18th century costume and wow how time flies!

Isn't it funny how when you are busy you can find more time to do things than when you are not busy?  

Four months flash by.....I was working, but boy things feel strange theses days. 

I need to get back to my posts about making my coat and my thoughts on pattern drafting for women. but I am ignoring that right now and talking about something new.

Anyway, onwards and upwards.

I received a call mid summer by the designer asking me if I could reproduce an 18th century costume I had cut way back in 2014. It was to be for a filmed version of a new Opera piece. The AD loved the costumes we had made and wanted a new version for another singer. 

Of course I could! (confident that I still had the patterns handy, because I keep a lot of my old patterns.)  In the cold light of the next day, I went looking for those patterns only to find out that during my covid cleanup at the studio, I had thrown out those seven year old patterns, because I figured I wasn't going to need them again.

Isn't that always the way?

Merde!

Nevermind....

I proceeded to redraft, to the new singer's measurements: luckily they provided me with the originals to look at so I could jog my memory, and meanwhile the designer went shopping.

It was like Christmas unpacking all the bags of lovely fabric and trim and buttons. He had made me a bit of a map as well, which was essential as we were not going to be able to work in person on this. 

I was in one place and he was going to be eight hours away working on another project. 

The other complicating factor was time, as rehearsals didn't start until September 7 and delivery needed to be by the 22nd. 

This only left a two week window after the fitting to get it all done. I know that sounds like a lot of time, but for an 18th century costume, it is not a lot of time. Luckily I had a couple people on board with me to help out. 

first step- drafting patterns

second step- prepping fabrics and getting everything cut out ( right into the real fabric!) 

third step - putting it all together for the first and only fitting.

More to come..... 

waistcoats on the bias

I am making some suits for a show and the designer has designed the waistcoats to be cut on the bias.
OK, I think- or rather I didn't really think about it much at first- no problem.

I know it isn't really an impossible task, but it is time consuming and it is always hard to judge how much more time consuming until you are in the midst of it.... So lets break it down.

The basics:
Firstly- the design is a 1930's double breasted waistcoat with a laid on collar/lapel.
The cloth is a windowpane check. White on black. The windowpanes are rectangles not square.

Challenge: Bias- it stretches, so it needs control.
Solution: fuse straight grain fusible interfacing onto bias fabric.

Challenge: the true bias on a pattern with rectangles gives no happy visual location for the CF line.
Solution: draw a line through the corners of the rectangles and use that as a CF line, so it is not on the true bias.

Challenge: a traditional vertical dart in front will not be a good choice as it will distort the look of the "bias"
Solution: close out the front dart and transfer it to the neckline where it will eventually be covered by the collar.

Challenge: which grain to cut the collar? With the neckline dart, the laid on collar will never be able to match the fabric of the body. It can only match up to the dart, the worry is that it will just look like a mistake.
Solution: cut the collar/lapel so it is a contrast grain so the windowpane contrasts with the body- make a detail out of it.

Challenge: applying the fusible to the wool, making sure the right and left fronts are mirror images. dealing with shrinkage that comes with fusing.
Solution: Use a fusible that is somewhat translucent so I can see the windowpanes through it.
Draw out the pattern pieces on the fusible giving a clear CF line.
Block out the fabric in a single layer at the ironing table using a metre stick and a square, so the windowpanes stay square and true.
Chalk the pattern pieces onto the wool. including a clear CF placement line.
Apply the fusible to the wool carefully maintaining the alignment of CFs and overall placement.
Fuse one front, re block wool, chalk other front, and repeat making sure the alignment of the other front is a mirror image of the first.

At this point, the pieces are rough cut and I have to take them back to the table and check and redraw the pattern, because fusing always shrinks slightly.

Do the same process for the lapel/collar pieces.

Repeat for the second vest which must match the first.

This is the idea, partially done and placed roughly in position. We are going to put the welt pockets on the straight grain to match the lapels.

I think it will look very striking once it is finished, but oh boy it took a lot of time to get them cut out!

weeks 10 and 11 plus waistcoat update

Week 10.
Unbeknownst to me ( I obviously need to get out and read the posted calendar updates) one of my designers was returning but only for a short period of time. So in the midst of preparing for the other designer who would only be here on three specific days this week, I had to drop things and switch over to the other show to get ready for fittings that I had though could happen a little later.

