Northern College of Costume Exhibition

Think you are not interested? The latest group are putting their efforts on display this weekend and it is worth taking a look.

This is good old fashioned history based theatrical costume making.
Never wondered how many component parts go into making one Tudor "dress"?  Well, now is the time to start wondering and also have the opportunity to find out.  At the same time you could take a peek inside  a Teddy Boy's pockets, or ask the ladies about their 1940/50s evening wear.

I went along as a dresser for the Tudor photoshoot in our local Tudor Barley Hall. Those big skirts over farthingales and the stays can take quite a lot  effort to get on and then to manage. It was so atmospheric in there - I can't wait to see the photos.
The Teddy Boys stayed in the city centre down one of the seediest side lanes. No romantic Tudor beams for them. The final shoot of the day was at a Neo Classical chapel. A rather busy day.

Take a look at the complexities of the makes, see what can be achieved with some  ingenuity, hard work  and a lot of know-how and guidance. And then think - this was all achieved in 15 weeks!
I did the course a few years ago, and survived with battered, stitched fingerends and a lot more skills than I started with.
If you are in York, do drop in.
Photos : Mark Terry

bustle dress beginnings.




This about draping, drafting, fabric buying, sore feet and getting it cut out. Oh, and Gwen now has a bustle petticoat.

1885 by Mrs Christie of London.

Task- select and source the style and shapes relevant for the 1880s, drape it on the stand over all the underwear we've been making, draft this into patterns, make a toile. and fit it to ourselves. then Work out yardages, set a budget and go buying. The chosen fabrics are now cut out and mostly flat tacked onto calico, waiting to be made up!

Hermitage Museum

I went for a day dress based on this little petrol blue number in the Museum of London. Not the bodice front but the skirt - asymmetric layers, contrasting fabric textures, so lots of interest without shouting about it. The worrying thing is that it is not relying on embellishment for impact but on the fabrics and cut - nowhere to hide. What is good is that the front and back are balanced - there isn't a distinct front and back separation. The only problem is the front seems  intent on broadening the shoulders and bust to narrow the waist - I do not need added emphasis in this area, so went looking for a different frontage - Maria Fedorovna (Dowager Czarina at the time of the Russian Revolution and original recipient of the Faberge Easter eggs-) to the rescue. This was an evening ensemble = red underdress and beaded over gown. Not at all compatible but I liked the shape of the front!  When mashed together it just about works - something like this.
The whole was to be draped on the stand in medium calico - working directly onto the mannequin without a paper pattern. To break us in gently we began with the foundation skirt to cover the petticoat. It was supposed to be simple - use the petticoat pattern, allow for the extra bulk from all the frills, the idea is to cover the petticoat with minimum fuss and without squashing or losing the general shape.  And construct. And then remodel it when the waist fits but the bottom doesn't.

foundation skirt, draped apron and bustle

Very little of the skirt is going to be  visible - just some pleats at the bottom.  The velvet apron fits smoothly over the skirt so the same pattern shapes will be used.
Then it was onto the radical bit - the draped apron hanging from the right hip.  This was a fairly drastic  60" square  at the beginning- on the cross- with the top corner cut off to make a waist.  It is now shaped like a rough map of Africa. The front edge has to hang in folds and the back is pleated high over the bum. Just to make life fun that front edge appears to be rolled under so the folds come from behind. Happy hours of muttering, pinning, more muttering and it was done. pinned, tacked, and oops - the tacking affected the hang so start again.........
On top of this comes a bustle piece - just a rectangle for this and caught up on tapes ( rather like an Austrian blind). It should have been asymmetric too but looked most odd- not quite big or bold enough to look deliberate without giving me the lean of the drunken sailor.

pinching pulling and pinning, shaping the fabric around the form to match the photos. First pattern.

This was meant to be the easier bit because now came the bodice - starting with a vertical centre front, pinning above the bust line and to the side and then pinching the fabric to create front darts to shape it in front.  The back is separate pieces- centre start and carefully mark first seam running up to the armhole and gradually build on the next side back pieces making sure that the grain of each piece is vertical. Sleeves were drawn up  as a basic block pattern and the modified to give upper and under pieces and the bend at the elbow. The front shirty bit is mounted onto separate little panels which will meet edge to edge as a closure, a bit like an  C18th stomacher.

