Work Placement - History in the Making

Day 5

Well this was my last day! I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at History in the Making. Today we finally finished the breeches and the last few bits with the leather doublet. This involved making four plackets for the doublet, eyeleting them and then hand sewing them inside the lining along the CF opening and the side seams.

It was tricky at first as the leather was so thick, especially when hand sewing! Suzie managed to find her leather needles though which really helped. I have learnt so much about working with leather in this past week that it has actually inspired me for my last year of uni to work with some of it possibly in my last project. I have realised that working with new materials isn't always a bad thing as it actually builds your confidence.

Once the doublet and breeches were finally finished Hamish offered to do a bit of modelling and I was able to get to some true costume shots of the outfit complete. It looked brilliant! I feel really proud after working on this costume this week, especially with only having five days to produce it. Again I have also realised it really doesn't take very long to make a garment when you put your mind to it and have a real understanding of construction/making.

At the the end of the day I even managed to start drafting some of the patterns for the character of Hotspur for Suzie to make next week.

This week has helped me regain my perspective of costume and realise my strengths and weaknesses in it as a practitioner. I feel like I know a bit more about where I want to head with my career and what I enjoy.