Middle [school] ages

In a year 9 history elective my class decided to have a medieval lunch. Due to my internet-ly wanderings at that time I had just discovered the concept of ‘historical accuracy’. I decided I wanted an accurate costume and couldn’t possibly wear the supposedly ‘medieval’ hot pink satin ‘frog princess’ costume my mother had previously made for me to wear to a birthday party.

Frog Princess

So I sought out a pattern for a sideless surcoat outfit (Burda 7977), bought some cotton poplin and embarked on the project. At the time it seemed like such a huge project. I had a week to make it – but it was a week when we were out every night.  Fortunately it’s not a complex outfit and I was able to follow the pattern as is (a very rare occurrence). Only the godets caused some grief. Godets were a new concept at the time for both myself and my mum and I had to redo them several times. Now I know to sew them differently from the pattern instructions (one should attach godets before sewing the side seams).

The outfit was ready to wear on the day, albeit unhemmed; Mum made the hat while I was at school and dropped it off just before lunch. 

This was my first attempt at a deliberate, accurate costume and I have never looked back.

This costume has since been worn to birthday parties and medieval festivals and has been a visual aid in class presentations. I’ve grown so used to it that it has migrated out of my costume wardrobe to be mixed-and-matched with my everyday wardrobe. 

Of course this is perfectly normal uni wear.  What do you mean it’s 700 years out of fashion?

I have since accumulated quite a collection of early medieval cotton garments. I made outfits for the doctor and lady-in-waiting for a scene from Macbeth in English class (I do that). These are both essentially lengthened t-shirts. I tried to use trims that looked like weaving if you squinted at them from a distance, and the one on the brown robe kind-of does. Lady Macbeth wore the cream dress (above) without the surcoat.

More recently I used the Burda 7977 pattern to make an everyday dress. I adapted the sleeve pattern into bell sleeves and I was very happy with how they turned out. This pattern has surprisingly agreeable sleeves and I use them when I have to add long sleeves to other patterns.

2013 Review

Costumes:
2013 began with making a replica of Lady Denman’s dress to celebrate the Centenary of Canberra.

I finished work on the costumes for my friend’s film. I learnt some very basic leatherwork and made a pair of boots and two pairs of boot covers. The boots work, but I think I would need to improve my leatherworking ability a lot to make anything else.

My aunt asked me to make a gypsy costume as a gift for her granddaughter. It consists of a blouse, veil and skirt.

I want to record here that I currently have the patterns for two of the three Assassin’s Creed outfits nearly finished. I was productive in the last quarter of the year; I just didn't finish anything. 

Real Clothes:
I made a corset and cuffs.

I started the design for my big project for the year in January and finished the garment in October. Getting the design from theoretical concept to completion involved a lot of problem solving which caused delays throughout the process but I am very happy that I spent the time to get it right.

During the process I designed and made a crossover tunic as a bit of light relief.

I am making slow but enjoyable progress on the Bayeux tapestry dress.

I also made a slip for myself and a halfslip for someone else, neither of which were worth pictures.

In 2013 I made fewer pieces than in any year since I stated costuming. This bothered me a bit (because I have a bad habit of judging myself on quantifiable results) but on reflection I think there were several good reasons for this. One was getting a permanent job, so I had to adapt my sewing/study/other balance to be a sewing/study/other/work balance. There were a couple of months when I just didn’t have the time, so some of my planned outfits didn’t happen. I am also putting more care into my sewing. Where previously I did hems and braid by machine I am now hand sewing a lot of things. Instead of zigzagging seam allowances together, I now iron them out and finish each side separately (which I’m pretty sure is ‘how you sew properly’ but it takes more time. And more thread.)

Learnings and new skills:
I had an epiphany at the start of last year: I finally worked out what seam allowances are for. For most of my life I had left the smallest seam allowance possible because I couldn’t see that they did anything. But now I know better. A wide seam allowance holds shape better, strengthens the seam (so there is less risk of seams giving way) and gives you some leeway with fitting.

When I first heard about ‘no visible machine stitching’ I thought it sounded like far too much work, but I have come around to this way of thinking because it looks so much better. Even with my every day clothes I now expect to do a significant amount by hand. This year I also started doing some of the more fiddly construction sewing by hand because it gives me more control. 

The grey swathes were hand hemmed, then sewn by hand to the black.

As mentioned above, I introduced myself to leatherworking this year, but I need to do a lot more before I approach competent. 

I never expected that costuming would affect my writing ability, but I have found that writing this blog has improved my writing and made writing easier for me to do.

A new tool I have found very helpful to my sewing this year is photo editing software. I use Gimp 2 (which is free) to touch up photos and add watermarks and also to experiment with designs. This year I used it to try different colour schemes on a scanned drawing, to trace seam locations over a reference picture and to draw additional features on photos of a garment.

So many seams!

For my Assassin’s Creed outfit I developed a pattern from my body block rather than adapting pattern pieces from one or more ‘similar’ commercial patterns as I have done in the past. I expect I will use this method more often as most things I want to make are not similar to available patterns but I do not enjoy the process. I’ve spent a fair bit of this week cleaning the house instead of working on my costumes because I’m currently patterning!

When I started costuming my interests were largely historical, but since then my focus is continually changing as I discover new ideas. This year my interest has moved more towards designing everyday clothes for myself that incorporate fictional costume conventions. My distinction between costume and real clothes is becoming more and more arbitrary.

A quick project

Tunics form a staple part of my wardrobe. I’ve made several, all slightly different styles from A-line to fitted crossover.

While working on an outfit that required careful planning, patterning and execution (as-yet-unblogged) I decided I wanted to make something that would be finished quickly.

I had been brainstorming tunic designs, so I picked one and made up a pattern.

The one on the right.

The pattern was based on a pattern based on a pattern. (It started out as – but no longer resembles – McCall’s 3129.)  One of the changes was to make the side front and side back go up to the shoulder seam, rather than into the armhole.

Because this was to be a ‘quick project’ I didn’t make a muslin. I knew the top pattern fitted me so I figured it would be okay. It did fit, but was much less fitted than I wanted, so I had to take in all the seams to reduce it down to the fit I wanted.

I cut each front piece wide and fitted the angles of the crossover by hand. As this required very precise placing I basted the edges very close to the fold before cutting, neatening and hemming. I liked the look of the basting so much I kept it in.

The fabric is a curtain offcut that was in my stash. It has a lovely woven texture. The ribbons are also from the stash, which is why the ones on the inside don’t match and are odd lengths. I am considering buying some more of the purple ribbon and having another tie halfway up the front as it can gape a little.

The tunic closes with ribbon ties (because zips haven’t been invented yet).

This tunic was made to be a practical and versatile piece in my wardrobe so it can be worn with many things: pants, skirt, corset, short sleeves, long sleeves.

A weekend of finishing things

On Saturday I finished:

On Sunday I finished:

and this:

(Just the scene, not the dress.)

On Monday I did a series of photo shoots, so posts on the above outfits and more will be forthcoming:

I also handed in a uni assignment (early) so all in all, a weekend well spent.

2012 review

2012 was a very productive year for me sewing-wise.

I made these costumes:

1950s evening ensemble for a friend's ‘Hollywood Glamour’ party, inspired by an extant outfit worn by Ava Gardner.

Misery, from the TV show Ruby Gloom.

This was a long project as I had nowhere in particular to wear it, so I wanted to take the time to make it just right.