Silk Painting

Today it was decided that i would be in charge of making all the fabrics for the jesters hose, sleeves and collar/hat pieces, because silk painting was the best way to achieve the fabric design on all the jesters.

For the design that i'm working on this is the fabric that i painted for the jesters hose;

I used salt to create the flames and plenty of water so that the colours ran together.

I really enjoyed this session as i learnt a really easy and effective technique which I've never used before and will definitely consider using for future projects. 

For some of the other designs we used batique and painted with wax which stopped the colours from running together and created some really interesting effects.

Here are some of the other fabrics we made for the other jesters;

Here we painted diamond harlequin shapes with wax for one of the jesters

I really like this piece as it really well replicates the design. I used a lot of white in this sample which nicely merged the other colours together.

My finished 18th century breeches

Here are my finished breeches!

 

Button holes are the final finishing touch that still needs to be added,
they will be done later on the special button hole machine.

Coin pouch and button fastening.
Below the 3 gold buttons are to be 3 linen ones,
i'm just waiting on those to be sourced and handed over to me.

I'm so pleased with how well my breeches have turned out. I've been very pickey with my sewing and the finer details when I could have been lazy and ignored it which is something I'll never do again, as for a first attempt at making a pair of 18th century breeches its a damn good one!

I think the one detail which i struggled with the most was the jiggers that are at the front of the trousers on either side of the front opening flap. This is down to the fact that they are the main detail so It was important that I made sure they looked perfect and not over work them as then your work will deteriorate and get worse. That's definitely a good point to consider and one that I've valued, and that's that whatever you work on the trick is not to overwork the fabric. If there's a small detail that could have been done better but is now past the point of enhancing, leave it because more often then not you'll only make it worse and not better.

Something else I've learnt from making the breeches is to be very carful with the iron. I've learnt to appreciate and love the iron as it can do wonderful things however It can also ruin something in a second. When I came to pressing my breeches after working on them I pressed on the seems where I'd overlocked which meant the fabric bruised on the right side and gave my fabric a slight sheen which is very frustrating. It's also very important to always put a piece of fabric between the iron and the garment to stop you from damaging it or transfering dirt from the iron.  

Developing the collars

In todays evening session I further developed the collars that I have been working on in the sessions. Since the tutorial meeting we had last week fabrics have now been designated to each set of designs and the characters within them. Because of this development, I went back over the collar that i had made, removing the colours that weren't in keeping with the design and changed them to the appropriate ones. This immediately improved the design and i can see already how its going to tie in with the rest of the costume and really bring it to life.

I think the costumes are going to work much better as an ensemble now as each character has a  mood board of colours specifically for them. When I was given the collars to work on at the beginning, I was also given a big box of fabric so had no order or real idea as to how they should work. This new system has improved the costumes significantly so I'm really pleased with the results so far.

The light at the end of the tunnel

I'm surprised at how quickly the breeches are coming together as at first I thought they were going to be very time consuming because of the pockets details and the fact that they're front opening etc. Fortunately its looking like I am mistaken as already I can see the end in view.

I've noticed that as this project has gone on I've got more and more confident with myself which I'm really enjoying as It's making me enjoy the work I'm doing more and creating a bigger sense of achievement. 

I remember at the beginning of SDP how dependent I felt on my tutor and how unsure I was at every step of the way, whereas now I'm looking at the sample pair of breeches that we're working from and knowing exactly what needs to be done next and how I'll do it. This is an extremely satisfying feeling and I'm looking forward to finishing the breeches and starting the blouse In order to see how far I can get on my own using the skills I've learnt.

It's all coming together

Today was a really productive day in the studio. I feel like i've finally got to grips with the process of looking at a garment and deconstructing it in order to see how it's put together - so much so that i feel confident enough in my own ability to get on with my work without having to constantly check with my tutor after ever step.

Today i carried out this technique and made really good progress with my breeches and as a result feel really happy with how well my works coming along.

I feel confident now that i'll have the breeches finished by the end of the week after 2 more full stints in the studio so i'll be ready to start the final garment for the costume store.

Tutorial

After a tutorial yesterday where i showed my sample collar to the rest of the team, it was decided that for some of the other collars which are smaller in the designs, i would adjust the collar pattern piece by simply adding in a pleat on either side of the neck at the shoulders. This would then add height to the collar which in some of the designs is required so is an easy, quick and effective alteration to make. For some of the other collar designs i will also add a bit of netting underneath some of the sqaures before i stitch them down in place to again add height and structure.

There are 2 collars on the desings that are different in and come down lower on the chest. For this design its been suggested that i use wire to add some shape and structure so that the collar can be manipulated into shape.

The Jester collars

Today we were given the designs that we will be working on for the Breathe dancers and discussed in our groups of our given designs how best to recreate each element of the design. I'm going to be apart of the 'The Jesters' team and will be responsible for making  the collars, a pair of short breeches and a Tudor style puff sleeve. In the Jester group there are a total of 8 Jesters all wearing similar costumes which link them as a group but also distinguish them slightly as individual performers.

I have been working on the collar which all the jesters wear, and came up with a simple method of making which effectively uses all the materials available to us to successfully replicate the collars in the designs. I'm really happy with how its turned out and am looking forward to running the workshop next week with the volunteers to make the remaining 7. 

This is the basic collar pattern a drafted which will be used for all The Jesters collars.

Very straight forward - i simply pinned onto the collar all the cuttings of fabrics and ribbon that are depicted in the design

I also added on a few more textual materials like plastic gauze and plastic bags to add volume and build the collar up. Once everything was in position i machined it all in place.
I think this is going to be a really fun part of the costume to make with the volunteers as it's straight forward and allows them to literally do as they please with the materials provided.

The Jester designs

These are the Jester designs we're making for the dance company. There are 7 Jesters in total and their costumes are all made up of different elements which can be attached to the base costumes which all the dancers will be wearing. We're making a lot of the costume parts in the evening workshops with the volunteers which is making it a much  more relaxing and enjoyable process as there is less stress and pressure to get all the costumes completed on time as we have so many pairs of hands helping out.

I'm in charge of making a sample collar which i will then have on display in the workshops so that the volunteers helping us have something to work from for guidance so that they know what we want the collars to look like.

The collars are all slightly varied so i will talk with whoever decides to make a collar what it is that needs to be different in order to make it suitable for a specific jester.

Overall i'm quite confident that as a group of costumes The Jesters are going to be enjoyable and easy to make as there aren't any huge elements that needs to be made up on mass.

For this Jester i have already made up the collar which will also be the sample collar to show in the workshop and for this design i will also be making the hose.

Group 2 'Toxic Sour' Corset Designs

These are the designs Yolanda came up with for the 2nd group which is made up of 2 corsets.

Group 1 'Candy' Corset Designs

These are the designs by Yolanda Collins that we will be working from for the candy themed corsets that our client has requested. Our client has specified that she would like 6 corsets in total, 3 sets of 2, all different in style and design but are different linked together through the use of fabrics, colour and surface decoration.