Sewing Horrors, or Creatures from the Past

Costumes and I have an interesting relationship. I love the idea of them, but can’t seem to manage any sort of follow through. My sewing past is littered with half-finished costumes (Devil in a Blue Dress from a couple of years ago comes to mind). They become odd, unfinished creatures never to escape balled up stasis in dark corners.

I didn’t even bother starting one this year, and have no plans to dress up tonight. But, while searching the other day (unsuccessfully—where the heck did it go?) for a corset I made a few years ago, I came across one of my very first corsets that has somehow survived a few moves and purges.

I present to you Lulu’s Corset:

I don’t remember much about this corset, if it can be called that. I was 16, I think, when I made it, and going through a short phase of gaming mostly centered on trying to play Final Fantasy VII and the newly released Final Fantasy X. I decided that I wanted to be LuLu for Halloween that year.

Here’s Lulu (standing):

So, I started with the corset. The front is a textured woven of unknown fabric type. The back is pleather, which was also going to be the main fabric for the rest of the costume.

The lining is a rather nice menswear lining I found in my step-mom’s stash. There’s Ridgeline boning involved. And shoelaces. And hot glue to attach the grey ribbon, which says “Calvin Klein”—I really wonder how I got ahold of that.

And a cheap poly zipper closure.

In other words, what on Earth (or in Spira) was I thinking?

I’m not sure which pattern I used. If I had to venture a guess, I might say it’s a modified M4861 (the McCall’s “Renaissance” bodice/corset pattern), but I’m not sure that it was actually out back then. I might have (heavily) modified some other pattern of unknown origin, a strong possibility being the out of print Simplicity 5843 that I made (and finished!) the year before (the instructions for which I just found in a bag of ancient scraps), although that would be heavily modified, and I have no idea why I would add the side lacing to it.

Also, notice how it (sort of, in so much as it probably does anyone) fits? That’s current me modeling it. Either there is a whole lot of ease provided by the side lacing (possible, although it’s limited by the short shoelaces). Or, it never actually fit 16 y.o. me, seeing as I was about 40lbs lighter back then. Perhaps that is a clue as to why I never finished the costume. I vaguely recall working on the skirt, but whatever I accomplished there is lost to time (or possibly lurking in a dark corner of my parents’ closet, ready to attack at any moment).

I’d like to think that I’d make some better choices for construction now, but then again, it was a Halloween costume, so I suppose anything goes.

What horror stories do you have in your sewing past?