More Pictures...

Here is the villager costume I made and one of the rat costumes -

 These are all the chorus costumes in the dressing room -

Friday November 25

Last day on panto today making a floppy bow for the cat for walkdown, quite good cos I had to fathom out how to make it as well as actually making it.
Watched dress rehearsal this afternoon, good to see all the costumes in action...

Here are some pictures of things I worked on -

This is the dream sequence tunic I did all the hand finishing on.

Buttons I sewed on the fairy's cuff.

More soon...

Thursday November 24

Been a busy few days, with a couple of late nights.
Tuesday I finished off the dream sequence tunic - stitched the lining in round the armholes and hem, stab stitched the lining in the bottom of the sleeves and under the collar to stop it dropping, stitched on 10 poppas and 5 hooks and bars and 10 buttons - only took ten hours!
Wednesday was back to bits and pieces - decorated a couple of hats for walkdown amongst other things that gradually come up as tech rehearsal goes  on.  Later on helped with dressing the chorus and quick changes as it was their first rehearsal in costume.
Today we worked through all the alterations and finishing off bits generated by the chorus wearing costume last night, so elastic on rat ears and masks, attaching neckerchiefs to villager dresses and sewing up overskirts.  Also found time this afternoon to have a go on an industrial sewing machine, need practice...

Monday November 21

Today was the first day of tech week... first night is on Saturday!
Another day of doing odd bits and pieces.
The rest of the rat neckerchiefs had to be altered so they are quick and easy to put on, made two sleeves and lining for a tunic for a dream sequence and fetched some hanging rails from the store.

Friday November 18

Lots more bits and pieces done today -

• two slop hats taken in and poppas stitched on the chin straps
• name labels stitched in the villagers hats
• final dress - binding on the neck and arm edges, zip in, neckerchief attached and overskirt tucked up

Thursday November 17

Last of the rat waistcoats finished this morning, although there will probably be something else to be done to them...  Adjusted the small rat neckerchiefs, as they were too small to go over anyones head!  This afternoon sewed flowers on the hula costume and holly on the yule log. 
Also the set arrived today, it looks great.

Friday November 11

Finished the rat neckerchiefs today, so back to rat waistcoats.  They all have a collar and belt loops attached, so the next stage is to put a tab on the left front for the poppa, put stayflex on the right side for the other half of the poppa, attach and bag out the lining and press and stitch down the pleats.  This sounds quick and easy but in reality takes quite a while...

Wednesday November 9

All the rat waistcoats are done, ready for collars, etc, so have been making rat neckerchiefs, pretty much the same as a villager's neckerchief but plain orange.
This afternoon I was helping on the visiting production, so lots of fetching and carrying costumes, ironing, drying, putting away, hanging up, mending and doing up the odd zip in passing, same again on Saturday AND I get paid!

Friday November 4

Two more rats today (don't think half of them are done yet...).  Also ironed a HUGE piece of black cotton drill and started sewing strips of orange fabric together to make belt loops for the rat waistcoats.

Thursday November 3

More little jobs today -

• sewed a poppa on the scarf and neck of the snow lady
• stitched eight buttons on the fairy's cuffs

Also made two and a bit rat waistcoats, I can make one waistcoat and lining in two hours now, so getting quicker.

Wednesday November 2

The Dame came in for fittings today, so once I had finished the dress (pleated the skirt, attached it and hemmed it) ready to be fitted, I finished off lots of little jobs, including -

• Stitching poppas on the 'I heart JB' costume
• Stitching poppas on the Belly Flop champion sash
• Stitchng arm bands on
• Taking in a swimming cap, binding off the edges and attaching the chin strap

Tuesday November 1

Finished off the coconut bra and then made a dress, from scratch.
We thought we had finished the dresses for the chorus but then the director wanted one more, so once it was cut out I got to make it up.  The bodice had to be flat tacked and then stitched up, and then the pieces for the skirt and overskirt put together. Someone else made and gathered the overskirt while I made the neckerchief and then I attached the overskirt to the bodice.  More tomorrow...

