SEW GEEKY: TANK GiRL! She's just the girl you want!
Ready guys?!!!
"Feelin' a little inadequate?"
So who here is a former angsty teenager from the 90s? I was! I was the only kid in school wearing patent leather pants in every color and donning a choker necklace made out of safety pins and I listened to punk and ska music and loved every minute of it! The grown up Kat loves those things still, but I've evolved since then. But ain't nostalgia grand! Well, TANK GiRL is like a time capsule for me of my high school days (even though TANK GiRL came out just before I started high school).
Lori Petty plays TANK GiRL, Rebecca Buck, in a Post Apocalyptic world in which a comet struck the Earth 100 years ago, ridding the world of virtually all of it's water. The movie is based of of the comic book by the same name! It's basically the story of the quintessential badass.
Rebecca is feisty, lovable, raunchy, hilarious, brave... the full package, folks. She is on a quest to bring down the Man in this which is Water & Power.
So the thing about TANK GiRL is that she's a bad girl. She smokes, she loves guns and ahem her tank and she dresses far on the risque side of things. Being that I'm a mom and am not into any of those things, I made my look and accessories more of a TANK GiRL: the Mom.
inspired by this pic I traded a bubble gun for a toy gun; lollipops for cigarettes and I portrayed her as a fun-loving mom who breastfeeds and care for her young no matter what the case is!
Let's talk about my outfit! Handmades first!
cropped iconic white t-shirt with the red and blue target.
color-blocked sleeveless mini {affiliate link}Lady Skater Dress
red biker shorts
diy candy necklace
braided scraps accessories,
Trapper Hat with handmade patches
face mask
colorful zip up corset
Breastfeeding in the desert!
Akira's outfit was made by Amanda of Kitschy Coo as a baby shower gift!
The whole outfit started with the target shirt and quickly I knew I wanted to make a mini Lady Skater. The target shirt I used the latest Union St Pattern by Hey June Patterns and I hacked it up a lot. First I made an iron-on transfer of the target. Also, I widen the neckline quite a bit, I cropped-top the pattern, and I did something I think is interesting but perfect for this look: shredded binding.
MINI TUTE TIME!
How can you do a shredded binding? Well, basically I folded the binding in half long-wise, sewed it WST along the neck edge,then I folded that over the front. Then I used a wide twin needle and top-stitched and then I used tiny scissors to slice down the middle of the binding between the top-stitching (being careful to only cut the top layer; not all the way through) and the parts on the outside that are at above and below the top-stitching lines. Why would I do this instead of just leaving the edges raw? Because, since I widened the neck, I wanted to ensure that it wouldn't over stretch and become misshapened. I liked the look so much I went on to do it for the sleeve openings and the hem. It is time consuming, but I think it's worth it!
The mini Lady Skater Dress Pattern by Kitschy Coo was key. I know I'll love it even more when I drop a few pounds! But I didn't do too much editing to this one other than, once again, widening the neckline and then making it sleeveless. I meant to write "Charlie Don't Surf" in red across the front but I ran out of time!
The little red biker shorts are self drafted and straight-forward. I safety-pinned the to some trouser socks that I ripped up to make it look like garters. Ha! I actually love it!!! High school Kat is all "why didn't I think of that?
The candy necklace was made from other candy necklaces but restrung on elastic thread and put into color order. And I knotted and braided a bunch of rejects from my big ol bag of bias scraps.
The Trapper Hat I made using See Kate Sew's free pattern and tutorial. It fits but it's a bit snug. I'm sure the girls will be happy to acquire what doesn't fit me. Azy was going around gathering my elements as I took them off so she could dress up as Tank Girl. It was -so- cute! I made the patches too. One I made by cutting a circular piece of vinyl and then satin-stitching with a 9mm stitch width a big red "X" and the other patch I made by printing out some artwork I made with PS and then applied it to white canvas so I could stitch it on. The little pin on my hat says "Sew Geeky!"
The face mask ... I love my face mask. Face masks and eye patches are two things I want to bring into fashion more. Eye patches are so cool looking, especially when you think of all the different fabrics and embellishments you could do. And face masks not only look neat, but are sooo good for hygiene! Imagine how many illnesses we could save our school-aged children from if we made them wear sick/face masks when they are under the weather?! Mine, is merely for keeping the desert sands that TANK GiRL is faced with every day out of her face.
The corset! The corset was a last minute addition as I couldn't deal with how the outfit looked with my rolly body. It's cool, I'm working on that ;-) I used some leftover fabric from Sephira's birthday dress last year, made some bias tape, and followed the directions in this pattern/tutorial (substituting a sturdy separating zip for a busk). I did have to size up the pattern but I may have sized it up a bit too much. It's fitted but not cinched so that I can barely breath and oddly enough that makes me a little sad!
Other not handmade elements I love include the arrow and toy knife in my hair (just like Tank Girl with her helmet), the Garbage Pail Kids keychain on my boots, the pink bear hanging from my teeny bubble gun (just like Tank Girl), and um, Akira. But I suppose that last one is technically handmade! I didn't plan on her being in the pictures but since we were allllllll the way out in the Painted Hills and Jon was taking my pictures, someone had to hold her! And I loved where it took the photoshoot: to a more TANK GiRL the Mom look.
favorite pic of the whole shoot guys! inspired by this pic
I tried to play around with goofy animals like she does in the movie and really tried to make my makeup look just like Lori Petty's.
If you haven't seen Tank Girl, it's a really fun movie albeit one that's not for the kids under 17 to watch in my honest opinion.
SO MUCH FUN GUYS!! I am so gun-ho about anything steampunk/post-apocalyptic in fashion as is my co-heart Max. It really is one of the things that makes us gravitate to one another! SPEAKING OF WHICH YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE WHAT THE OTHERS MADE!!!
Our special guests this month include Kelley from Casa Crafty
and Betty from Betty Again! Betty is a fairly new blogger but she comes from good blood: she's Max's real life sister!
All three of those lady SERIOUSLY knocked it out of the park
on their Tank Girl looks! Unbelievable!
Go check them out!
As always, if you want to sew along or show us whatcha got, please email us at sewgeekyseries{at}gmail{dot}com or post to our Facebook page! You can get all the info here!
Next month is shaping up to be a super fun one too! Theme will be announce on the 1st of July!
And mark your calenders for the 25th to see what's up with Sew Geeky every month!
We promise it'll be a good time!
Till next time!