I only got one of the three fittings I had been rushing to get ready. Blah!

Week 11
I got all three of the other fittings with my other show on Monday, and this is my table after coming back from one of them.
I also had a fitting with my third show which will be on stage first, so I am still trying to juggle that one so it doesn't get left behind.
Those beige trousers on the table were not a happy fit, I need to have a good look at what I did wrong there....maybe too many things going on and I forgot to make a change from the toile...who knows but arrrggh it bothered me looking at the photos later.



I was able to fit my corrected pattern for the waistcoat I showed you earlier.  Sorry about the photo quality, but it was taken on the fly in the fitting.

I didn't put the pockets in and it was no more than a baste up in the real fabric. Much improved, although I can still see a bit of tension above/over the chest- which I made a note of -and will try to correct that when I take it apart to mark alterations. I will try to take a photo of the pattern to show you what I did, when I have more than 5 minutes to think.

We don't have a lot of time in fittings as there is so much to do and so many components beyond the clothes to be fit. That fitting included armour so the props department shared the one hour we had.

There was debate about whether we needed to make a coat for this gentleman, so finally it was Ok'd and I quickly put together a toile of a great coat seen below.

I am going to leave it here for now as I have to go and have a glass of wine and put my feet up so I can do it all again tomorrow.

week 5 with a waistcoat fitting

Table- taken at a random random time during week five.

Well, it is getting busier! was surprised to get two major fittings on the first day of rehearsal as  that day is usually eaten up with meetings and a read through of the play.
Those costumes are hanging on the left of the picture. I fit two suits on our leading man- he came in a bit smaller than the last measurements I had. It is better that the costume is too big rather than too small, but, it does mean a bit of extra figuring out time.
I confess that cutting right into fabric is not my favourite thing to do, it certainly doesn't save time or money. It is much more efficient to cut a quick mock-up or toile- especially when you are not sure of the details of the design or the measurements of the actor.
The toile in the foreground is a waistcoat for an actor I have never had to build for up to now. Well, I lie, I made him a shendyt last year, but now I have to put him into some nice early Victorian clothing.
So I made a toile mostly because I thought he would be a challenging fit. He has a 45+ chest and a 34.5 waist and a 47.5 inch hip. Actually, the chest measure was incorrect, as I found out in the fitting. He really is 47 inch chest, so making a toile was a great idea, as I had to make more changes to the pattern than usual.
When I put the toile on him, I could easily do it up at the CF waist. right on my drafted CF line. As I pinned it closed in the front I could see that it would not be lining up on my line, the further up I pinned. So I just pinned it where it wanted to sit, and had a look at what was going on.

This is the fitting photo, in profile and you can see that he has a very prominent chest. Please note the drag lines from the full part of the chest towards the side waist. This was the second big hint to remeasure his chest. This is a really good example of why it matters where the fabric is distributed around the chest, and especially where you make the waist suppression. I need to make sure that the waist suppression happens where he needs it which is directly underneath the fullest part of the chest. Now in this case, I would end up with a very large front dart, so I will split that dart up and rotate it elsewhere, likely a little into the armhole (which will be eased in) as well as through the neckline dart which will be hidden by the lapel of the waistcoat.
If I released the side seam and let the front hang there, I could pin out a larger dart pointing to the chest and then if I re pinned the side seam where it lay, it would have swung downwards and towards the front, adding the amount taken in the dart fabric back at the sides.

This is a good example on why you cannot make the waist fit better just by taking in the side seams.
You will see this on Internet gentlemen who keep trying to get rid of fabric at the waist of their shirts. Usually these drag lines appear in the back, where a dart would better serve the purpose, but on a gent with a very full chest, taking in the sides aggressively will give you this look too.

That is it for now, I must get outside and contend with the snow which seems to be relentlessly falling! I cleared three inches from the sidewalks and drive this morning already, but more has fallen. The good news is that it is great for cross country skiing. I can walk out the door, put the skis on and go, which I did already today!

The weekly table

I thought a weekly table photo would be interesting, and dutifully took a photo last Tuesday. I have made a bunch of patterns, in fact almost all the patterns I need for one show, and I have cut straight into fabric for three suits.

I have to wait on the military frock and the tail suit as I do not have the trim for the trousers yet. It will be good to get these things on the actor and know how they fit so I can go ahead. That should happen in a week and a half.

