I was originally thinking natural form, since I love the long swooping trains, but I realized that a hoop skirt has the R2-D2 shape. First I needed new undergarments - corset, cage crinoline, and petticoat. I used the Redthreaded 1860s gored corset and TV142 walking cage crinoline and free petticoat pattern.
The corset is a single layer of coutil with internal boning channels made from twill tape. I found this beautiful peach floral coutil.
The crinoline was pretty easy, although I mis-measured some of the casings, but was able to adjust it. The free petticoat pattern was easy, other than a lot of gathering!
Now on to the gown. I wanted to keep it historically accurate, so went with white silk with blue accents. I found a great seller in India for white silk taffeta. I used TV442 for the bodice and TV242 for the skirt. TV bodices fit me very well and I didn't have to do any alterations.
I just love the swooping back seams on Victorian bodices, and the giant skirt gives a very slim waist illusion.
The sleeves are so floofy! I lined them with the blue that I'm using for skirt accents. The bodice is lined with a fun Star Wars cotton print I found on Etsy.
Bodice with bertha and trim attached. I bought 4 different sizes of royal blue ribbon on sale at Joanns.
Under skirt complete. I used white cotton for the upper part since it will be hidden, and the ruffles are silk taffeta. TV had a great suggestion to gather the ruffles over a cord, which worked beautifully and prevented broken gathering threads. The skirt is 3 panels so it's a lot of fabric!
The over skirt was a bit of a beast. I didn't realize that the blue of the facings would show through the white silk, and was unhappy with it. I also had trouble finding a good royal blue trim for the skirt. The first one I ordered was too teal and didn't look right, so now I have 20 spare yards of teal braid. I ended up removing the rosettes and sticking some white fabric into the skirt lower edges, and I'm much happier with it. I was too lazy to make ribbon flowers so I bought those on Etsy. I've added some giant rosettes with help from Bobo.
Now on to the headpiece. I decided to go with a coronet style, shown above. This is the part that will really make it R2-D2.
This was my tentative layout. I had the pearls left over from the butterfly gown and ordered the gems.
After stitching on the ribbon and pearls. The silver part is actually a tire cap painted silver, and I used a nickel for the base, plus some square silver rings. Excuse the dorky bathrobe pic, but I love how it turned out!
For shoes, I'll be wearing my Irregular Choice R2-D2 heels. Totally not period appropriate, but very R2 appropriate!
The last thing to make is R2's life form scanner, which I'll either stick in my hair or add to the coronet.
And a few cat tax photos. Of course they have to help with everything!
