This outfit takes inspiration from a painting that I made, which in turn was inspired by a scene from Avatar: The Last Airbender (a childhood favorite that I rewatched during quarantine). The painting is mixed media, consisting of watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil.
The general goal of this look was to mix a very airy, innocent aesthetic with a rugged, antique vibe. My interest in corsetry and costuming also served as heavy inspirations.
The above show the structural foundations of the look’s corset. I used my scraps of quilter’s cotton fabrics (for previous forests I’ve used muslin here) to make the corset foundation, each panel consists of two pieces of cotton to increase stability. I made boning channels for 1/4” boning along each seam and at the center front edges. The corset opening is at center front. There are a total of 16 panels.
I used an upholstery fabric for the corset’s outer shell and a satin lining fabric for the inside. Embroidered detail were added through the outer shell and foundation structure, around the boning channels. The top of the corset was under stitched to give a nice finish. The center fronts and the bottom were whip stitched shut by hand. I added 7 pewter colored grommets to both sides, keeping the boning in between the grommets and the edge to maintain structure and garment integrity.
The pleated skirt was completely hand sewn and made in a manner similar to 17th century panel petticoats. It came together so quickly!
