I have decided to make a Steampunk Fairy costume for Halloween this year and so I created a list of things I wanted the costume to have and began creating like mad.

Since I have never created an elaborate costume from scratch I did lots of searching on the internet for things I could use to adapt. I found this little tutorial for bloomers over here http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=210616.0 However they look nothing like the bloomers I was thinking of so I took her ideas and added my own and I think what I came out with look great.

Please ignore the fact that the pictures are of two different fabrics I knew photographing the black would be hard so some of the pictures of my test bloomers.

So the first thing you need to do is make your pattern.

Now I used guild above but I made some changes.

So let’s start.

1. Measure from the place you want the bloomers to sit, all the way down to where you want them to end.  As I was going Victorian inspired mine came to my knees.  Add about 2-3 inches for hemming. Yes, this much IS needed.
2. Now measure from the side of your hip to your bellybutton (if you want them to sit lower, just make sure you measure from hip to somewhere parallel to your bellybutton). Add 6 or more inches. Seriously! Otherwise they won’t bunch up like bloomers and when you sew them, they’ll be too small.
3. Measure the front of your thigh. DO NOT just measure around your thigh and divide in half. IT WILL NOT COME OUT RIGHT! Add 6 or more inches
4. Find the length from the bottom edge of the bloomer up to your crotch.
5. Draw in the curve. An easy way to do this is to extend the line from the hip to bellybutton measurement downwards and extend the line from the bottom edge- crotch to the side. Where they intersect is where the curve should be.
6. Measure from your hip to the center of your butt, then measure the BACK of your thigh. These two measurements will be larger than your hip-bellybutton and front thigh measurements. Add 6 or more inches to both. (If you have a curvy bottom be sure you adjust your measurement to account for that in this step.)
7. Use the edge- crotch measurement again and draw in the curve using the same method from step 5. Your pattern pieces are done! Now cut them out.

So you have a pattern now what to do with it. First you will need a shopping trip if you have not already gone. You will need enough material to cut out two pieces of each of your pattern (4 in total). I always by an extra yard or two so I can use the leftover pieces for something fun. I also usually buy a very cheap material with the same amount of give as your finished martial will have to make a test pair when I am making a pattern like this from scratch, that way I do not waste my experience finished fabric.

I purchased 2 yards of material, 2 yards of ribbon, elastic for my waist and elastic for the leg area (sorry I don’t have amounts for these as I keep a large supply of both on hand for various projects, but just measure both areas and buy that amount plus several inches for play) and 3 yards of the lace finish for the bottoms.

Ah yes that is my kitty trying to be helpful.

Step One: Fold fabric good/right side together. Layout, pin and cut out your pattern.  You should have four pieces when you are done, two of your front pattern and two of the back.

Step Two: When unpinning my pattern I use this handy trick to be able to tell the front from the back of material that has very similar looks. For the good/right side of the front pieces I use a silver safety pin, I prefer these to straight pins which have the habit of falling out just when you need to figure out which is the right side of your fabric. For the good/right side of the back pieces I pin a gold safety pin. Now I will always know which side should face in or out.

Step Three: Now it is time to start sewing. First stitch the left back piece to the left front piece (see how that trick above has helped you already) at the sides. Leave the curve for the time being. Do the same with the right pieces.

Step Four: This is where I began to deviate from the tutorial above. I took this time to hem the bloomers as the method I planned to use required a finished edge. So take a moment and hem them, I double fold hem. The easiest way to do this is first iron them flat once about ¼ to ½ inch, and then fold and iron again, pinning as you go (or if you are luck and your fabric stays flat just skip the pinning and sew) and then sew your hem.

Step Five: Now with the good/right sides of the fabric facing each other, sew the curve from the left piece to the curve from the right piece. Do not be scared of this, once you put the pieces together and pin them you will see exactly where to sew.

This is what your bloomers should look like at this point.

Step Six: Now we need to sew your waist elastic casing, first turn your bloomers inside out. Depending on the thickness of your elastic fold the top part down large enough to accommodate it. For example if you have elastic that is 1 inch thick then you will need to fold the material down 1 inch and sew along the bottom part of the fold. Don’t forget to add your personal tag to the back of your bloomers. I usually just use a piece of cloth ribbon folded in half and I often stich an L on it for my name. But you can make one any way you wish.  When sewing your casing start at the back and remember to leave an inch or two open so you can thread your elastic.

Step Seven: Time to thread your elastic. Here are some tricks to make this easy. One use a large safety pin attached to the end of your elastic, this gives you something easy to push through and pull your elastic along.

Now add another safety pin to the other end of your elastic and pin it to your bloomers. This will prevent that end from slipping into your casing while you thread.

Now that it is threaded make sure it is lying properly in your casing and then sew the two pieces together. I like to use this X pattern to make sure it is a nice strong connection not likely to break from wear. Slip this into the casing by tugging the waist of your bloomers. Now sew the small gap you left to thread the elastic closed.

And this is what your bloomers should look like at this point. Time now to add the finishing touches, you could skip all of these steps and just add a small casing at the bottom of you bloomers and add elastic there and call it a day, but as I said I wanted Victorian inspired bloomers so we are going to continue.

Step Eight: No Victorian inspired bloomers would be complete without a little ribbon at the bottom, but since I plan to wear these with several different  colored outfits I wanted ribbons that could be changed out easily. So the modification I made was to use button holes big enough to slip the ribbon through, this way I can just change them out as I need. To do this I mapped out how many button holes marked them with fabric chalk and then sewed them in. If you do not know how to do this consult your machine manual.  You can also skip this step altogether or just pin a ribbon bow on them.

Once the holes are sewn the next step is to use the seam ripper to open the holes. A neat trick is to put a pin at the top of the hole so your ripper can not go beyond that point and believe me rippers can just slip at the worst of times so use this trick to save yourself hours of heartache.

Step Nine: Now to add some fancy trim. I used a black lace which I sewed on free hand. If you are not comfortable with doing that just pin it in place. Either way you will have sexy lace at the bottom of your bloomers. (Note this step is done with the bloomers right side out)

Step Ten: To make your bloomers gather at the knees you need to add elastic to the bottom. With your bloomers inside out start at the inner seam and sew just a little (1/2 to 1 inch) to secure your elastic, then while pulling the elastic tight sew it along the bottom of your bloomers. You can pin this but I find it so much easier to free hand this step.

Step Eleven: All that is left is to thread your ribbon of choice.

Congratulations you now have a pair of Victorian inspired bloomers.

I hope you have found this tutorial informative, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to drop me a line.

Next project will be the wings for my fairy costume. Stay tuned!

And so this blog will be dedicated to all things Steampunk. Like for instance our bedroom. We will be doing the room completely in Alice in Wonderland gone Steampunk. It will have lots of Alice touches but all with a spice and flair of steampunk.

I will also be making a steampunk fairy for Halloween this year and I will document my results here. Along with anything else that tickles my fancy.

Still not sure what all this steampunk stuff is about? then head over to my pages area where there will be pages of information, along with a list of current projects which will be ticked off as they are completed. When ever possible I will post my own tutorials or links to tutorials I used to make all this stuff.

I encourage all feedback and questions and comments to join in the fun but be warned when the steampunk bug bites it bites mighty hard!