To keep this post a reasonable length, I'll just say a little about each one. As it turns out, the progression of costumes also shows a progression of skills learned.
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It fit the actress well - a very fun 50's look. The top bodice portion and the straps were a satiny blue and the rest of the dress was a blue and white large flowery print. I made this from the commercial pattern with minimal help - fitting the pleated bust cups to the actress took a few tries but the rest was great.
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Next up is a dressing gown for the Queen of England. I guess queens are too fancy to have bathrobes - they need to call them 'dressing gowns'. :) The colors are a little off in the photos - its a princessy pink fabric with diamonds stitched on (kind of like a pintuck that makes a pattern) and the contrasting cuffs and shawl collar are purple. This pattern was drafted by someone else in the shop and has nice princess seam lines for a fitted top and fuller bottom half. As far as instructions, I relied on pretty much step by step instructions from the shop manager who had drafted the pattern. It wasn't too difficult and didn't have that many pieces. Sewing the shawl collar was new to me, but not difficult. I like the piping around the collar edge and the glittery, glassy three buttons down the front. I wish I had a dressing gown as pretty as this!
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The third project I'll show is an 1890's (I think) period ladies day dress. It was a vintage commercial pattern with about 80 pattern pieces and I started out thinking I was in way over my head. However, one piece at a time, it came together beautifully and when it was completed I could hardly believe I'd actually made the darn thing! How is it possible that I procrastinated making simple church clothes for myself but then find I am capable of this crazy multi-layered thing?! Completing this costume was a huge confidence booster for me. It had decent instructions, thankfully, and took about two weeks of part-time working to get it done. It was worn by an actress in a corset so it looks a bit ill-fitting on a regular dress form. The actress also had on a petticoat with lace along the bottom, so picture lace sticking out from under the skirt and sweeping the floor as she walked.
Pieces:
1. Underskirt (darker salmon color, pretty simple skirt pattern)
2. Overskirt (lighter peach skirt portion - pleated semicircular front portion, pleated rectangular back portion, all connected with a snap opening in the back). I just realized now that I forgot to pull up the bustle strings when I took the photo so the back of the skirt is supposed to be even more fluffy than it is here.
3. Bum pillow (can't see in photos, its basically a pillow on a belt that sits right over the actress's bum so as to poof out her butt like a bustle)
4. Jacket (princess seams, pleated peplum in back to poof out over the bustle, skinny period sleeves, peachy and lace overlay on center front panel with pearly buttons, lots of satin pleated ruffle and piping and a bit of lace). The jacket actually closes underneath the ruffle along the princess line with hooks and eyes - you can see the rumples a bit over the dress form's left bust due to the lack of a corset.
I'm super proud of this one. :)
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The next costume is a bit strange and looks even stranger on the dress form. Its Victorian underthings for a 'lady of the night'. You just never know whats going to come your way in a costume shop! The reason I'm including it here is because it was the first project where a costume designer came to me with just a drawing and said, "I need you to make this." Unfortunately, I don't have the photo/rendering to show you her vision on paper, but this is the result. It's a pair of bloomers/culottes trimmed in lace that are then hitched up on the sides of each hip. The top is basically a floaty piece of white silky fabric held up with two straps of lace. I didn't see this show, but apparently the actress danced around on stage in the smoky haze of an opium den. Nice, huh? This was an interesting project because it was a lot of me trying something, asking the show's costume designer what she thought, she'd tweak it a little, I'd tweak it a little, and we went back and forth changing the shape of the bloomers, adding lace here and there, until we had the look she wanted for the character. Can't say I need to make underclothes all that often. Thankfully all the pieces were pretty simple shapes - circles, rectangles, straps, and lots of lace and trim.
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The last one I'll show is the last one I made and encompassed a totally new skill. As a side benefit of being in the costume shop I got to eavesdrop on a draping class. If you have no idea what draping is, think of those Ralph Lauren commercials where someone is pinning gorgeous fabric to a dress form and then standing back and looking thoughtfully at it - that person is draping. Rather than starting from a paper pattern and making something out of fabric, you start with fabric on a dress form, then make a paper pattern from that draped fabric, then make a test run of your pattern back into muslin fabric, correct any errors, and then make your final costume from the corrected pattern you developed from scratch. Follow all that? Its okay if you didn't. :)
So, again, I started with a drawing from a costume designer. I also was given a pile of fabric she had purchased and the measurements of the actress who would eventually wear the costume. Here is the inspiration photo I was given. The designer said (in a thick Russian accent, no less), "I want this dress on the right, but give it sleeves with fluff like the dress on the left." This is apparently called a 'tea dress'.
So, again, I started with a drawing from a costume designer. I also was given a pile of fabric she had purchased and the measurements of the actress who would eventually wear the costume. Here is the inspiration photo I was given. The designer said (in a thick Russian accent, no less), "I want this dress on the right, but give it sleeves with fluff like the dress on the left." This is apparently called a 'tea dress'.
Here is what I made, from that photo and pile of fabric.
Pattern (and instructions too... minor detail!) all from scratch.
Sorry about the costume shop clutter in the background.
We (meaning the designer and myself) had a little trouble part way through because there was not enough fabric to pleat the top as we had planned (and I had draped) and there was not time/money/opportunity to go and buy more, but we made it work. This dress looked awesome onstage, I do have to say. I was happy with the way it came together in the shop (meaning it did actually come together, stayed together, and looked mildly like the goal), but when I saw it onstage it looked amazing! Stage lighting, actress movement, etc - that all makes the costume look much different than it does hanging on a dress form in the shop.
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Wow - what a semester, huh? I learned so much and can't wait to go back next fall!
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