This one is definitely a rather different sort of garment – and a bit of an experiment. A nice autumnal walk made me think of the ways one might use the glory autumnal leaves in a costume. I do adore the autumn – it is by far my favourite season and I love every single day of it, so I thought it would be nice to actually use nature’s bounty to create something out of seasonally-available materials. The dress would be ephemeral, at least in parts, as leaves do not last forever – but at least I would have nice pictures.

And so, having returned from the walk, I got sketching… The sketch met with approval – but most importantly caught the eye of the photographer we usually work with for our Bridal or Steampunk collections. Even better, our usual stylist was up for some play on the autumnal theme as well. And so, having agreed on a date, I knew I had about three days to make the dress, starting from the following weekend.

The whole outfit was made in three stages: corset, leaf preparation, and skirt.

 

The Corset

This part of the outfit was to be made durable – and so artificial leaves were used, with additional real leaves being added on the day.

Materials

• Black cotton sateen,
• Herringbone tape,
• Tightly woven ribbon or self-made exterior channels,
• Boning (spiral steel, 7mm and 5mm, flats),
• Eyelets,
• Waist stay,
• Flossing thread, binding,
• Decoration – leaves, beads,
• Lining – leftover cotton fabric from the skirt!

All corsetry components were obtained from Sew Curvy, and the binding and leaves were from Hobbycraft.

Pattern

I choose to trial the new Sew Curvy pattern (on sale soon!) as I have used their underbust pattern to great effect on several corsets and trying the overbust seemed like a good idea. It work wonderfully – but any pattern that you have available, and which works for you, could be used.

Technique
 
Traditionally, the mock-up was prepared first, and after a few adjustments and deciding on the lines, I was able to trace and cut out the pieces in sateen.

Assembly: Nothing innovative here I must admit…

1. Cut the pieces - one for each side, two for centre front, and two of each side’s centre back. I usually cut the back panels on fold, so that the facing is made at the same time.

2. Back panels – press, and run a stitch next to the fold, securing it. Insert a strip of coutil between the layers – not necessary, but makes for much stronger base for the eyelets. Then sew the boning channels as normal. Insert eyelets (or do it later).

3. Sew all the panels together, making sure you match the markings.

4. Press open and stich on both sides – or trim one side and press to the side. Pin in the waist stay.

5. Attach the boning channels – I opted for a mixture of exterior and interior channels: decorative exterior channels in ribbon – 5mm bones would be going in there - and interior ones in cotton tape, for 7mm boning. As a part of your design you may want to sew the exterior channels over a part of a leaf.

6. Cut the boning, file and secure the ends. Insert the boning into the channels.

7. Flossing time! Here each bone is flossed with Gutterman top stitching thread in burnt orange. I chose a pattern that resembles leaves; vaguely, but sufficiently!

8. Attach your decoration – stich on the leaves, bits of fancy trim, etc. I also added garnet and amethyst beads, together with glass beads on top - hopefully resembling autumn berries. You can try the corset on to see if the decoration distribution looks the way you planned – if any changes are needed, they can be still incorporated at this stage.

9. Once the decoration is safely secured, you will no doubt notice that the inside of the thing is, to put it mildly, a bit messy. Time to get the lining sorted to cover all that creative chaos...

10. Lining – cut the panels using the pattern pieces – cut all but panel 6 (or whatever number your back lacing panel is). Stitch them all together – since they do not bear any tension, I simply overlocked them.

11. Place the lining on the corset, right sides together. Sew the edges of the lining and the edge of the back facing together. Repeat on the other side.

12. Flip the lining inside out, so that it is positioned on the wrong side of the corset. Pin it to the corset layer, trimming any bits that peek out over the top or bottom.

13. Bind the corset – sew the binding on one side, trim the edges, fold and secure on the inside with hand stitching

14. Modesty panel – cut the panel out of the same sateen (one layer and lining, or two layers or sateen), sew boing channels – I find that edge channels and two centre ones work best for me.