In the meantime I have quite a bit of eighteenth century costumes again, and some nice 1840's early Victorian pieces to make.

Here is this week's table picture- I started on some research for the Victorian waistcoats, and drafted one up, making allowances for the actor's shape.

I drafted it up and then cut one half out of some scrap muslin to see if It felt right.  I think I should reduce the height of the shawl collar stand. I think this is going to be made in a brocade, of which I fear there is not enough.....I think I should raise the crossover point too, as the drawing shows the waistcoat showing when the DB frock coat is worn buttoned up.

I do have the cloth for the frock coat and it is very, very nice- maybe even a bit heavy- I can't believe I am saying that - but after getting paper thin fabrics, the real deal feels more than substantial!

So progress is being made, but what I would really like is a fitting, as it all feels so speculative until you put it on a body. That should start to happen in another week and a half or two, so I am trying to forge ahead in the meantime.

Woman's period waistcoat

A little while ago I posted about a waistcoat that I was cutting for a woman, and here it is all finished.
(Please forgive the dotty covering on the stand, it is a bit annoying to look at but I don't have time to change it.)

It is too bad that the detail seaming I put into the backs is lost with this fabric but hey, I know it is there.
If I was making another maybe for myself, I would either pipe the seams or make a detail of it with top stitching or something. Would look great in leather or suede.......don't you think. Not that I will ever get around to making it for myself. Sigh

Well, I guess it is not completely finished (what ever is?)  as I do not have a pretty ribbon or cording to lace the back up, but I am sure I will get something before this show goes in front of the audience.

It doesn't quite fit my stand as well as it does on the real person (what ever does?) but I am quite happy with the whole costume overall. Considering I don't do women's wear.....

Back at it

Oh my gosh, time flies.
I feel as though I have lost a month somewhere.

So back to it.
It is usually feast or famine in this business, and it is shaping up to be a bit of a feast year so far. This is good because last year was a bit lean in the fall. This fall as soon as I started on the current project, another one came along. That one will be interesting as I get to go and work in Montreal for a month, and I am really looking forward to it.

But, right now, I am moving forward on making three 18th century inspired costumes for a production. One is for a woman dressed as a man, but we are not trying to hide her shape. I rarely get to do women's wear, as there are lots of people who have that background and training.

I did feel a bit out of my element at first. Just the scale of the patterns felt unfamiliar and so small.
Of course when the patterns for the other costumes are for men with 48" chests or who are 6'5" tall  it doesn't help.
I made mock ups anyway because I didn't get a chance to measure the woman myself, and we were using the period as inspiration. The coat for the woman is ankle length and has almost 2/3 circle in fullness. It is going to take a lot of fabric, and I didn't want to mess up!

Here is my waistcoat toile after the fitting. I decided to offset the princess seam from the bust point so it was less obvious (in my mind anyway) but in the back, I used inspiration from the dresses and corsets of the period for my seam placement. The designer wanted lacing up the back which gave me that idea.


My judy is just a bit bigger and certainly less squishy than the real person, so the fit doesn't look optimal, but it was good.

I did have to pin up some extra length in the back and reshape the armhole a bit and move the collar to account for the bulk of the shirt and stock/cravat that she will wear.

I think I may give the hem a bit better shape, it looks a bit blah, and it needs a pocket placement.

I like the back so much it reminded me of an idea I had years ago to make myself a similar waistcoat. never got around to it then and probably won't now either, but hey you never know.

Now I have altered the pattern and just have to cut it out of this. 

Velvet and fusible thread

Oh, well it has been really crazy around the cutting table for the past few weeks and the next month promises more of the same. I don't know about your work place and work flow but mine is like getting on a ride at the fair, blindfolded!  You kind of know what to expect, but how the work unfolds is always different. Since I am working on three shows at the same time, you might think that if I couldn't get ahead on one, then I could on another and generally that is true, but sometimes, it just happens that you hit a roadblock of perhaps lack of information, or actor availability. Then sometimes actors show up a different size, or the designer is not available, or the fabric is stuck in customs. Can you guess that all of these things have happened to me this season? So, I feel that I am currently suffering from being spun around on some kind of carnival ride and now I am trying to catch my balance and move forward to the next ride in line.