Monday October 31

Quite a varied day today...
First of all went to meet the cast as today was first day of rehearsals, we also saw the set designs, which are fab!
Then I -

• finished the rat waistcoat
• punched new holes in and trimmed the ends off the rat belts
• unpicked the raffia from a hula skirt
• hand stitched sequin covered buttons/pieces of coal onto the snow lady
• started to hand stitch a coconut bra onto a hula costume - to be finished tomorrow...

Friday October 28

Finished the trousers, so went back to shortening the sleeves on t-shirts before hemming two pairs of trousers for the cat to wear.  This afternoon started putting together rats' waistcoats, these are also stripey and spotty - orange and yelllow - they have a centre back split and two deep pleats either side and have to be lined as well.

Wednesday October 26

All the dresses are finished, except for the zips, which someone else gets to do!
So I have been doing trousers for the pi-rats (its panto, remember).  These are basic black jazz pants with a certain amount chopped off the bottom, depending on the length of the rat's legs.  A four inch section is then cut off and used as a facing, which is stitched in random zig zags to make it look ragged.  Once stitched all the excess is trimmed off, corners clipped, turned through and pressed, before stitching round with a zig zag stitch to hold the facing in place.  Nine out of sixteen pairs done so far...

Monday October 24

More dresses...

Friday October 21

Moved onto dresses today.  These are for the villagers to wear and are made of stripey and spotty fabric.  Each one had to be overlocked round the bottom and then hemmed and any alterations on the inside of the bodice overlocked.  The arm holes and neck edge were finished off with bias binding.  Then a matching neckerchief was made, the triangle bit was shaped, bagged out and the ends stitched together with a false knot put around at the front.  Hopefully will be able to put some pictures on once panto has begun.

Thursday October 20

Finished off the blouses first today and then shortened the sleeves on eight long sleeved t-shirts, so they are now 3/4 length sleeves.

Wednesday October 19

So blouses...
The sleeves had been put in with a big stitch for the fittings, so they had to be re-stitched and then overlocked round the arm hole.  A name label was stitched to the side seam and then cuffs were added.  Some of the sleeves had to be trimmed off where they were pinned and the seam reinforced and then the lower sleeve was used as a pattern for the cuff.  We had to check the fitting notes for the cuff size and add seam allowance.  The cuffs had to be seamed, with the inner being a tiny bit smaller than the outer so they fit together well.  Once they were stitched together, bagged out and pressed, they were stitched to the inside of the sleeve and overlocked, so when they were turned out they made a cuff over the end of the sleeve.  Finally they were pressed and the side seam top stitched to stop the cuffs falling down.  Four and a half done so far.

Tuesday October 18

Today I have finished off eight pairs of bloomers.  Each pair had to have the waist elastic stitched and then the channel finished off, finally the legs were hemmed.  Some were too long, so had to be trimmed off and some were too short, so had to use bias binding to hem them.  Blouses tomorrow...

Monday October 17

Chips and hot chocolate!
Not what I've been eating but what I've been making - welcome to panto.
First day of placement today.  Began with helping to unpack costumes for The Glass Menagerie that had arrived from the New Victoria Theatre; once these were all in dressing rooms then I had to hand sew the ends of six giant chips to finish them off.  After lunch moved on to help sewing frothy milk and marshmallows onto a cup of hot chocolate.  The frothy milk is made of soft net stitched with swirls, with stiffer net underneath to give it some body and the marshmallows (about the size of a tin of baked beans) from foam covered with pink and white fabric.  More handstitching to hold everything in place.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring...

Punk Titania

Friday October 14

Punk Titania is finished - will post pics tomorrow.