Once happily pinned together on the stand, the edges of each piece were marked, removed. cut down to an inch seam allowance and it was made up and fitted on me - Ah. lots to play with - the two darts  have changed to a seam running up to the shoulder and a dart. The side of the front has been split in two to raise it at the waist, and the shoulder seam moved. Redrawn and remade and refitted.

the early front with frothy bit, final back, sleeve, and the revised pattern

Once the whole was satisfactory, the patterns were drawn up and yardages worked out - about 15-16m in total, in 4 different fabrics! - something plain for the bodice, bustle and foundation skirt (was hoping for something like silk twill) something understatedly fancy for the side apron (a fine damask or brocade?) velvet for the flat apron and cuffs, plus a contrast for the fake shirt front - lawn or fine, slippy satin?

We went down to Goldhawk Road- next to Shepherds Bush in London- on a buying mission -

drawn en route to Hammersmith!

 lots of lovely stuff, especially silks, but trying to find 3 key fabrics each with interest and who work together without arguing  was definitely a mission. It would have been easy to be completely safe - but I could have stayed at home for that, and the Victorians were 'robust' in their ideas of colour and pattern. Bit disappointed not to find a plain brocade like a fine damask for the apron- or even a matching stripe would have done,  and not to be working with delicate tones of brown pink or sage green or muted blue - they proved impossible to match and the mixing was horrible. So came away with a muddy greeny yellow silk, kind of a Prussian blue  velvet, crinkle gauze in yellow and blue and plans for white lawn for the fake front. Umm. Could look like a railcrash or could work really well. The two tone gauze is the jam in the sandwich - it will tie the two strong colours together and hopefully really give the flatness of the velvet some bounce and enhance the sheen and colour shifts of the silk. Umm.

not the true colours - less greeny but sadly shiny

We came back late on Wednesday, cut out on Thursday, spent Friday cutting calico and flat tacking it to the silk to support and stabilise it. Far too organised, so I managed to stab myself and bleed all over a skirt panel, squeaks and drama - don't mind me - save the fabric! Never mind.

As for Gwen - couldn't leave her out - returned to Goldhawk and bought a piece of dodgy second choice fabric to make her a bustle gown and then spent part of Saturday making a petticoat to go underneath it. Need to choose a style now - the rejected House of Worth green thing with train? Umm

Other distractions -
M&S swiss rolls.
Wandering around London at dawn(ish) and dusk - saw the Tower of London poppies, Phyllida  Barlow at Tate Britain, Breakfast in Russell Square,  went to say hello to the Lion Hunt relief carvings in the British Museum, found a great little foody street market behind Westminster, wondered why my feet are sore.
They still have low flying pigeons in the new sanitised and shiny King's Cross.
So many pin pricks now feeling like a tea bag.
Don't leave car and house keys  in unzipped pockets when hill walking - result = blind panic, having to walk the hills twice,  collapsing in heap when found them without any energy left other than for a very feeble whoop and slight waving of limbs. ( they were right on top of hill of course - at least it was down hill from there)


Emsay Crag - now known as carkeys hill. Thank goodness didn't go up Great Whernside as I first planned!





 

Georgian Jacket, caraco, pet en l'air, bodice......

Georgian Jacket - the French Revolution  Dress crossed with the Chocolate Girl.

Somewhere along the way I  acquired a pack from the Northern Society of Costume and Textiles about a dress  displayed at Castle Howard in the 90s.  The linen dress had been worn ( as a disguise!) by the widow of the Comte Guillaume de Panthou, wife of Henry Seymour, to escape from Paris at the time of the Revolution. By that time it was second/third hand, owned by the wife of a Seine boatman, adapted and altered from earlier incarnations. Although fine linen, it was no longer an expensive or luxurious garment, the fabric dates probably from the 1720s and this was at least its third makeover.

