one more doublet

One more doublet. I'm at 6 so far for the three characters that I am doing for this show. That doesn't include coats breeches, shirts and capes and all the rest.

This one was just basted up for a fitting. The fabric is flat mounted to washed and preshrunk white duck-I can't remember the weight but it's sturdy and tightly woven. We usually flat mount things like this by machine, not by hand.
I think that we will need to put in some spiral steel boning down the front edge, side fronts and side back, to keep him looking crisp and neat. We'll have to unpick a bit so the boning tape can be mounted on the duck and not go through the outside fabric. I should have done that before it was flat mounted but I obviously wasn't thinking clearly at the time. Don't even ask!
If the casing is in but the boning isn't needed there's no harm in having the boning casing there unused.

If the fabric frays easily, we will serge the seam allowances to keep it stable, and then the body is machined together. The sleeves are flat mounted on a lighter weight washed cotton and machined. The sleeve head has some gathering in it so that is put in, and the sleeves are basted or pinned to the armholes.
The skirts are mounted on duck as well, the edges basted back by hand, and then they are basted by hand to the doublet body. The collar is also just basted onto interfacing that we prepare for collars and basted to the neckline.
The reason it's done by hand, is that it is easier to take bits off in the fitting for either fitting or design changes.
After the fitting, the designer and assistant have chosen a lining for the sleeves, and the trim/banding that will decorate the fronts and skirts and sleeves.

stripes or no stripes

I don't know how I can manage to get photos mere seconds apart and see such a colour change!

Well, to stripe or not to stripe- today that is the question. Since I wasn't getting an answer, we basted on stripes on one side for the fitting and afterwards we tacked on some tailor's tape to give an idea what it would look like if the edges were bound in the cream lining.
We fit. No decision came....
Then we waited some more........
Everybody had their opinions, some even kept their opinions to themselves, others just rolled their eyes as I dragged the stand out to the fitting rooms again so the designer could look at it in proper lighting.
We waited some more. I was kind of hoping that whatever was decided, it would magically be further ahead each time I looked at it, but no, that wasn't happening either.
We waited some more.
Finally,
no stripes. Just binding. OK. Done. I think. I hope.

variations

Here again on the other side of the room, ladies wear is appearing on stands. I liked the design of the pleating on the skirt, it's unusual. The skirt is black velveteen, the blouse worn with it is lace over an ombre lining and it will be worn belted. There is also some kind of wrap or shawl affair draped around the shoulders. It's all very dark and a bit dramatic .


Compare it to this which is in the large wardrobe. Just a bit of contrast don't you think?

Striped Suit

Stripes.
I fit the jacket today that I think we have to stripe, but now the designer if feeling iffy about it. We will look at it again tomorrow I guess and hopefully move forward with a firm decision.


So, in the meantime, to keep you amused (and me sane), here's a photo of a different striped outfit that we made a few years ago. This is "Billy" from the show Anything Goes, dressed as a gangster. I loved this suit. We make a lot of interesting and unusual garments but I really love making suits and it was a lot of fun doing this bit of exaggeration.
Designed by one of my favourite designers- Patrick Clark.
(I wish we had a clip of him talking about Anything Goes because the set and costumes were fabulous, but that was pre web cast days here at the theatre. If you like, you can listen to him talk about costuming for a production of Oklahoma! here.
No we didn't create the stripes for this- the wool just came that way.

day to day

Do you ever have one of those days? The ones when everything you've done over the last while, seems to change? I had one of those days, well all week was one of those days so far. Anyway......











Wool stripes Twill stripes

One thing that we have been trying to get ahead on is a striped jacket. The problem is that it is impossible to get the kind of striped fabric the designer was after so that means making stripes. We did some samples of striping with twill tape which comes in various widths, so the designer could play with the patterning on the fabric. The other thing we did was make stripes out of a cream wool- of course, the edges of straight grain strips need to be turned or finished somehow, so the twill tape was winning as a technique. After sourcing some
1 1/4" dyeable cotton twill to go along with the 1/2" and 3/4" twill in stock, I was set to give it to the dye room, and the designer changed his mind.
O.K. This show techs at the end of the month. I haven't been able to have a fitting in real fabric yet because I've been trying to get the striping decisions, and just when we were so close.....
So, we're going with the wool. Period. I hope.
I'm not even going to get into the discussions that happened today when 4 different tailors in two different cities are trying to make uniforms that look the same. Or how I was feeling when the tuxedo I have to make for one guy might not be needed but no-one is sure yet about that scene. Or the fittings yesterday that kept getting postponed for an hour at a time until finally one was cancelled.
Tomorrow will be better. I'm sure.
I hope the buyers pick up that bolt of "Wonder Under" tomorrow so we can stripe on!

Bravo broadcast: Caesar and Cleopatra

FYI
Tomorrow, April 4, at 9 pm you can see last season's production of Caesar and Cleopatra broadcast on Bravo!
Check it out.
We made Mr. P's costumes among others.The trailer can be viewed here.

getting there...

Well, I think we're getting there, wherever that is, at least we're on the way!
Here's the gold doublet in it's next stage, ready for another, maybe a final fitting. The major pieces are figured out and together. I need to make a shape for the lace collar which will attach to the doublet collar, and fancy lace cuffs.

The sleeves are still changeable at this point and the skirts are just basted to the body.
We've basted a zipper in the front to make it easy to do up in a fitting. There is still trim to put on around the slashes on the chest and ribbons with Spanish points around the waistline.
It feels like we're heading in the right direction so I hope the designer thinks so too.
It's getting really hectic around this place and the energy in the building is changing.................first show is teching on Friday.