The Road to Salt City Steamfest - Day 9

Okay, last night I promised you guys I'd show you a knitted thing for the convention. Well, here it is!

I know. It doesn't look like much. A random rectangle with stuff on it. But rest assured, it's a very cool piece. What you are looking at is a bodice. It's my version of a corset, but there's no boning (because adding boning to knitting is very, very hard to do and can result in your corset disintegrating - go ahead. Ask me how I know), and it will lace up in the back. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Amalfi in what I believe is "apple." It's left over from a sweater I made. 

Using some shiny, brassy fabric, I cut out little gears and appliquéd them on with embroidery thread. There are little small ones and half of some large ones. I used a brown embroidery thread for the small gears and some gold metallic embroidery thread for the large gears. 

I then found some lovely, shimmery, sheer, wired ribbon in the clearance bin at Wal-Mart (there are very few places to buy ribbon around here), and I weaved it through some yarn overs I knit into the garter stitch panels. 

I will also note here that this is a heavy modification (read - I started with that, and then completely bastardized the thing) on a free pattern called Christine's Corset. That's a link to the flickr page with the actual pattern. You'll note that it is very, very different looking, except for the edges where the lacing goes through. I used a thinner yarn, made it fancier, basically turned a utilitarian costume piece into an artsy one. It was a lot of fun to make, and I'm glad I did. 

Tonight I will introduce you to a song that I personally think has elements of an alternate theory behind Jack the Ripper. The primary theory is that Jack the Ripper was a man - either a doctor or a butcher and may have had syphilis. One of the many alternate theories is that Jack the Ripper was actually a Jacqueline - the famous Murderer of Whitechapel was a woman. 

The song is The Surgeon's Widow by Escape the Clouds.

I won't be writing tomorrow. That task will be left to the inestimable Dr. Tabitha Clarkwell, my steampunk persona I pretend to be while in costume.