Steampunking Safari Take 2

Some of you may recall that last year I organised a Steampunk Safari trip to the local zoo for the Australian Costumer Guild. Well, it was such a huge success that we decided to do it again this year - being last weekend. Unfortunately, while it is technically Autumn right now in Brisbane, we have had an incredibly hot month, and last weekend was no exception. The temperature soared to 32 degrees Celsius and the humidity skyrocketed. It certainly made for an interesting outing. It probably didn't help to much that I was coming down with a head-cold, so was running a temperature, but I was determined to have a good day.

There were eight of us in attendance, but not all in full costume due to the weather. The slushy machine was working at full strength and we were sculling down the water to try and combat the heat. The animals were out and about but many took the heat as a good time to nap. A few of us had our photo taken holding the koala. Fun Fact - Queensland is the only state in Australia that will let you hold a koala, so if you want to cuddle one of our native cuties, there are only a few place that will let you do it. The lovely little one we had was named Nutsy. She was very soft but very co-operative for the photos.

I debuted my new safari ensemble that I spent some time working on earlier this year. It is the a more feminine version of my steampunk safari costume, using a few pieces for both - namely the vest, hat, shoes and accessories. It is made up of a number of components. The blouse underneath is a peter pan collar cream cotton with lace trimming. The underskirt is of the same fabric. It is then topped with another skirt which is ruched up at the front. On top of that is the apron, trimmed with cream fringing and green velvet ribbon. The vest and accessories then finish of the look. I am pleased with how this turned out and am looking forward to wearing it again sometime later this year. I definitely achieved the effect that I was hoping for.