Wednesday October 12

Finally got around to doing some sewing today - was starting to get slight withdrawal symptons, although I expect that will be cured once I begin my placement next week.
Did some work on 'The Titania Project' today.  This is a bit of an ongoing project I set myself to create different interpretations of one character through costume, started after I designed a youth theatre production for the Empire Theatre and designed the fairies as punks.
The picture on my blog to the right is Titania as warrior queen, with a bodice imitating armour and a net and tulle skirt and collar that I finished before my course.
I have now gone back to punk Titania as I felt she needed a bit of embellishment.  So here is the basic costume - a collection of charity shop finds and items from my wardrobe (from a long time ago) -

I spent today stitching metal items (again found around the house) buttons and beads and sequins to the bra to make it stand out from the bodice.  I am also going to add a layer over the skirt of different fabrics ragged up to add texture, slightly inspired by the Boho costumes from We Will Rock You.

Friday September 30

Sightly different blog this week - now I'm back in the real world - so actually haven't made anything to tell you about!
I'm back working as a dresser in Manchester, mostly dealing with sweaty jeans and t-shirts, oh what fun!
Had a meeting on Wednesday at the theatre where I will be doing my work placement from October 17, making pantomime costumes.  Had a look at all the designs, all bright colours and shiny fabrics, so looking forward to seeing the end results.  The Dame's costumes in particular are amazing, full on constructions using all kinds of unusual materials, so I think this placement is going to develop my skills and knowledge in lots of ways.

Friday September 23

Exhibition Day One...
Spent the morning running around doing various things to make my display look great, see some pictures below (for those of you who can't make it...)
Exhibition began at 2pm and we were quite busy with a mixture of family and friends, prospective students for next year, people who had seen us in the paper and industry folk, so all good.  Was great to see Mum, Martin and Fiona and also to have a good old catch up gossip with Gil!

Thursday September 22

Exhibition preparation day!
Took most of the morning to empty and clean the space (which is now unrecognisible from the space we've spent so long in) and then the fun began as we all created our own little worlds to showcase our work - this also necessitated going shopping!  All looking good and just a few more bits to finish off tomorrow.
Also the photos arrived, here are a couple...

Wednesday September 21

Spent most of today sorting out sample files ready for the exhibition.  This afternoon Jo and I strung our tutus - not a task for anyone lacking in patience - but after much swearing got them finished.
Also today - we made the papers!  Well local paper... picture below, see http://www.thepress.co.uk/ for the full story.

Tuesday September 20

Quite strange to go into college today after yesterday's photo shoot when everyhting had to be 'done' by then.
Found plenty to do though, my tutu is now at the 'resting' stage and will be ready to be strung by tomorrow afternoon.  Also put some extra lace on my slip and tidied up a bit.

Monday September 19

Photo shoot day!
On location at York Cemetery - sounds odd but as you can see from the photos below, nice and atmospheric for pictures.

The men all got dressed up in their costumes first, here is Mark looking great in his Naval uniform...

The photographer took lots of individual and group shots, whilst we got into our bustle gowns.  Lots more pictures later (including me playing the grieving widow over a random grave! and the local press paying a visit) and we changed into 1940's, complete redo of hair and make up (thank you Val and Abby) and then it was all over.  I have to say the making is more satisfying than the modelling - anyone who knows me, knows how much I love having my picture taken... but it is great to see everything being worn. 

Sunday September 18

Still working away...
Hand stitched seven button holes and sewed fourteen buttons onto my waistcoat and worked six eyelets in the jiggers and that is everything finished - certainly for the photoshoot tomorrow.

Saturday September 17

Finishing off day today - hemmed the cape, put the trim on my apron, made a bow for my bustle and made a list of all the things I'll need for Monday's photo shoot.  Wonderful and lovely Jo hemmed my stock so only one job left to do tomorrow - after the photo shoot we start getting everything ready for the exhibition, in a week it will all be over....

Friday September 16

Last thing to do on the dress was to put in a placket for the side opening and stitch on ten press studs and a hook and bar.  Once that was done I attached the lining to the cape and hand stitched the edges to match the dress.  I fitted the buckle and put on two press studs to hold it closed.  It then had to drop again before it was hemmed.

