I've been working.... pic spam, pic spam, pic spam....
At the end of last year, I was told I'd be working with the Watford Palace Theatre this term. As this is a professional outfit, not an in-house play at uni, the timetable would be different, but we were doing Restoration Theatre! Charles II, big BIG frocks and men's fashion as exciting as the womens. All good. However there was a slight delay and we didn't start in week 3 as expected. So we were given a lesson in cutting on the stand, a useful technique. We were to pootle on making these bodices for a few days until Watford sorted themselves out.
Four weeks later, in week 6, I found out that the Watford palace project was actually only offering three costumes to be made, and there were five of us waiting to hear from them, so myself and Alice were going to, somehow, turn these class-work bodices into a full term project.
Fortunately, my mind is so musical theatre-obsessed that I saw "Victorian Bodices! Right! High neckline, mutton-leg sleeves, I'll make an Elphaba bodice!" So I was idly, back in week 3, playing around with textures and reference pics looking to approximate Elphaba's act 2 dress. This is a GORGEOUS costume, but one I had discounted as a possibility for my Personal Project on the grounds of it being too complex and time-consuming. Too Time-consuming for a solid 10-week make, but now I'm doing it in 4!!! To be fair, I've discussed with my tutor and I'm not expected to complete the huge, beautiful ruffled skirt. I'll complete the bodice and pair it with a plain black skirt in the right shape.
So, I've been taking work-in-progress pictures. Today it started to begin to resemble a bodice, rather than random pieces of fabric with scraps all over them. I got it pinned to the stand, and yes, it might end up looking a little like it's meant to!
Stage 1 - cut on stand. standard size 12 dress-makers stand.
2 - The bin-bag stage. plain drille covered in cheap black organza, that came from John Lewis with big fuzzy black spiders all over it! Spiders are being re-homed.
3 - texture of upper part of bodice. The design suggests an under-dress and corset on top, with the corset having distorted and slipped down the waist. However it's easier to sew to put the upper section on top of the full body. Here's the upper section - layers of black drille, bondaweb, navy lace, cream lace, gold embroidered flowers on black organza, gold metallic net, soft gold net, and black and silver lurex knit, all covered in the cheap black organza, and sewn down a thousand times. Fun crazy machine quilting!
4 - the back top of the bodice. same technique as front, but more creative - funnily enough there's no reference pics of the back of Elphaba's dress, and any glimpse is covered by hair and/or cloak. The front is actually trying to replicate the placement of the different shapes shown in the reference pics. I don't know how the costume is SUPPOSED to fasten, but mine's got a centre back opening.
5 - real close-up on the detailled texture. the zig zag lines aren't nearly so obvious from a distance.
I hope.
6 - the state it's in currently. all pinned together, the front lower section not yet quilted. all sorts of scraps of fabric in there, shot silk, lurex, net, anything I grabbed from the scrap bin! I've kept to a hot colour palatte tho. I found this really nice flock-printed black net in the scrap bin, only enough for the front tho, so the back is plain net. I'll imcorporate the few off-cuts into the back if there's too much contrast. At this point it's beginning to resemble a bodice, just about! Enough to give me hope.
Sparkly fuzzy black spider from the organza making a guest appearance.
back view of the current state. Needs a whole lot more texture. Also worth noting there's a row of ruffles/frayed edges/texture between the top and middle, so it will be more clearly delineated. And covered by the cloak.
Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll get some clue on how to cut the sleeves!
Four weeks later, in week 6, I found out that the Watford palace project was actually only offering three costumes to be made, and there were five of us waiting to hear from them, so myself and Alice were going to, somehow, turn these class-work bodices into a full term project.
Fortunately, my mind is so musical theatre-obsessed that I saw "Victorian Bodices! Right! High neckline, mutton-leg sleeves, I'll make an Elphaba bodice!" So I was idly, back in week 3, playing around with textures and reference pics looking to approximate Elphaba's act 2 dress. This is a GORGEOUS costume, but one I had discounted as a possibility for my Personal Project on the grounds of it being too complex and time-consuming. Too Time-consuming for a solid 10-week make, but now I'm doing it in 4!!! To be fair, I've discussed with my tutor and I'm not expected to complete the huge, beautiful ruffled skirt. I'll complete the bodice and pair it with a plain black skirt in the right shape.
So, I've been taking work-in-progress pictures. Today it started to begin to resemble a bodice, rather than random pieces of fabric with scraps all over them. I got it pinned to the stand, and yes, it might end up looking a little like it's meant to!
Stage 1 - cut on stand. standard size 12 dress-makers stand.
2 - The bin-bag stage. plain drille covered in cheap black organza, that came from John Lewis with big fuzzy black spiders all over it! Spiders are being re-homed.
3 - texture of upper part of bodice. The design suggests an under-dress and corset on top, with the corset having distorted and slipped down the waist. However it's easier to sew to put the upper section on top of the full body. Here's the upper section - layers of black drille, bondaweb, navy lace, cream lace, gold embroidered flowers on black organza, gold metallic net, soft gold net, and black and silver lurex knit, all covered in the cheap black organza, and sewn down a thousand times. Fun crazy machine quilting!
4 - the back top of the bodice. same technique as front, but more creative - funnily enough there's no reference pics of the back of Elphaba's dress, and any glimpse is covered by hair and/or cloak. The front is actually trying to replicate the placement of the different shapes shown in the reference pics. I don't know how the costume is SUPPOSED to fasten, but mine's got a centre back opening.
5 - real close-up on the detailled texture. the zig zag lines aren't nearly so obvious from a distance.
I hope.
6 - the state it's in currently. all pinned together, the front lower section not yet quilted. all sorts of scraps of fabric in there, shot silk, lurex, net, anything I grabbed from the scrap bin! I've kept to a hot colour palatte tho. I found this really nice flock-printed black net in the scrap bin, only enough for the front tho, so the back is plain net. I'll imcorporate the few off-cuts into the back if there's too much contrast. At this point it's beginning to resemble a bodice, just about! Enough to give me hope.
Sparkly fuzzy black spider from the organza making a guest appearance.
back view of the current state. Needs a whole lot more texture. Also worth noting there's a row of ruffles/frayed edges/texture between the top and middle, so it will be more clearly delineated. And covered by the cloak.
Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll get some clue on how to cut the sleeves!