian, though the bustle did authentically explode. I have chosen to go in a different direction.
Given that we're talking Ankh-Morpork, and the Guild of Assassins, that direction can be summed up as "black" and "lots of weapons". I anticipate that finding the weapons will actually be the hardest part, given that not too many people are making reproduction pistol crossbows.
The advantage to working in this time period is that there are reproduction patterns available, without resorting to Juan Alcega's book. All my patterns were ordered from Truly Victorian, other than the corset and the undergarments patterns, which were ordered from Truly Victorian, but were created by Laughing Moon. I also will be able to buy more of the things I'll need than I was for the Tudor dress; gloves are gloves are gloves, after all. I'd love to be able to get a pair of winklepicker boots off Pennangalen Dreams, but they don't come in my size. Still, I'd love them, and I am sure that I'll be able to get relatively period shoes (particularly since the Powers have determined that "victorian" should be in fashion this year).
Canonical references for this character: Night Watch and The Art Of Discworld both refer to Alice. Pyramids gives a thorough overview of Pteppic, an assassin, outfitting himself for his final examination.
goal: completion for halloween 2006
chemise
drawers
corset
bustle
petticoat
underskirt
overskirt
bodice
hat
everything else
weapons
Pattern: Laughing Moon #100, Ladies' Victorian Underwear
Pattern: Laughing Moon #100, Ladies' Victorian Underwear
Pattern: Laughing Moon #100, Dore Straight-Seam Corset
Pattern: Truly Victorian Revised Bustle, TV101
Pattern: Truly Victorian 1885 Four-Gore Underskirt, TV 261
Pattern: Truly Victorian 1885 Four-Gore Underskirt, TV 261
Pattern: Truly Victorian 1886 Autumn Overskirt
bodice
Pattern: Truly Victorian 1883 Tail Bodice, TV 462