It was the bodice that interested me, the short body, fitted back, and the sleeve. The pack contained a gridded pattern to enlarge and detail drawings with notes. This was to be a quick slap it together at Gwen scale to see if this was something I would want to make for myself.  An hour later it was done in the rough and I was making a smarter version for Gwen  as part of her anachronistic pillowcase-wardrobe-in-the-making ( see the Victorian bustle dress). Never can keep things simple.....

As this was a reworked dress for a working woman how fashionable would it have been? Would it have been up to the minute? Was the style exactly what was desired or, like me,  would compromises have been made?  The photo above was the only one I could find for the dress so went looking for other sources for ideas of the front and closer detail on the peplum.  Many do seem to have similar bodies but  vary in skirt, sleeves and neckline. These source images and others are on my pet en l'air pinterest board.
 In the Liotard pastel study, the Chocolate Girl, 1744/5,  the jacket is different in detail, winged cuffs, the longer peplum reads almost as coat tails, and it looks as if the front maybe gathered under the apron bib. What it does have is a flat front with the shoulders  set well back, all  of the in and out curves on the torso happen at the back.
 I decided to take elements from both with a little bit of help from others such as the yellow c1750s example from Christies. This was never meant to be a precise recreation or totally historically accurate so a bit of mix and match wouldn't hurt.


The idea really was to make a short jacket/bodice  with a flirty peplum. The  fabric of choice was another Hobbs pillowcase- nice crisp cotton with a bold blobbish design.  The plan was to unpick and use the short side for the bodice and the larger part for the skirt. The base pattern shapes are from the Revolution dress but unfortunately the peplum was a greedy thing so I ran out of fabric to do the 2 part long sleeves - the compromise was to 'borrow'  a shorter single shape from Janet Arnold.

This is now complete, flat lined and with a contrast binding to finish the cuff and hem ( only because of fabric shortage- couldn't make my own bias).  It behaved quite well, apart from the fraying fine calico as the lining, but it did take forever. The back and peplum are in 4 pieces, the front and shoulder in 2 as well, so lots of  seams and finishing. In trying to speed this up I tried a stitching the top and lining fabric at the same time - http://stay-ingalive.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/how-to-do-weird-running-whip-stitch.html . This seems to be a form of ladder stitch now I look at it but I ended up producing a version  of this. I whipped the return stitch over the top instead of coming back through the fabrics but it does work effectively enough.  I, of course, didn't remember about this until most of it was done.  The compromise sleeves look quite at home, the tuck at the cuff to create the elbow bend was a nice touch. The peplum is a bit exuberant, flirty I wanted but this is very outgoing, very 'pet en l'air'.



This is the first part of the outfit. Of course it needs the skirt. I borrowed my pet en l'air's skirt for the photos but it will need to be  slightly longer at the back to compensate for a bigger bum roll. The Christie's side view has a very exaggerated  bum, the peplum sticks out  above the horizontal. I think a  little less would suit Gwen, but will have to balance the peplum.  I'm hoping this style will suit Gwen's body shape more than the white pelisse - already she looks to be  more slender, the change in angle at the waist flatters.

 By next week this should be done, and hopefully the illustrations to go with it.  (It is going to have to be a Liotard-ish - but what on the tray? Chocolate.... cake? Coffee and walnut? TV dinner?.....)  or maybe match the starker style of the Victorian bustle dress?

pattern source - NSCT pack 2.- A Dress of the Revolution- worn for escape- 1793.  http://www.nsct.org.uk/

Janet Arnold,  Patterns of Fashion 1, p 42 (sleeve)

http://stay-ingalive.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/how-to-do-weird-running-whip-stitch.html

Met Museum and V&A

Princess line bustle dress 1

Spent months being quite tasteful, there just had to be a backlash coming. When I turn nasty I like to do it good and hard - luke warm just won't do. So....

stuck to the recurring theme of the neck to hem long lines and pleating into the seams, and even a bit of polonaising and went Victorian!  Instead of en ferreauing I have been princess lining, not  Watteau pleats but a bustle!  Nothing by halves. While nowhere as ornate or complex as this dress

 from the Met, it will be a fitted, bodice front opening  down to below the hips. From there the front  skirt will be fairly straight but the back will increase in volume over a bustle cage and finish in a small train. I hope.