Thursday September 15

Had to leave the cape to drop so carried on with my dress, lots of hand sewing so slow progress...

Wednesday September 14

Resolved yesterday's problem and started making a short black velvet cape with a diamente buckle.  Its going to look great but made me remember why I avoid making things out of velvet - still its a challenge!
Also cut out my slip from white silk and finished sewing buttons on my coat.

Tuesday September 13

French seams today... may have mentioned fabric is a bit slippy so these took a while, especially the right hand seam as it had to have the sash sandwiched in, so working out the logistics took a while.  But all done now, just the finishing to do on neck, arm holes and hem and lots of press studs for closure.
Then started on my jacket but - calamity - bacause I had to seam down the centre back the cowl won't hang properly and not enough fabric to re-cut, so back to the drawing board, literally...

Monday September 12

Started constructing 1940's dress - first stitched in the tucks on the bodice front and then stitched the skirt to the bodice. As mentioned the fabric is slippy, so every seam moves around and takes ages to get right.  Once the seams were right I made bias strips and bound the raw edges and then top stitched through all the layers to hold the seam in place and make a decorative effect on the outside.  I then baby hemmed the edges of the sash.
To end the day sewed a whole load of buttons on my coat - only 18 to go...

Friday September 9

Spent the morning doing button holes on my coat - they are now finished - hurrah!
Then cut out my 1940's dress, laid the fabric out on another piece of fabric to stop it moving around while you cut it - neat trick for slippy fabrics.

Thursday September 8

Fabric shopping - all day!  Brilliant, even though I didn't buy anything!!

Wednesday September 7

Yesterday and today spent making up a pattern and toile for my 1940's evening gown.  The bodice was draped on the stand and then converted into a paper pattern.  The toile was cut of a similar type of fabric to the end product rather than calico, so it ended up rather colourful!

Monday September 5

Lucy came to talk to us today about fashion in the 1940's, from underwear right through to wedding dresses; it was very interesting, all about the politics of fashion and the affects of the war on all aspects of clothing.  After the talk we got to try stuff on, here's Becky looking great.

After lunch I started on the button holes in my coat - seven down, seventeen to go...

Tutu Weekend

Liz came for two days to teach us the fine art of tutu making...
She had cut out all the pieces of net for us (ten layers, a channel and leg ruffles) and the first thing we did was cut points along the bottom edge of each piece, except the channel.  Then all the lengths had to be stitched together and the channel stitched to the centre of layer 7.  Each length then had to be pleated up to fit onto the base - yep pleated, no gathering! So by the end of Saturday it all looked like this...

Next we had to prepare the basque and knickers.  The basque has a petersham waistband with elastic inserts at the sides, so it has some give.  The bottom edges are bound and all the seam allowances zig zagged.  The knickers are made from a double layer of cotton bobbinette and had to be marked up with all the stitch lines for the net and french seamed up the centre front, with the centre back opening neatened.
Once the knickers are prepared all the layers of net have to be stitched on with zig zag stitch.  You start with layer 4 and work down to the leg ruffles first and then up from layer 5 to 10, holding them down with your left elbow as you feed it all through the sewing machine - you have to wrestle it in to place the more layers you put on!  The next challenge is to french seam the lower centre back seam and crotch seam - don't let the tutu win...
Then we ran out of time.  Still some bits to do but so far it looks like this...

Friday September 2

Mostly hand sewing - herring bone on the facing and then 17 sets of hooks and eyes to hold the front closed.  Made a modesty panel to go behind the hooks and eyes and herring boned that on, then gathered up the lace for neck and cuffs and whip stitched it in place.  Thought about cuff decoration and realised I can't bend my arms when wearing my bodice!

Thursday September 1

First thing this morning attached epaulets to coat! Ta da!

Then had a fitting for my bustle gown.  After the fitting put in the sleeves and bound the raw edges, put on the collar and attached the facing.  Ended the day with lots of slip stitching and herring boning.

It does fit me but is a bit small for the dress form.... hmmm.

