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!