New things to do, new mistakes to make, exciting. Risking taking and problem solving - okay, on a small scale but still fun.

Back to Janet Arnold and Nancy Bradbury for a start point, again they both looked at the same day dress from the Snowshill collection.   Brightest  boldest candy stripes-
there is lack of stripiness in the fabric stash but lurking in the bottom drawer is a nest of Hobbs pillowcases - still in their packaging - desperate to get out. ( Not mad, bought when sold off as old stock, nice dramatic patterns, tight woven cotton. Only survived this long because I'd forgotten them)  Totally inappropriate. GOOD.




The whole of this has been done on the model, no pattern pieces, just a lot of pins, muttering, tacking and then redoing. Pattern pieces might have been easier.  The back - six panels, each full length with the centre and side panels  having extra width  from about bum level downwards to make pleats for the bustle bit. There is extra length on the centre pieces as well, this excess gathers up  in the side seams to make the polonaise. Again I like the idea of the contrast - fitted sleek v volume drama.

The basic ideas worked very well, worryingly so. The skirt bustled quite effectively and even began to train. It could have been an inch or two longer but there are plenty of opportunities to trim and extend. Getting the false front in was a bit of a menace - maybe that should have been done first and the whole front assembled then put to the back. I ended up starting from the centre back seam and building the dress forward from there. As usual focussed on the fun bit - working out how the skirt bustle came together.  I haven't got this too tight at the waist - there should be an internal waist band to hold the bodice in place which will help. As this was done as an experiment there is no lining either which would have helped avoid the stretching and twisting in some parts of the back.
The front of the dress has a false front  with hook and eye fastening on the centre line. Fabric choice was interesting - there was some heavy black satin all lined up, or another pillowcase - same colours tighter designs- or plain green or.... and I chose this Indonesian cloth. It was late at night, but having tried it all the rest looked safe and predictable. Not a wise choice as it had to be interfaced before it would hold the opening. Sometimes I like it other times it is sink into deep despair but unless something drastic happens it will be staying.  The collar is of the same contrast fabric, as will be the cuffs. There should be pleated inserts along the hem  - giving weight and flare I suppose- they may end up green and blue.

The sleeves are more tailored and shaped than the previous ones - in 2 parts and cut with curving seams. The sleeve head seems very shallow.
I did try a mock up of these and we are back to Pingu wings, flapping in the breeze. These current ones are cut with a steeper curve  but are still a bit flappy. The 18thC ones had lead weights but I haven't seen any reference to similar tricks for this. 


This is still very much under construction - final fit, finishing and trimming to do, all the fiddly bits, but it is looking better than I expected. I have enjoyed using the mad fabric choices - it is unexpected and instead of sitting there primly  saying 'aren't I historical', something else is going on. I will  have to do some thing to the front edges - the transition jars- a length of black grosgrain ribbon came off the pillowcase when it was dismantled - could be very useful.
It is starting to remind me of Yinka Shonibare's fabulous work but without any claim to be discussing cross culture references etc.

I had hoped to be finished by today - excuses are rather thin - keep falling asleep but did take a day out to join in with the Woolly Bike project with Cassandra Kilbride.  We were doing a Viking inspired bike as part of the Yorkshire Festival celebration of  the Grand Depart of the Tour de France this summer.  Very silly - I crocheted curly waves and half a snake. Di stole the show with a longship saddle cover and beard for the handlebars. The final exhibition with all 10 creations will be worth seeing!

ghostly dress

Headless wonder !

Currently haunting my hall radiator is the finished calico and PVA dress. It does look strange without a body in it  and is not at all what I expected at the start –  perhaps it was rather ambitious to do a sack back but a good experiment overall. It is fairly rigid, quite cardboard-like, but how this will last I do not know.

Process Problems – supporting the weight of wet fabric as it dries.
Keeping shape as drying – strange things can happen.
Preventing set areas becoming wet and pliable again.
Drying times.
Unblocking pipes having spilt large bowl of glue solution down the sink( hot water and unresolved anger issues worked wonders)

Benefits - do not have holes in fingers from sewing,

very direct way of working – see it, do it, dunk it,
small periods of working then put to one side to dry,
errors can be undone – frustrating but satisfying in the end.

