the sparkly part of the job

Today I received the sketch and some reference for something sparkly! yeah!

The sketch is lovely but I will just show you the reference here which is a look worn by Gene Kelly.

I have to make a pair of flat fronted period cuffed trousers in this lycra with vertical spakly stripes and a golf type T-shirt in a stretch net with broad bands of tiny sequins.

How much fun is this?

The pants are already cut out and in a basket ready for the next lucky stitcher who finishes what they are currently working on. (I can't tell if they are looking forward to it or not, hmmm...)

The shirt required a little sample in black and white drill for me to figure out the contrast placket, facing and collar which will be in a solid sequined fabric in silver. The body of the shirt will be flatted onto a flesh coloured base fabric so it will appear to be see through, but that will conceal the construction details of the placket and facing. The shirt fabric you can see at the neck of the stand where I pinned it before trying out my collar idea.

I think it is going to look great, and it is fun to do a little bit of the glittery bits amongst the wools.

This look should also be ready for a fitting next Friday when our designer is in house.

making progress on our suits

We are making progress with our suits and here is the one that I squeezed out of the smallest amount of yardage!

It has patch pockets and in the first photo you can see that we supported the wool where the pockets are stitched on with a piece of bias tricot fusible. I use fusible very sparingly, if at all, but this is one area where it makes sense to me to use it. If you didn't use fusible, a piece of silesia would be the traditional support behind the pocket stitching.

The jacket is now ready for the sleeves to be basted in for our fitting, which should be next Friday if everything goes as planned.

Once we have the fitting, I will mark any alterations for fit and change anything the designer would like changed. The sleeves will come out, the shoulders opened, since they are just basted. The collar will be taken off, and then the roll line is taped, and the lapels can be properly pad stitched. The fronts will be taped, the lapels and front linings put in before the shoulders are stitched finally, then we are on the way to being finished with this one.

Did I mention already that I love this fabric? Very period, good weight and drape, so it is very nice to work with.

Today I also managed to get the information on the sparkly part of the job, so stay tuned!

1930's suits

I am in the midst of making a variety of 1930's style suits for one of our upcoming shows.

This one has a single breasted waistcoat, with 2 pockets. The jacket is single breasted notch collar, hip pockets are patch with flaps, and one outside breast welt pocket, no vent and it will have a topstitched detailing.

The trousers are double outward pleated with slant pockets, a straight waistband, and cuffed bottoms.

I am getting a variety of fabrics to work with.

This fabric on my table happens to be a really beautiful patterned wool, that I like a lot!

It has some weight, which is nice for the feel of the time period.

I especially like the trousers of this time period to hang with some weight, so when the actor is tap dancing, the trousers hang and sort of move up and down rather than twist in the wind like really modern light weight fabrics have a tendency to do.

I have been trying to cut directly into the cloth rather than make a toile because our designer availability is limited. That is fine except in this case, I got barely 4m of wool for a three piece suit. It also had a chunk missing on one end so that meant a toile was in order so I could get a fit and then try to lay out all the pieces on the fabric in the most careful and frugal way.

I really didn't expect to manage it but I did!

I got it all cut out, then I realized they had shorted me on the lining as well.

Oh well, it is in Susy and Karen's hands now, trousers are ready to fit again and the coat and waistcoat are well underway.

I'll try to take some photos as we go.

This time of year always feels strange, because we are working ahead, but haven't had many fittings, the casts are just starting in to rehearsal, and the designers schedules are sporadic at best, but in another week or two the energy in the building will change and things are going to get a lot more hectic. Mark my words!

what the ladies are wearing

While I am busy making uniforms and suits, the ladies cutters are busy with their work. Thank goodness for wool, is what I say! I actually have something sparkly to make as well, something stretchy too.

I had the fabric on my table for only a moment but I am finding glittery bits in everything- just wait till I cut it- then it really will be all over everything.

Here are a few things to be seen in the workrooms.

military tunic underway

We've been really busy over the past couple of weeks, getting people in for fittings so we can determine if we need to build new uniforms, or fit them into the ones we had already made.

As of Friday, I believe we are now making three new uniforms. Two will be single breasted and one in a double breasted style.

We are using a heavy barathea wool from Whaleys in a midnight blue colour.

You can see that we are using a pre-made suit fronts/chest canvas in these uniforms instead of building our own. The cost factor is the influence here- the pre-made suit fronts run anywhere from $15.00 to $30.00 each so that is a huge savings over making them from scratch.

We have sourced the gold trim for the sleeves and it is being made to order for us, so hopefully that will come in within the next month. The trouser braid is another issue, we have enough in stock for what we need to do, but we bought the last of it from our supplier, so more sourcing is needed in case there is another pair to be made in the future.

While this is going on, I have turned my attention to the 1930's and have made up some trousers and one suit so far. These have been fit, so I'll be marking alterations on Monday and taking some photos to show you.

I also need to get on with drafting some cutaway coats for some rather full figured gentlemen, and I need some time to think them through before cutting into the fabric.