So, now that you know how I am feeling, I thought I would show you a very interesting technique that I have borrowed from my colleague Evan.
A few years ago he had to make a purple velvet suit, out of that kind of velvet that is like a cat's tongue, very napped, very shiny and very hard to work with.
He controlled the fabric by stitching a grid onto a backing fabric using fusible thread. The velvet was then placed onto this backing, and gently pressed which melts the filament and fuses the two fabrics together.

We had to make a waistcoat out of silk/rayon velvet as well as use it for a facing for an evening dress cape. I don't know if you have ever worked with this fabric but I can tell you that it is not something easy to use. It shifts and wiggles around on the table, it is all drape and no substance! It would make a great bias cut 1930's style dress (as long as I didn't have to sew it). A waistcoat? Well, that is what was asked for and we complied.
This type of fabric doesn't always respond well to being flat mounted just around the perimeter, but it needed some support just to work with it, so we thought we should try out Evan's technique.

We used YLI fusible thread in the bobbin, regular Gutermann thread in the needle. This fusible thread is quite fine, you can break it by hand, so we bypassed running it through the bobbin tension slot, just feeding it through the open space beside the slot.

I cut out rectangles of a very lightweight poly cotton, marked a 2" grid and Denise stitched it.  I cut the velvet in a rectangle as well and the two fabrics were basted together along the perimeter to keep the grains aligned. At the ironing table, they were laid out on the large needle board, and carefully pressed. Once the filament melts, the needle thread can be pulled away if you choose. I recommend doing that so you don't have loose threads floating around that can mark the velvet at subsequent pressings.

Once the fabric was stable, I marked the pattern on it and it was line basted in preparation for sewing.
Sewing this kind of velvet still presents a challenge, so if you find yourself in this situation, do a sample. Putting a welt pocket into this was painful, and finally it was sewn in by hand, rather than fight with it at a machine.
If I was going to do this again, which I hope I don't have to any time soon, I would choose a backing with a bit more substance than what I used. I would also try to figure out a way to pre-fuse behind the welt pocket- not sure how but it would make cutting into the corners of the welt pocket less tedious.
Sorry Denise! she sewed the waistcoat and it did try her patience to the utmost!! In retrospect I would have changed the darting too. I needed the waist dart shaping but I should have reverted to just a single vertical dart. Sorry Denise! Can I apologise enough?
Well, if we have to do it again in the future, I hope I will have more thinking time and will improve the process!

Ice dance!

Well, I think I can let you know about my last project since it has now been seen in public.

Margaret (who cuts women's wear) and I just finished costumes for Canadian ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje who are starting out their competition season this week  at the US Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Whew! it looked like there were no costume malfunctions- hurray- since that results in points deducted!
We made two costumes for them, a "rehearsal look", with Kaitlyn in a thirties style playsuit, and the finale look which is what you can see in the video I am linking to here.
I made Andrew a pair of french blue high waisted trousers worn with a striped shirt for the rehearsal look and a black with blue striped trousers and waistcoat, with a white pinstripe shirt for the finale look.
It was very nerve wracking getting all of it together in such a short time frame and with basic/sketchy measurements and only one fitting.
    Adding to the pressure was the fact that the clothes have to not only look good, but must also fulfill a level of functionality that most clothing doesn't. He needs to be able to skate in them and do whatever the choreography requires, without any problems. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders as I watched both the practice routine and the finale and everything was fine. It always feels like flying by the seat of your pants when you take on projects like this. Yikes!

It seems like only yesterday that I was making opening ceremony costumes for the 2010 Olympics, and now my Olympic connection may continue as I wish Kaitlyn and Andrew all the best in their quest towards Sochi 2014.
I think we may have another project in the works for them.
Costumes designed by Debra Hanson.

A morning's work drafting

 We had a late addition to my workload, so I headed in to work this morning to do some drafting.
I get so much done when I am alone in the room.
No interruptions!
I started the trouser pattern late yesterday afternoon, and finished it up before I started in on the waistcoat and jacket pattern.

I started with my basic grid set up, and draft to the measurements I have- then I modify where I think it is needed. In this case I am dealing with an eight inch chest to waist drop and a drop of five inches waist to hip. So a bigger broader chest and slim hip size. I made a little modification in the back   length as well splitting  the back and opening it up for a bit of a forward head/neck.

