Steampunk Pirate: The Spats Gaiters

Good boots that fit comfortably and flatter are something of the holy grail for me. Someday, I tell myself, there will be boots worthy of the investment. Then I remember I live in the desert. While I lust after proper leather boots, I realize they are not perhaps the most practical footwear for much of our year.

For the Steampunk pirate ensemble, I decided to try a compromise. My piratical pants most assuredly needed something akin to boots so that they would present the proper piratical puffiness. I thought that the pants provided the perfect opportunity to try out a pattern for spats gaiters. (Quite oblivious to proper naming conventions, I spent a great deal of time referring to the poor things as spats. However, I have since learned that anything so tall clearly falls into the gaiters category.)

I began my adventures in gaiter making with a mock-up. If there is something I have learned over the years, it's that skipping the mock-up portion of a project is not always a good way to save time. Some garments, especially those I have made before, require no such preparation, but something as fitted and out of my experience as these gaiters certainly required some groundwork. After careful measurements of my calves and ankles, I adjusted the pattern pieces and I cut out the pattern--our much used and much loved Laughing Moon Sporting Costume once more provided the pattern-- in a similar fabric to what I intended to use for the final product. I sewed them up and give them a whirl for a fitting. The good news: they were humongous so I had plenty of room to alter them down. The bad news: the shape was becoming a little odd.

At this point, I made a grave error in judgement. Rather than calling in a second pair of hands to help me pin and adjust the mock-up, I pinned and adjusted myself while bent over at the waist and twisted around to blindly stab pins at my calves the fabric. Oh hubris! I was certain that I had adjust them sufficiently to get a good fit. This is often how I learn my best lessons in sewing.

I sewed up one leg of the adjusted gaiters and tried it on. It was properly snug in some places and strangely baggy in others. There was this "charming" pocket of pure empty space that stuck out over my calf. I don't believe the word flattering entered into the description, but there was certainly some colorful language in my workshop. Again I attacked the problem with pins, adjusted the baggy spots, tried to adjust the area with the pocket, made the same adjustments to the other let's pieces and sewed it up again. A quick fit seemed to suggest that the gaiters fit well enough. I sewed up the other leg.

I was concerned enough about keeping the legs of the gaiters upright rather than bagging up around my ankles that I tacked horsehair braid to each seam and covered the braid with grosgrain ribbon so that the prickly bits of plastic would not irritate my skin. I then bag lined the whole thing in natural cotton muslin for added comfort. I suspect that I would still find cloth gaiters rather warm in the desert and I wanted something that breaths while also protecting my skin from any weird seam friction. After all, these gaiters were supposed to fit snugly. They might rub oddly while I walked. I couched gold cord over the seems on the outside to give a little visual pop and also to hold the fabric, horsehair braid, & lining sandwich together.

Satisfied with the interior construction. I added the button holes and buttons. (A little out of order in construction terms but I needed to make sure I had enough buttons in the house while the fabric shop was still open.) Once the buttons were in place, I used some bias trim I had in the house. This was a bias tape I had made for a costume last year. Due to a failure in my math at the time, I have yards and yards more than I needed for that costume. It has, however, come in handy on many occasions so it has a costuming happy ending after all. Since I was running short on time at this point, I cut some corners on the bias tape and sewed it all down by machine rather than doing one side by hand.

I had long ago thrown out the pattern instructions at this point so I wasn't paying any attention to details like where I should attach the elastic to go under my shoe. I simply tacked it down where it seemed appropriate given the shape at the bottom of each gaiter. Note to self: do not attach the elastic so that it is on the back half of the side opening. Putting them on required me to step backwards into the gaiters and do a little heel shimmy over the elastic.

Ultimately, though they were fit to wear for our little piratical outing, I was somewhat unhappy with my execution of this pattern. Despite my efforts, the gaiters continued to be too large in some key areas around my calves and at my ankles. My husband offered to stuff the baggy spots but the effect was oddly Henry the VIII-- not the look I was going for despite the fact that I share ginger hair with old Henry. I was right to worry about the bagging issue as well because the gaiters did slide down and bag around my ankles. I chose to think of them as piratically casual but I found the bagging slightly uncomfortable. Fortunately, the lining did its job admirably. Neither seam nor horsehair braid caused any odd chaffing. They will, however, return to the work table for some modification.

~La Cucitrice