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.

random vacation photos

Today's post is not to do with tailoring or costumes or sewing of any sort, but rest assured I will be back at it in no time!
After finishing my contract (early this year), it has been a whirlwind of activity of sorting out potential upcoming work and getting away for a short vacation.
A week away with no calls, and no internet availability. Just relaxation. Night-time darkness so absolute, that you cannot see your hand in front of your face once the lights are out.

I noticed that the first time you go to a place you take lots of pictures and the second, fewer and after that hardly any. Since this is our fourth time on Manitoulin Island, I realized near the end of the week I hadn't taken any photos, so when we made a day trip to Misery Bay, I remembered to bring the camera along.
Misery Bay- not miserable at all- the name is misleading! A short hike through the forest on a hot day, on a lovely trail of pine needles and rock brings you to this sight. I think we saw only two other people in the distance that day. Yes, before you say it, that is a big dog, and she was happy to stand there and cool off after the hike.

Sandbars and shallow water, and a partial view of the wetlands (actually a fen),  and forest beyond.

       Looking south from the beach towards the open lake. 

One of the features of this place is the Alvar, with its accompanying lichen and mosses which we were careful to avoid walking on. In some places though, it was just the rock and sand and the interesting patterns left by glaciers in the rock.


A beautiful place to visit. I was impressed by the  visitor centre which is completely off grid, with solar panels for electricity and staffed by committed volunteers.


Back home now and getting organized for the next round of work, hoping this heatwave breaks with some rain soon.

It looks like ballet work is on my plate in the next little while,  so I have to get organizing!

velvet cape is finished

 Well, the cape has been finished, and as far as I know, it has successfully stayed on his shoulders without needing any other hidden means of support such as a harness Hurray! Not that he could have a harness, for in the end he must take it off himself onstage so the chain of office has a large hook and bar closure on one side, and he does quite well with getting it unfastened. Whew!

The back has a suede red cross and studding details. I wasn't aware of the cross as part of the design when I first cut this out, and I put a pleat in the back of the cape, but I think we've made the best of it.



The idea of applying trim to velvet is always tricky and tends to involve drawing straws to see who gets to do it as well as some deep breathing exercises. This suede actually wasn't as problematic as we thought it would be. Deep breathing always helps!
The suede cross needed to be hand sewn to the cape. Hand sewing a cut, raw edge of suede needs a bit of preparation.
I wanted to create stitching holes along the edges to make the hand sewing easier, and to reduce any possible distortion of the edge that would occur. I created the holes by stitching the edge with an unthreaded industrial machine with a large needle set at the longest stitch length.
I also found it helpful to mark the cut edge, create the stitching holes, then cut on the line. This allows the suede to feed evenly through the machine and eliminates any rippling that would occur if I had cut first.

The studs went in fairly easily. I just created a circle template of the correct diameter, and divided it up into 18 degree angles (I did mention to my daughter that geometry is used in real life) to mark the placement.
Susy had the idea to put a piece of Styrofoam in between the velvet and the fur, and that allowed the studs to press in through the velvet or suede, into the Styrofoam, and it was a simple thing then, to lift the velvet carefully and press the prongs of the studs back with pliers.
Done.
And so is my season here. Early this year, but I have some work coming up in August so now is the time to relax if I can in the 36 C degree weather we've been experiencing. No air conditioning either.
At least I can wear something lighter than this cape!

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to all!
A beautiful sunny summer day here. Swimming, family and friends arriving for dinner outdoors on the deck. The Canada Day parade to watch and as darkness closes in, musical entertainment by our friends The New Boys, blankets and chairs spread out to watch the fireworks display, then the walk home with what seems like the whole community around us. A late night glass of wine to toast the day.
Thankful for living where we do.

Cheers!

Fittings

One last fitting to go. For a pair of leather pants that weren't quite ready last Thursday. 

Which will add up to 85 fittings since January.
Not 85 costumes, mind you. Way way more.

As a point of interest, here's a list of what I fit on one actor, in one fitting, on Thursday and all the people involved, and sometimes all in the room at the same time.

90 minutes.

