Steampunk Bustle... for a French Maid?

Went to a dance this weekend, that had a steampunk costume theme.

Made this skirt for my costume, based on the tutorial here.

The fun part is that I made it out of a bed sheet and some curtains, and got to use the corner of the fitted sheet for the bustle portion. I was pretty chuffed about that. 

I also was pretty happy with the zipper job I did. The waist didn't get over my hips too well, so I had to cut into the skirt without accounting for the seam allowance needs. So I finished the edges with bias tape and then added the zipper. The fact that my seams are actually at the edge consistently is more impressive than you may think for me.

 The waistband is another matter. I didn't realize just how frustrating it must have been to make those big complicated skirts... the layers made it almost impossible to pass the waistband through the sewing machine! I think it was five gathered layers at the same time. Yikes! (So, you can just ignore that wonky seam on the waist in the pic.)

All in all, it was a fun experiment, though I have to admit I felt more like a fancy French maid than very steampunk. I was even asked at the party if I were a steampunk French maid, so I guess I wasn't the only one. I did manage to win some costume recognition with my lovely companions, so I couldn't have done all that bad.