Wednesday August 31

Made up the sleeves, including a piped trim around the wrist, so they are ready to attach and also prepared the collar in the same way.

Tuesday August 30

Seemed to spend a lot of time un-picking things today...
Cut out and put together the facing to neaten the bottom edges of the bodice, but once stitched on it wouldn't bag out properly because of the pleats, so had to be un-picked and then the edges pressed up and the whole thing stitched by hand.  Took a while...

Monday August 29

We work Bank Holidays too...
Started on the bodice today, pinned and stitched all the seams and pressed the pleats out, so it looks like this...

Then all the seams have to be neatened with zig zag stitch, this is very tedious (and doesn't stop the fabric fraying) so I have done about half and will continue tomorrow.

Finally pinned my pleated trim to the hem of my apron, before leaving a bit early (well, it is a Bank Holilday!)

Saturday August 27

Yes, I know its Saturday, but its getting to that stage in the course (less than a month to go...) when all hours must be worked!
Started on my epaulets at last....

So far, so good, just bullion and a button hole to add... then I can make the other one!

Friday August 26

Continued work on my bustle/train, hand stitching the facing all the way around and then pleating it up to fit the waistband.  Finished it off with long tapes to tie around my waist.  Also prepared another long strip of fabric to be pleated up to trim the bottom edge of the apron, avoiding the mistakes of the other day, so went much quicker!

Thursday August 25

Worked on the bustle/train part of my gown today.  Joined the two pieces together with a french seam, so no raw edges and then cut out and hemmed a facing from silk in a contrasting colour.  Cut out strips of silk to make a pleated ruffle, which proved to be very time consuming and caused a slight loss of temper!  So marvel at the pictures below so I know it was worth it...

(Sorry, this picture should be the other way around...)

Wednesday August 24

Spent today finishing off the foundation skirt and apron, putting on the waistband, doing the hem and trying to decide what trim to use and whether to trim the hem or bottom of the apron.

Also made some swing catchers for the back and to hold up the swags on the apron - dedicated to you Jen, if you're reading this!

Exhibition

Check out http://www.northerncollegeofcostume.co.uk/ for full details of our end of course exhibition on September 23 & 24

Tuesday August 23

Started today by flat tacking the fabric for the apron to a piece of cotton backing, took a while as its quite big...

Once that was done the sides and bottom had to be faced; the top was marked with pins ready for the pleats.  Once all the preparation was done, the apron was attached to the foundation skirt and now just needs finishing off around the bottom.

Monday August 22

Constructed the foundation skirt today.  Cut from cotton and with a deep hem of silk, all the seams are fell seams to neaten the edges and there is a centre back placket.  Once it was stitched up, I pleated it onto a petersham waistband, so it looks like this...

Friday August 19

Cutting out...
                  ...all day!

Wednesday August 17

Back from London, with lovely fabric for my bustle gown.  Had a great time shopping on Goldhawk Road in Shepherds Bush, about 15 shops to choose from and must have been in most of them 3 or 4 times before final choice made, which turned out to be quite different from what I had originally planned!
Picture below doesn't really do the colours justice but here is my fabric...

Yes that is a purple hat!  Got some antique gloves as well from a very friendly man at Alfie's in Marylebone, who often helps Colleen Atwood source costume items (she designs for most of Tim Burton's films amongst other things...)
Spent today working on my breeches, made 3 covered buttons and so far have hand stitched 3 button holes, 2 to go, so neaarly finished.
Day off tomorrow, so I'm off to Castle Howard, cutting out on Friday.

Friday August 12

Fittings today!
Here I am in my completed under pinnings...

And in the bustle gown, with lots of pins where it was taken in...

After the fitting made all the adjustments to the patterns and worked out how much fabric will be needed.
Off to London next week to buy everything we need.

Thursday August 11

I'm pleased and proud to announce that the button holes on my shirt are done!  And the ones on my combinations - hurrah!

Also finished my bustle gown toile ready for fitting tomorrow - its been a good day...