Thursday June 30

Today was spent cutting out our breeches, in main fabric and lining, plus interfacing.  The lining was marked up with chalk and carbon but the main fabric, being cream, had to be marked with tacking stitches, so that all the markings can be removed with nothing to show once the breeches are made up.  Slightly painstaking process but everything is now ready to start making up the breeches tomorrow.
Day off from practicing button holes today....

Wednesday June 29

Jane was with us for skills again today and we learnt how to do pockets.  First of all putting in a welt pocket, then attaching the pocket bag and putting a flap over.  I love pockets, they look great!  Quite fiddly to do but look so neat and professional that they are worth the effort.
We did some more button hole practice as well, some tips from Jane so mine are looking a lot better, so now just need to keep practicing.  Going to learn bound button holes at some point too.
Put all the notes and samples into my folder, so will remember how to do everything in the future...

Tuesday June 28

We tackled split falls today - the technical term for the flap at the front of the breeches.  They proved to be complicated, so good to have chance to practice.  You have to cut a pillar and a bearer, stitch the pillar to the front of the breeches and then cut a slit and put the bearer on the other side, press them over and hand stitch them down.  The bearer also has to be lined; you don't see the bearer at all, it is hidden behind the flap and buttons together.  Made one in calico to pratice the technique and then another cut to our exact pattern with adjustments made, I also lined the second example and put in a facing.  Incredibly frustrating moment when put the lining on the wrong side of the bearer but Rebecca told jokes so everything was fine!  All worth it though as split falls look great when they are done.
Pictures below show inside and outside views and flap down.  Don't think above explanation at all clear so if you ever fancy making breeches with split falls get professional help!

Monday June 27

Hemming in hot weather is not enjoyable!  However my shirt is now finished apart from the button holes, so much of today has been spent practising, both machine and hand sewn ones.  Hand sewn are slower but look better, although realistically I need to master both kinds, so that's something to work on.

Friday June 24

End of week two!
Spent all day today transfering the changes from my fitting, which basically entailed ripping apart the toiles I have made and changing them, so they will become the pattern pieces.  Had long struggles over the new positioning of a dart but in the end made a change elsewhere so the dart could stay in the same place...

Had a look round Fairfax House at lunchtime, built in the Georgian times it's the perfect setting for the costume I'm working on.

Thursday June 23

Jacket pattern finished, cut out in calico and made up (without sleeves) and one cuff put on shirt - ready for fitting.  All went well - see pictures below - and only two and a half pages of notes of changes to be made before cutting out and making up in the actual fabrics.

Thanks Mark.

Wednesday June 22

Today we made up the toiles for our breeches and waistcoat, these will be used for the fittings (found out today mine is 24 hours earlier than expected, ie tomorrow, yikes!) and then all the changes put onto the patterns before we cut out the actual fabrics.  Toiles are quite quick to make up but alot of markings on the waistcoat had to be tacked in, very slow...  They look like this:

Spent the afternoon drafting up the pattern for the jacket, so that can be cut out and made up tomorrow ready for the fitting.  Jacket pattern a bit of a challenge (maths involved) but sorted it out and added some design changes to make it work for Naval uniform.  Also found some great lace and bullion on the internet to make up my epaulettes.  See below the materials that next week I will begin to transform into costume.

Tuesday June 21

Shirt making...
Started off by putting the placket in the front of the shirt, as per yesterday's practice.  Next stitched the shoulder seams and put in the shoulder gussets.  Sleeves gathered up and attached and then the underarm gusset went in (a bit tricky)  and arm and side seams stitched.  Final two gussets went in at the bottom of the side seam and then plackets at the wrist.  Next the collar and cuffs were prepared and the neckline gathered up for the collar to be attached.  Doesn't look much typed up but this took all day!  The cuffs still need to be attached and then button holes in the plackets but that's for another day.  Very satisfying having a garment nearly finished.  Pictures below show before and after...

Monday June 20

Who knew a man's shirt had six gussets! Well, it used to around 1815 - one in each arm pit, two in the neck and two at the hem.  Other than that drafting the shirt pattern was drawing a lot of rectangles (gussets are triangular).  Once the pattern was drafted up we leant how to put in a plackett (one 't' or two, hmmm?) where there is no seam, which will form the neck opening; there will also be a plackett in each sleeve.
After lunch we pinned our patterns onto the fabric, marked them up and cut them out, plus interfacing for collar, cuffs and placketts.  Then every piece (except collar and cuffs) had to be edged on the dreaded overlocker.  The overlocker is a frightening machine that can seam and edge at the same time (most seams in commercial clothing are made this way, especially t-shirts).  As it also trims off the edge of the fabric it has two knife blades in it, plus it goes very fast if you're not careful, so can be pretty scary!  I feel I have mastered it, however, going slow is the best way.  Making up and button holes tomorrow...
Also Suzy made star biscuits, so it's been a good day.

Friday June 17

Phew - end of week one!
Skills day today, so brain is slightly mush...  We have learnt loads, including what sort of thread and needle to use on the machine, different types of seam construction, making perfect darts, notching and clipping, stay stiiching, and started a collection of different fabric types.  Even though some of it was basic stuff it was great for someone largely self taught as you never find out these things.  We do samples of everything and collect them together in to a file for reference and assessment.  Everything will also be relevant when we start on our project next week.

Thursday June 16

More Su's adventures in costume (thanks Jen!)
Today we went to Dewsbury, to Fabworks to buy all the fabrics for our men's project; we were there for hours!
I now have 2.5m of navy blue wool/cashmere blend and same of cream cotton lining for the jacket, 2m of cream wool plus lining for the breeches, a metre of off-white linen and beige lining for the waistcoat and, finally, 3 m of fine cotton lawn for the shirt, oh and a metre of black cotton for the stock. Just need to source buttons and braid (or the correct term is lace) now.  Everyone else bought gorgeous fabrics too, so our 1815ish gentlemen should look very fine.

Tuesday June 14

Research day today - took the decision to design Naval uniform around about 1812 (Captain Wentworth from Jane Austen's Persuasion), so lots of looking at books, watching bits of dvds, etc.  Quick trip to the library turned up a great book, so can now bore for England on the niceties of Naval uniform - for example each cuff and pocket must have 3 buttons, while the lapels have 9 each, a lieutenant has no epaulets, a new captain has one on his his right shoulder and an experienced captain has two!  Did some sketches and collected some images from Google and will put them together in my book once I have access to a printer...
Then spent a couple of hours drafting a pattern for the breeches and deciding on style of waistcoat.  More pattern drafting tomorrow and fabric shopping on Thursday, plus need 36 buttons with anchors on!

Monday June 13

Day One...
Introductory day today, much chat about background and experience and then went through what we will be doing over the next fifteen weeks - all went a bit silent at the amount of work!
Project one is Regency gentlemen (think Pride and Prejudice etc), followed by 1880's ladies and finally 1940's evening wear, all to be finished for a phot shoot on September 19.
We then all did some sewing jobs for our tutor, trimming garments, making hats and repairing trousers before lunch.
After lunch a trip to Barley Hall, a medieval hall tucked away in the centre of York, where there is an exhibition of costumes from tv and film, worn by Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and NIcole Kidman amongst others - will post some pictures if I can work out how to get them off my phone.
Finally back to college for champagne and strawberries... and now home to do some research before tomorrow.
Su x