 

The jacket starts with my grid set up as well- and I made a mistake  in my set up, forgetting in a moment of thinking too fast that I had added seam allowance. So something looked odd.  I say it over and over to other cutter's apprentices and stitchers that if something looks wrong it probably is,  so stop and retrace your steps.
I was drafting in pen to try to make it visible in photos, so you get to see the mess I made!

A bit further into the process, I think on paper, at this stage I change my mind and the lines as I make adjustments on the fly.

I made a further adjustment after getting the pattern cut out, I needed to create a bit more breadth in the upper chest area only.
I had to leave at noon, so I left it to percolate around in my head for the rest of the week end. The fabric should arrive Tuesday morning and I need to put the scissors to it right away.

Sorry about the photo quality, had to be quick about it all and of course the camera battery chose today to run low!

More later.....

 Friday.
 The contract is done and shipped.

 I feel exhausted. Could be the wine.

 Could be the weather- we suffered through the cold before the  boiler turned on in the building and as soon as it did the   weather warmed up. Now we are too hot. Running the a/c in October!

What is it about small versions of things- they are too cute! This was the smallest size waistcoat. I hope they send me some photos of whoever they cast to wear it!
















I think I will take the week-end off since I can hardly stand to make another pattern right now. I think I have made patterns for 8 suits and cut them out in the past week and a half while supervising the finishing of the project that just shipped.
One more week to prep for 11 or 12 fittings on the 29th and 30th.
I am not going to think about it now.
I'll try to get back to some kind of regular posting soon.

Boy's tail suits are together!

Whew!
It has been quite the week around the studio.
It seems that the fabric shipment I was waiting for had a month long vacation around the USA and it finally made it to Canada Customs on August 22nd where it was kept for a week because of a paperwork issue.
I was ready to give up, by then, but lo and behold, it arrived on August 29th, where it was quickly unwrapped and organized.

Luckily I had all my patterns ready to go, so I started cutting the next morning and I recruited Denise and Lela to help put things together so we could ship them back to be fit. Four tail suits for boys, and four shirt dickies too. Pretty good for a weeks work. I saved some time by just making mock-up sleeves, as I'd rather get the body fit first and not waste fabric.

That shipment went out yesterday afternoon at 3pm and has arrived safe and sound at its destination.
A big sigh of relief when I saw that.

Next week I follow, to do the fittings and then I will be tremendously busy making pattern alterations and then cutting and stitching all the rest.

     Today I managed to get the studio tidied and worked on the pattern alterations for the suit I drafted  here in the previous post. The fitting went very well, I was really pleased with the overall fit. Still needed a bit more length through the front to the hem, needed a bit more through the waist too, and an alteration for his shoulder that is distorted from a surgery.
Updated his trouser pattern too. Then I cut the coat out. I'll have to finish that tomorrow so I can get it to Silvia on Monday. I must remember to take a picture to post.
     On Monday I should be starting onto another project for another ballet company, and this time it is suits, yay!
     As I was in the midst of the rush this week, I had one of those moments where I stood there and realized just how much I enjoy the process of what I do. I like figuring things out -like that suit pattern- and that I can work with people I like and we work in a way that pleases us. We could spend time figuring out how to do things faster or with more shortcuts, or with less handling, and in some situations we do, but mostly we work the way that makes us feel gratified with not just the final result but with the journey of getting there.

Boy's patterns

While I am waiting for fabric to make its way to me, I thought I had better get started on some pattern making and a toile, since my next project involves making costumes for boys.

Conveniently I have a neighbour with a seven year old who has graciously let me use him for a fit model. It has been a great help and I promised to finish the mock-ups for him for Hallowe'en- a win-win situation!

I haven't made a lot of costumes for children, the last time was for a production of Oliver! and strangely enough, earlier this year I culled a backlog of patterns and guess what I tossed? Yes, Many of the patterns I had made for that show. Why does that happen? Is there something in the air that senses the moment I get rid of something, I will have a nee of it within the next 6 months.? Does that happen to anyone else?

Anyway, I did keep a few of them but I started with going through my collected cache of measurements and trying to compare them with some standards from a variety of sources. I was looking at Metric Pattern cutting for Children, and I have some more historical measurement tables from tailoring books as well.
The costumes I make will be worn by different children over the course of the next few years and the children range in age and height between 7-13 years and 51" to 63" tall. I keep all measurement sheets and never throw them away! I am putting them on a spread sheet so hopefully I can compare them by chest size, height or age to get an idea about the average size ranges.