15. Insert bones and bind the panel.

16. Lace the corset – and it is ready!

17. On the day I simply lightly glued some real leaves on to the artificial ones, to create a more natural look.

18. Lace the corset – and it is ready!

 

The Skirt

Preparation
Gathering the materials: If using real leaves, make sure this stage is carried out as close in time as possible to the photo-shoot or the event when you plan to wear the outfit – there are ways of preserving the leaves (glycerol/glycerine, wax paper, etc.) but doing that to over 350 leaves may seem a bit time consuming… So get your leaves as fresh as possible. Choose the ones that have just fallen and are not too dried out and curled or damaged.

Note - for a lasting creation you can use artificial leaves – this will cost a bit more, but the leaves are readily available in craft stores and online. It will also take much longer to stich each and every leaf, but it can be done and your efforts will be rewarded with a creation that lasts…

Materials

• 5m of cotton. It helps if the colour coordinates with the theme, but this is not vital – I used orange cotton.
• Leaves – roughly 350-400 of different foliage. You will need many more than you think – we had two main trips, and a third quick trip for a few leaves of particular colours. Leaves used on the skirt are mostly from copper beech, birch, oak, chestnut, maple, rowan – and some others I liked the look of but didn’t know the names!
• Stapler.
• Glue gun and glue sticks – I used four packs of these.
• Needle and thread.

Pattern

I used the pattern I created for one of our Winter Bride Collection gowns, with one front, two sides, and two back panels. You can use any pattern you like, creating different shapes – fishtail, A line, or even a crinoline.

Method

The base: simply serge the seam allowances and sew the pieces together, leaving the back seam open at the top.

Insert waistband and add a closure of your choice – I opted for a button.

The skirt was ready in about 30 minutes:

Now the fun starts in earnest…

Get your leaves out and sort them – I decided to sort them by colour and size - the biggest and darkest leaves would be going on the bottom. Trim the stalks. Make sure your voluntary helpers (children, cats, dogs, etc.) are held in check – our moggy did have some fun diving into the pile of leaves at speed, but the sorting went much faster once the error of his ways was explained to him!

The first row was stapled - a fast and easy way of attaching these larger leaves, but it will work only on the bottom row, alas, unless you have a very log stapler.

All the consecutive layers are glued – I was a bit apprehensive at first, but the glue held very well, and the long strands of cooling glue looked like spider webs.

Gluing presented a few problems too - you need something to push the leaves against. The train was easy, as the ground provided sufficient support, and I used it as much as I could in the first stages.

The higher you get, however, the more difficult it becomes – so help was needed. My own husband volunteered and dived under the skirt, so that I could use his back as the pressing surface. And it worked to some extent ?

The first day I managed to do half the skirt before running out of leaves and glue… 

Work resumed the next day after another leaf collection – and we also gathered some more generic autumnal bits – conkers, acorns, maple seedlings, rowan berries (don’t eat raw!), etc. – perfect for accessories and embellishing the skirt. More glue sticks were purchased and I could carry on...

No husband available on the second day, so a garden table was used, followed by an ironing board for pressing against whilst gluing.

It also appeared that being left indoors, the leaves shrivelled a bit, revealing patches of the fabric. So the first step was patching those areas with extra leaves.

 

As the work progressed, I started adding some more elements to the skirt – a conker shell, seedlings, a small branch of oak leaves, acorns, etc. – just to make the skirt more like the forest floor... A few hours later, the skirt was ready

After completion it was kept outside and no further amendments were necessary – the leaves did not whither and shrivel in any substantial degree – although the skirt did acquire a few residents as I found a few spiders making themselves comfortable in between the leaves!

 

Accessories

• Wig – basic wig from Wonderland Wigs,
• Jewellery – conkers were drilled and threaded – they made a nice necklace and a bangle,
• On the day we decided to use a bunch of artificial leaves styled in a crown,
• Other bits used: colour contact lenses, long bow, arrows. On the location – artificial mist (using plumbers flue smoke).

 

The Results

More pictures on Facebook.

Altogether – the dress has been in the garage for a few days – and is still looking good. I suppose for an organic item it has a life span of about 10 days or so.

Having made this outfit, I now resolved to make similar attire for each season, utilising both lasting materials and seasonal elements – flowers, branches, wheat – so watch this space, as Winter, with its snowflakes, rosehip berries and frosted twig corset, is next….

 

Credits

Many thanks to Paul from Mockford photography and Sarah Dunn for cooperating with us – as always the results are amazing!

 

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