  Would I do it again? Yes.

Would want to use different fabrics – cotton-based for absorbency- patterned/ striped?

Want to be able to fix more permanently – acrylic varnish?
Like the idea of having the 'seams' raw on the surface – really looking at the construction and fitting.
Might keep a body form inside or a wire armature .

Will try just with cutting out and sticking, no sewing.
In the background is the dress I've been making  while the glue dress dried. This is a fairly straight forward 1780s polonaise pattern, loosely based on the extant example from LACMA.  I've gone for

en ferreau back and front fastening with hooks and eyes. A pain - quite literally- to do - an awful lot of sewing before construction and and then a lot of finishing. I didn't help myself by adding a stiff interfacing and lining late in the process - to give that corseted look.  It just needs a wash to get the blue marker pen out and a press over to be officially finished! I do like the fabric, it is summery and fresh, and yes it is Laura Ashley curtaining. One extra tip - do not stab yourself with the needle and then bleed onto the nice crisply white fabric. It is an avoidable trauma - washing it out, not the stabbing.

Next task is going to be doing illustrations for this - patterns, drafting and construction notes and then the fun bit - painting. Romney I think for this - making the most of the creases without getting precious.

costume/sculpture II

This has been fun. Messy. Hysterical. More messy. But fun.  It is only possible to do a little and then wait for it to dry and stiffen, so even little things take a lot of time,  not making and doing time but standing-back-and-not-fiddling time - the very worst kind.

 The back story-
 Aim - to make a free standing C18th costume, inspired by Boucher and Gainsborough - using calico and PVA glue. This is a trial piece to assess the creative and practical potential of this method of working.

it's more like this from LACMA

It was meant to be elegant  like this, but....

Process so far -Bundled up a mini papier mache  body on a stick to be the armature.
Added a skirt. Dunked it  in glue, dried then redunked and dried again to make rigid.  Then added a stomacher and  the body of a sack backed jacket based on the pet en l'air made before Christmas. This was without sleeves or collar, to be added later. Dunked, draped and dried.

This was all in the last post - just didn't have the heart to update,  adding that the weight and wetness of the jacket caused a skirt crisis and it started to collapse over night.
 After expressing myself quite fluently, the skirt was resoaked and reset and redried.  The jacket was in decent state so only needed a gentle re-wetting and then resetting onto what is left of the now mutant body form and re-rigid skirt.
 For some reason the glue is struggling to hold the jacket closed onto the stomacher, it keeps gaping, I may have to resort to pins or tacks to close it while trying again. This sounds simple  but the fabric is now rising nobly to the challenge of going rigid - the last stay stitch had to be done using pliers to pull the needle through and the cotton thread wasn't as strong as the cloth!

Patience is not a virtue I possess, there are teeth marks on the furniture. The waiting has led to several ideas/ associations. At present the height of the back neck and the general headless quality remind me 'Sleepy Hollow' - could this be Mrs Headless Horseman, or perhaps he was a cross dresser before Tim Burton came along to do the film?


 Sleeve making has now happened, although not quite as originally planned.  The raw sleeve units were made up with flounces and elbow tucks but not then set.  To lessen the weight and the awkwardness of joining rigid to rigid,  just the top section of the sleeve was glued and then attached to the body, pinned (pliers again), and dried. They have moved as they dried but the glue is determined not to let go so it will have to stay. The rest of the sleeve is being painted with glue  and allowed to dry in sections. I'm just about at the flounces now, without major mishaps so far!

The neck edge has yet to be sorted out- the back lowered and then cased. I am thinking of cutting out  as much of the original body as possible leaving the costume to support itself.  I doubt if this will be easy or neat so extra finishing - maybe a lace edging will have to be done.    Another week of happy glueyness!
She(he?) is in the hall drying - I keep sneaking a peek round the door to check but she is being well mannered at the moment. I hope to have it finished by next week, I'm sure I said that last time.....
Also should have an en ferreau polonaise gown done by then -  I'm part way through fitting it - but key question - can  I be said to ferreauing?