One actor, Me (cutter), Susy (first hand), Paul (designer), Jenna (design assistant), Bradley (wardrobe manager), Connie (boots and shoes), Rebecca (Bijou), Eric(props), Lisa (costume breakdown).

A.Velvet jeans, under bodice 1 and sleeves, gambeson 1, belt 1, gorget 1, velvet cape, boots.

B. Same jeans, under bodice 2 with chain mail sleeves, gambeson 2, steel gorget, hooded cloak, steel breastplate, pauldrons, gauntlets, grieves, belt 2, sword, worn in various combinations.

C. Same jeans, under bodice 3 with sleeves, gambeson 3, gorget 2, velvet cape again, belt 3.

Last fitting (with fingers crossed)....one pair of leather pants. One actor, me, Susy, Paul, Jenna, Connie  and Bradley.

Well, I never did get a fitting proper, so I checked the fit backstage in the dressing room. Just me, and the actor wearing them.
I'm happy, they look good, and he can do everything he needs to in them, so that's done. Cross it off the list.
Now for the understudy. More fittings are coming my way.

gambesons and gorgets

 I think we are finally getting to the finishing stages of our work on this show.
All kinds of decisions have been made such as the decorative trim closures for this black velvet gambeson, and its accompanying suede gorget.
Now we just have to make a strap for the closures to be sewn to, that enables the actor to quickly get in and out of the costume, so that will be a suede strap with snaps. I still have to cut an under placket for it, and get the real belt when the boots and shoes department has it ready.

 This gambeson and gorget are also getting closer to completion. The leather thonging still has to be attached, and the straps for it have been prepped but still need to be riveted to the garment, and all those decorations will need to be properly placed, marked , holes punched and then riveted on as well.
We also have to attach the gorget to the gambeson, so it stays in place while being worn.

This gorget is also almost done. This one has the boot liner leather base that is pictured here. The pieces of belting were a bit tricky to position, and we have scored the back of them in order to get them to bend a bit more into the shape we want. Now we need to trim them and attach lacing as well as figure out how to attach it to the tunic that is worn under it.






I fit the velvet cloak on Thursday, so Denise is working away on it. Luckily no changes were necessary and it stayed on his shoulders very well. It still needs a fair amount of work to finish it, the hem alone is about 7.5 m and the hem allowance has to be trimmed down to 2" width, and hand cross stitched. Then there will be the same amount of fur hem to be dealt with, as well as catching the two layers together. Oh, and decoration and closures.....so there is quite a lot to do still.

leather gorget part 2

                                                                               
We are further along in the process of making this leather gorget but still not finished.

There are so many decisions to be made and each decision often causes more questions to be asked and processes to be figured out.

In this case, I had started out thinking that we would mount the leather on the felt base. The pattern I made was for the felt and I had to calculate by trial and error how much bigger to make the leather that would cover the felt since the circumference is greater. The pieces were joined edge to edge to reduce bulk and decorative strips of the embossed leather were stitched on top of the seams. The wide strips with the acorn nuts were backed onto boot leather for strength, which made them a certain thickness, so that meant I needed a longer screw to go through the thicker leather and still have enough space left for the leather thonging to go under the acorn nut. I had to order longer brass screws which led to a 10 day wait due to  an ordering fiasco of failed faxing, minimum order fulfillment and shipping errors.

By that time, I realized that trying the bind the top edge over the felt was making it all too thick, so I ditched the felt, re cut the inside structure out of boot weight leather, and reconfigured the outer layer of existing work to fit. I also then changed the opening to the centre back since it is now a quick change item and I don't have to worry about how to make the front opening (which is more visible) functional.

We also wanted the decoration strips to not be caught in the binding at the top and bottom, but have the screws go through the strips and the top layer of leather to hold them together, but not through the lining leather.

Arggghh!!
Sometimes it is so frustrating when your finished product is your prototype.

Everything is so plain to see in retrospect, don't you think? 
The second and third versions will be much better I'm sure. In fact, I started a gorget for another character using boot liner leather. This I seamed for rigidity, as the leather that is on the outside is a bit softer than it should be. It also has similar decorative strips with acorn nuts but the strips are made of belting leather, which is almost  1/4" thick!! So even if things are the same (gorget) the materials we are given for each specific item change the game in terms of construction methods.