Catching up!

I feel as though I blinked and suddenly we have gone from December to mid February in a flash!

I hate to keep saying the same thing but it has been really busy in my world.
I took on a project that was late in starting, but I felt that we could pull it off.
I had people in place, the fabrics arrived just before the Christmas holiday started, I made some patterns then I came down with the flu.
I put everyone off for a few days, while I lay in bed feverish. Once my fever broke, I dragged myself to the studio to cut so we could be prepared for fittings the next week. What a hellish thing the flu is.

Well now that project is over, I have been back at my main job for a month now- and I waved goodbye to that project on Saturday.


One more project to be delivered - a ballet costume-  and I will be down to a single job and I can't tell you how good that feels.




Here is my Ballet coat.
I sent it in with a colleague for a fitting as I was otherwise unavailable on that day. Little did I know that the dancer I cut it for was injured and another dancer showed up to be fit. Luckily, they were quite similar in size!
There were a few changes that the designer (Colin Richmond)made, as you can see- shortening the hem, lengthening the sleeves, and he took it in quite a bit through the body- I had cut it with a lot more ease and had the skirts flared from a higher position on the body. The roll line was moved up and the collar reduced in proportions.
He added fur cuffs and a back belt.
Generally though, not too bad for a first fit in fabric.

Now it is boxed up ready to be delivered! I hope I get to go in and see the dress rehearsal, the show looks amazing from the sketches I have seen and the promo videos. The ballet wardrobe is one of my favourite wardrobes and everyone there deserves huge credit for their beautiful work!!



Next up in my world are productions of Guys and Dolls and HMS Pinafore! Two musicals that I have a great fondness for. I also have a 12th night that I will be working on so that should keep me busy!
Hopefully I will find more time to blog about them than I have recently.

Oh!
I also added something useful to the studio....
I have been on the lookout for a larger sized male judy, and found one last week on an online sales site. I didn't really need a full body judy, but he is a beauty! The price was well within my range and I just couldn't pass it up. It is a 42 young men's size which is great as the torso is longer- more proportional- to someone 6 feet tall, which is so much better than the standard 5'8" models.

Back to work tomorrow.

Industrial machines

Industrial sewing machines are the workhorses of the wardrobe and of my studio space. They are heavy, will sew through virtually anything, and I can't imagine trying to work on anything else. I find that the best machines to purchase are the older ones with fewer bells and whistles. They have fewer things to go wrong. The first industrial machine I bought was this Consew straight stitch for $100.00. Best investment I ever made. It only goes forward-no reverse- so if you need to tack the beginning or end of the seam, you have to lift the foot pedal, pull the fabric back a few millimeters and stitch over your first few stitches.

I bough the industrial Pfaff zig zag machine when Steve from Pro-Sewing found one and told me about it. I cost much more than the Consew did, but in the costuming area, a zig is very useful machine to have and I feel that this is one of the better ones.

I also have a very old Singer overlock machine-I'm not sure of its age but it still works very well. I use it mostly for finishing the seam allowance of garments.

I have a domestic serger that I use for rolled hem edges and for stretch fabrics too. It has a useful foot that allows elastic to feed through it without having to manually guide the elastic along.

I have a more modern Mitsubishi straight stitch machine that has a reverse lever and Carol has a Mauzer overlock at the studio as well.

I managed to get all these machines moved with the help of my husband and a manual fork lift. (He hopes I am happy with where they are situated so I won't have to ask for help to move them again.)

The other heavy duty piece of equipment I have is my old (bought it used 16 years ago) Sheldon industrial boiler and iron. When the seal went on the glass tube (which shows you the interior water level), surprisingly I got my local plumber to fix it- It will produce 30psi of steam and you can run it all day without refilling it. The iron is a heavier weight model for tailoring. The unit needs its own electrical breaker and it sits on a dedicated ironing table, covered in wool felt and wide enough to iron 150cm wide fabric. When this iron stops heating its life will be over since it has asbestos batting inside the bottom plate and no-one is allowed to work on them anymore.

So all the heavy items are now in the space, cleaned up and ready for whatever project next comes our way.

In the meantime I am back at my regular job contract. I have three shows assigned right now, so a bit of 30's and 40's style tailoring and a few doublets thrown in for good measure. I will work with new designers as well, so it should be an interesting season.

The process begins again.