Having a daughter, now almost 16, I do have a sense of the strange proportions that children have at different ages, but when you start trying to make patterns, it looks so odd on the table that you start second guessing everything.

Some things I have made note of:
Children have big heads. Being a mother makes this obvious!

In adults you can safely estimate proportions by dividing the height into the ideal of eight heads. Doesn't work with kids. If I take Master H's height of 51 3/4" and compare it to his measured nape to floor, from the top of his head to the nape is 8 1/4" which is more or less proportionately the size of an adult  of 5' 6" in height.

Children have a bit of a belly even if they are slim and have great posture. The patterns need extra room in the front waist area, and front length which is evident in the photo above.

Their limbs are slim and long compared to their chest, waist and hip measures. I remember my daughter seemed to stay the same circumference for many years even though she grew taller all the time.

They tend to have larger feet than you would think they should have.

They grow. Sometimes a great deal in a short time. I think my daughter grew over 4" in height one year. Big hem allowances are needed!

Not sure about their shoulder slope. I thought most kids had squarer shoulders, but I might be wrong about that. Master H above has sloping shoulders and the children I am making for will likely have sloping shoulders as well since they are baby ballet dancers.

I'm trying to see if I can relate their nape to waist length to a percentage of their height, or nape to floor length just out of curiousity. Trying to make the process make more sense.

waistcoat, double breasted

It has been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to post anything other than snippets of what we have done, but finally the frantic pace has eased slightly, for the time being.

I thought you might like to see both the pattern and finished product of a DB waistcoat we made recently.
As you can see by the darting, it was made for someone who carries their weight in the front waist...in other words a corpulent cut.
The centre front seam carries some of the shaping in the dart between the panels, and the rest of the shaping is accomplished in a horizontal dart into the waist pocket.
Double breasted waistcoats will always have a slight amount of darting in the CF seam, or along the neck edge, but this one has a bit more than average.

The lapel shape is created by closing the dart along the neckline, then drawing in the desired shape on the pattern...OOPS, the collar pattern I photographed was for the other waistcoat we made for him. Oh well.
The notch collar version, I cut apart so there was a seam between the "lapel" and "collar" and the finished lapel in the picture below has a shawl collar. These collars are laid flat and caught into the shoulder seam, rather than having a collar with a stand that is attached to the back neck like the earlier Victorian style posted here.



The pin visible on the centre front is marking the placement of a hole for a watch chain. We carefully opened a small section of the seam, cut through the hymo, and opened the same small area on the facing seam, secured the stitching well. The other option is to cut an eyelet hole and handwork around it with silk thread and a buttonhole stitch, but I prefer to just open up the seam. The fabric then is not cut.
The back is simply lining, inside and out, with a belt or strap and buckle for adjustments.

suit fitting

Finally!

We've been waiting and waiting to get this suit fit, and today was the day.

The trousers are really too long, but that is easily fixable and since I had barely enough fabric to make this, I thought better too long than too short.

So this is a 2 button SB early 1930's inspired suit, and it is my favourite fabric so far of all the fabrics I have been given to work with. I don't know where it came from, but when they tried to order more, it was unavailable.

I had made up a quick toile because I didn't have extra fabric in case I goofed, so the fit is pretty good right off the bat. The sleeves need a bit of tweaking, they are cut with a dance gusset to allow more movement without pulling the body of the jacket too much.

Other than that and a tweak to adjust for his lower right side, there isn't too much to change, so finishing it shouldn't be too troublesome.

The difficult part may be finding buttons that we like in the correct size range. When waistcoats were more common, you could always buy four sizes of matching buttons: overcoat, suit front, waistcoat and cuff buttons. For quite a while now, the waistcoat has been out of style and that size of button almost non-existent. I can't remember what line size it is off the top of my head, but it measures 5/8". Since the buttons need to match, they will be a challenge to locate.

If anyone has a source for them I'd love to know about it. Remember they must be traditional suiting buttons though!

finished coats

Here's a final look at a few coats and waistcoats that we have finished.

You've seen the process for the grey coat all along, the green coat is the made of the wrong side of the same fabric as our footmen coats. The cream coat is a very thin silk that needed a fair bit of supporting structure inside it. I love the mauve lining.

