So, hopefully you've been wondering where I am and what I've been up to. 2012 was a difficult year - both professionally and personally - and most of my energy was spent trying to digest everything that was happening. Unfortunately, it means the clothing line is on indefinite hold; however, fortunately, as the year went on, things improved, and 2013 has started out in a much better place than last year.
In the last several months, I have worked on a Reebok photo shoot with photographer Gary Land (www.garylandphotography.com), an hilarious GE commercial, a theatre run of "Billy Elliot" and "Blue Man Group" and now, I am working at St. Edward's University making costumes for their spring productions - currently, a Shakespeare play: "Measure for Measure". Today I post pics of what I'm doing and the techniques that I use.
Over the course of 7 weeks, I will make a pair of pants, a vest, and 2 suit coats:
Over the course of 7 weeks, I will make a pair of pants, a vest, and 2 suit coats:
We started with a Burda commercial pattern (above) and altered it to suit our actors measurements (also above). To the left is the mock-up fabric used for the first coat for Dillon - this mock-up will help us perfect the pattern and fit our actor just right before cutting the actual costume fabric.
Burda patterns are not my favorite to work with: as you can see here one of the first tasks shows a flaw in the pattern. The edges on the right should be even. That's why I refer to sewing (especially pattern making) as 'intuitive geometry' - you can only follow theory to a point and then it takes all of your skill and experience to manipulate the flaws so that no one can tell they ever existed. All that is seen is perfect fit and design integrity.
In this shot, I am using a Herringbone Stitch (or Cross Stitch) to close the seam that will eventually be an exterior pocket.
In this shot, I am using a Herringbone Stitch (or Cross Stitch) to close the seam that will eventually be an exterior pocket.
Here you can see the completed waist pocket and the beginning of the handkerchief pocket.
Here, our Costume Designer, Buffy Manners, is doing the first fitting on Dillon - from here, on the pattern, I will take it in where it's pinned, alter the armscye and sleeve, and drop the waist.
David's coat: here we will use the same pattern as for Dillon's coat except I will alter the pattern from a single to a double breasted coat. The design also calls for a wider lapel. I will also change the pocket flap shape and add a wide cuff to the sleeve.
For the pocket shape, I start by tracing the original pocket flap onto craft paper.
I mark the edges of the original tracing that I want to keep and lightly sketch out the new shape I want at the bottom.
I then use a French Curve to solidly mark the new shape.
Then I balance the two sides by folding the piece in half and using my tracing wheel to mark through to the other side.
As you can see, there is a slight difference between the original pencil marking and the tracing wheel line from the other side of the pattern - so my true balanced line is right in the middle (the red line).
The red line is transferred to the other side and becomes our correct and balanced pattern.
The finished test pocket.
For the cuff addition to the sleeve, I take both sleeve pieces and place them together as if they were sewn together in fabric - I then trace the shape of the hemline in order to get the correct curve.
From the curve created from our 2 sleeve pieces, I extend out the sides at a 90* angle to get the height of the cuff needed and then add slashing lines every 2 inches (and as close to 90* as possible)
The pattern is cut right along the hemline and each slash line is cut almost to that edge so the piece can be fanned out. This will help the cuff stand away from the sleeve once it is attached. In hindsight, I would have added 1/8" ease to each side because it can get a little tight with so much fabric meeting in one place and although it wasn't obvious to anyone else, it was a detail that I was aware of. I used the French Curve to smooth out the piece at top and bottom.
I then added seam allowance to the hemline and cut the new pattern.
This is the mock-up for David's coat before the sleeves were inserted.
David's first fitting: the lapel is a bit too wide and Buffy has pinned it where she wants it to be. She also wants the lapel edge to come up and meet the collar. I will make these adjustments on the pattern before I cut the real fabric.
You also see some thread marking right under the lapel: that is a temporary hold, done by hand, in order to hold the facing to the jacket.
You also see some thread marking right under the lapel: that is a temporary hold, done by hand, in order to hold the facing to the jacket.
Still in the first fitting: the sleeve is a bit too long and needs to be taken up as pinned here. I will also make a small adjustment to the cuff, so that it is shorter in the back than the front. We will drop the waist, and add half an inch to the double breast width.
These are the pics up to the first fitting on the 2 jackets and more process to come up to the final fittings......
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