It has been an incredibly busy fall and winter 2013/2014.  It started in September with the Atlanta Ballet and then a film called "Deliverance Creek" and then back to the Ballet.  Things have been moving so fast, I haven't been able to document it all, so I decided to showcase the work of a new friend, Ellen.  Enjoy!

Next at St. Ed's is "Secret Garden" with costumes designed by the wonderful Susan Branch-Towne (her sketch is above); next to the sketch are the basic directions for constructing the dress which was patterned and cut by the lovely Lucie Cunningham!  In stark contrast to the pace of "The Importance of Being Earnest" where I was making multiple garments in 5 weeks, this dress took me the full five weeks to construct - you will see why in the following pics:

We are using chiffon over satin - here, again I start by thread marking and flat lining by hand.

For the chiffon layers and sleeves, I am using french seams which create a beautiful finished look.

For the bodice, the chiffon (which is cut on the bias by the way, making it much more challenging) is gathered over the satin under layer and attached by hand.

The center front piece is backed with a thicker fabric so that it holds it's shape.

This is the sleeve portion - in the center is a french seam and then around the outer edge is a 1/4" rolled hem.

The sleeve top is then gathered and very narrow elastic is attached.

Here, I am attaching the chiffon over layer to the skirt piece.  Below, you will see the gathers:

A majority of this dress was constructed by hand, so I took great pains to find just the right needle: not too big or it would cause large holes in the chiffon; not too small because it would slip out of my hand and/or get lost in the layers.  It also needed to have a very small eye to avoid damaging the fabric.

Sleeves and skirt attached to bodice.

Next are beautiful details like these bows which are added to the sleeves:

Handwork details

Attaching trim at the waist.

Inserting the bodice lining.

On to the hem - there are two: one chiffon layer and one satin layer.  I've used twill tape to mark the hemline.  Note: the chiffon is cut on the bias and has to hang (preferably from a mannequin) for at least 24 hours because it will 'grow' and it will do so unevenly.  Below, I secure the hemline from fraying (before I cut it) with the miracle that is Fray Check:

A hand rolled, pinned, and machine stitched hem.  Seemed like miles of chiffon!!!!

Details: Hooks and eyes and snaps at center back.

TA DA!!

Whew!  Now that things have settled down a bit, I can get some posts up!

I'm going back to March/April in this one, as the crew at St. Edward's took on the daunting task of creating a massive number of costumes for "The Importance of Being Earnest".  In 5 very fast weeks, I personally made 2 men's suit coats, 4 lined vests, and conducted major alterations on 2 different men's suit coats in addition to a few other minor alterations.  My fellow costumers had large Victorian dresses, petticoats, and hats to make.  We were all going at such a pace that I didn't get to take good before and after pics - all of these images shown are in various stages of construction, but you get the idea!

It's been a busy couple of months!  Sorry for the delay in posting the completion of the coats of the previous posts - you will see why I'm late soon....

After the alterations are made to David's coat, the fabric is laid out and marked on the real fabric. >

Jacket front - the blue thread marks the center front, where the buttons and buttonholes should be placed and the roll line for the collar.  The white thread is called flat lining meaning we 'marry' two layers of fabric together so that they act as one.  In this case, we used a medium weight non-fusible interlining to give this lightweight wool some additional weight.
All of this thread will be removed later.

I'm skipping a lot of steps in these photos because I have done so much since this and plan to post more; that said, here I am inserting the lining into David's coat - I have to match the collar, sleeves, and hems and finish the hems by hand.

Hand stitching the lining to the jacket vent at center back.

Continuing with inserting the lining, I start with cross stitching the hem and front facing in place by hand.

Then the lining hem is hand stitched in using an invisible stitch that is placed under the lining hem fold and attached to the shell hem.  This allows for movement and should prevent puckering on the outside.

Second fitting to make sure all of the markings are in the right place and that everything fits well.

Almost done!

Finished with thread marking and flat lining removed.  In addition to the pattern making, cutting and construction that I did on the coat, numerous students helped with the flat lining and thread marking - working in a costume shop is a group effort!

Dillon's coat - flat lined and thread marked.

A jacket front piece with dart and pocket opening stitched.

Preparing to attach the welt pocket.

This sleeve is two pieces - here one seam is being pressed open.

View of the sleeve seam from the 'right' side - it should be perfectly smooth.

Inserting the sleeve - note that the sleeve cap is slightly gathered which we call 'eased' - it should look smooth on the right side of the garment with no gathers visible.
I gave the whole operation a 1" seam allowance because we altered the sleeve shape very dramatically and this will allow for tweaking before we commit to the new shape.

Attaching the collar - seams trimmed and clipped.

The pressed collar seam from the other side - nice and smooth with a precise turn at the corner.

Coat before the lining is inserted.

Attaching the lining to the facing.

The lining is hand stitched to the vent at center back.

Unfortunately, we were moving at such a pace that I was unable to get a shot of the finished coat on this one.

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:

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.

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. 

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......

This is what I've been doing with my summer:  making a new line of clothing!  I have black polka dots and red polka dots plus some cute short styles - I'll be on S. Congress for First Thursday in August!  Come see me next door to Vespaio!