I'll be back to regular posting soon.

trim details

When I start making patterns for the costumes, I usually don't have any idea of the trims that may be used or the button size that may be chosen but those things make a huge difference in the final pattern and in the making up process of the costume.

With our footmen costumes, the shape of the wide trim and the placement of the trims dictated the amount of button stand and the spacing of the buttons as well as the construction technique to a degree.

I first fit the waistcoat by pinning it together along the CF line so I have a true line to go by once the trim is decided.

After the designer pins the trim in place, I have to work everything out for the stitchers.

(I also need to make sure that there is adequate support behind the trim so if I haven't cut enough support at the beginning I have to add more later. Luckily I had cut it in the first place.)

So I need a map of sorts.

I made a small sample of the front, and went to the buttonhole machine to put in some holes so I could determine the smallest hole size I could use. I wanted the wide trim to cover the tail end of the buttonholes, and I also wanted the button spacing to work out so that there was a buttonhole at every curve of the wide trim.

I needed to allow just enough space in front of the buttonhole to accomodate the narrow trim.

Once I had all of that figured out, I could mark the garment properly for sewing.

Armed with the map, the seamstress did a preliminary lay-out of the trim, so we could make sure it worked for button placement and also to figure out how the best way and place to turn the corner with the trim as it travels around the skirt and neckline of the waistcoat. This preliminary work allows us to sew most of the trim on by machine which is usually the most efficient way of applying it.

The right front is not a problem in that the trim could go on by machine before the facing and lining were installed. The difficulty with trims and functional buttonholes is that the buttonhole machine does not take kindly to trim, so we had to be clever and put the trim on around the skirt of the waistcoat by machine and then stop just below the bottom buttonhole. The buttonholes have to go through the facing, so the facing was put on and basted to the inside, then I put in the buttonholes. After that, the trim was basted in place, covering the buttonhole ends and then handsewn to the fronts. The facing and lining seam was then joined by machine and the waistcoat front was finished as usual.

It is interesting how many details need to be thought out in order to finish a garment. More than most people would realize, don't you think?

assorted pictures

We've been very busy at work, so busy it seems there's been very little time to focus on much else, so today here's a sampling of a few things we've managed to get finished in the past week or two.

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The velvet jacket and waistcoat were cut by my apprentice, Lela, who did a fantastic cutting job for her first jacket project. As it turns out, it ended up being velvet, with bound edges- how cruel is that? Luck of the draw I guess, at least the actor was a pretty proportionate figure since the only other option was the plaid frock coat for a very difficult figure. The velvet suit is an interpretation of a suit Oscar Wilde wore complete with a silk velvet cape- again, difficult work. She also cut a pair of plus four golf breeches and white flannel tennis trousers for the same person.

The tennis jacket and plaid frock coat were made for a challenging figure, and the jacket is something I am very happy with. It is challenge to make patterns for disproportionate figures and I have kept my patterns through out the process in hopes that at some point later this year I'll be able to go back and analyse and try to document what I did, so I can apply what worked in future circumstances.

I also cut trousers to go with the tennis jacket as well as plus fours, three waistcoats and a doublet that you can see in an unfinished state here.

I've also been pushed to get things going on our next show at the same time, because when these costumes go onstage everybody on the team needs work in their hands. Life in a rep theatre!

waistcoat pattern modifications

Most of the time I start out by making a pattern for a design without knowing what fabric will be used.

Usually it is not a big problem, but for some fabrics such as striped ones, you may want to change the dart position once you see the fabric.

It is best to not interrupt the stripes by having an angled dart for instance- so you may want to reposition the dart to be straighter or possibly place it in between a prominent stripe, to minimize the disruption of the stripes.

In the case of this waistcoat, the fabric turned out to be a taffeta, and it had a 5cm wide stripe pattern in black and mauve.

The best choice then was to eliminate the visible dart altogether.

I moved the vertical chest dart by closing it and transferring the dart to another position in the garment. Here it is in the neckline, (where I had already placed a bit of easing), with a small amount in the armhole.

You can see that I have made the dart shorter than the slash, so I have gained a bit in the chest, but that is negligible. There is also a slight gain in the waist because the vertical dart isn't completely edge to edge, but again, in this instance that small amount extra was not an issue.

The amount in the armhole can be eased in a bit or left as is since it is a small amount.

In the end this worked to show an uninterrupted waistcoat front, and all the shaping is hidden from view.