Final Evaluation

The past few months have been a whirlwind. I have experienced every single emotion possible with this unit, pushing my making and creative skills to a new level. Although very challenging and tough at points, it has been very worthwhile and beneficial in the long run. My time was divided between two projects, resulting in the production of three garments for the costume store plus a body of costume work for Breathe. Multi-tasking and keeping to a production schedule has improved my time management skills greatly.

Reviewing my work for the costume store, my making skills have improved considerably.  As I have never made any of these pieces before, much problem solving was needed when constructing.

The Edwardian shirt was beset with problems from the start due to the pattern provided. When I had just made progress constructing it, a pattern problem interfered again; I had to take the centre back in as there was a quarter of a metre of excess fabric even after I had adapted the pattern with Dexter! Nevertheless, I am very proud of the pin tucks. This was a new technique for me, so it took a few attempts of re-doing my lines before I mastered it. Here I learnt how important it is to re-do something as it nearly always pays off.

After this, the C18th breeches provided a different challenge. Cream cashmere fabric, pinstripes and hand-sewing is quite a tough combination; I learnt the importance of handling fabrics with care. Workspace was problematic, due to the high volume of people working around me and not enough care from others, and someone accidentally stained my costume with a pen. This really did upset me. With Dexter’s advice I tried to remove the stain, however, this just made it worse. I have realised that due to fabric choice this costume may need to be dry cleaned now. Although annoyed, I have learnt to always check the work space around you and keep your costumes clean by regular hand-washing when working on them. Whilst hand-sewing my front flap arrows, I saw how easily your costume can become dirty if the fabric is overworked. The final challenge on this garment was the pockets. I learnt how to make a new pocket called a ‘western’. My tailoring experience from defining practice was beneficial as with some problem solving I was able to master the making process. I was very happy with this as it had been very daunting. Lastly, I have learnt the importance of forward planning, as with the Edwardian shirt.

The last garment I made for the store was the Victorian blouse and I encountered a few problematic areas when making this. The pin tucks were smaller, compared to the first shirt, only 1/8th of an inch wide. As with the Edwardian shirt, following a few attempts I controlled the sewing machine more easily and mastered this. Smocking was another traditional technique I learnt. Some guidance from Dexter enabled me to hand sew this with delicate embroidery stitching. After creating all of these design details the actual construction of this particular garment came together very quickly.

The other element of this unit has been my making with Breathe. Surprisingly, I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project as it has enabled me to be highly creative, using my textiles skills. I was given two designs, a male and female elder cloak. The female cloak required me to pattern cut, drafting the shape to the design and cutting using the recycled fabric. This proved to be really successful as I was able to drape the shape and adapt it afterwards. On top of the fabric, I then created textiles patches and developed these utilising several techniques inspired by the textiles artist Maggie Grey, who uses a lot of mixed media. I was able to run my own workshop when attending the ‘Breathe Together’ club. This was great, as I was demonstrating and teaching, skills that I have never experienced before within a costume environment. With the other male costume I continued developing the textiles mixed media effects. Interpreting my design, I continued the ‘seaweed’ based theme.

Overall, from these two projects within this unit, I have acquired additional skills and been exposed to new experiences. When comparing them I thoroughly enjoyed the textiles element of costume and would like to develop this further in future projects. Even though I have extended and developed my making skills, due to time constraints and factors outside my control affecting the costume store (i.e. previous Olympic project over running into the costume store, tutors unavailable and pattern problems) this project has been far more stressful than first anticipated.

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Victorian Blouse Finished!

After a lot of stress and panic with my time management I finally finished the Victorian Blouse today. It is a rather small size ten, so with my house mate's mannequin it wouldn't fit around the bust! However, the detail on the back shows how much technical decorative sewing was involved with this garment! I am very happy with it!

Male Costume

After I finished the female costume I started work straight away on the male one. Again like the female one I wanted to keep them both similar so they link, therefore I worked into this Jacket using similar techniques. I think this one still works however looking at my design it still needs to be "seaweedy". Over the next few days I will work into this even more and try to recreate that textured effect. This costume may not be 100% finished for hand-in, however I spoke to Adele about this and she said she was happy for it to be only half done, as afterwards I can work on it still. I feel much better about completing this costume now! :) Happy days.  

Falstaff Costume - Photoshoot!

Breathe - Final Finished Female Costume

After some intensive textile patch-working and hand sewing barnacles, I eventually finished this costume! I am very very happy with it as all of that time I have spent on the textiles work has really paid off! Visually it looks like what Kate wanted, "washed up beach". For the Elders they are meant to look weathered, beachy and very   worn. I think this costume definitely communicates that.

I have really enjoyed making this garment and it's inspired me to get back into my textiles again, especially when I consider next years options. I have really missed that element from the course, so it's nice to be creative again. I feel as a practitioner that my strengths really lie in this area, the interpretation and creativity of costume - how you create texture. 

 

More Pin Tucks.....

When I thought pin tucks couldn't get any worse, I then had these to deal with. They were such a nightmare to get my head around as the width of each one was so small that trying to get an equal distance in-between them was very very tricky! Using my machine foot as a guide I intensively sewed my way through each tuck slowly and carefully. This was so hard however the results are evident. If you take your time over it they will look far better. My first attempt was not perfect as I was still getting my head around how tiny each tuck was! What I found really helped me was using the machine foot as a guide.

I have learnt as a costume maker that practice makes perfect, and you will never be good at something until you have sampled the technique at least once beforehand.

Victorian Female Blouse

Today I was introduced to the Victorian Blouse that I shall be making as my last garment for the costume store. Dexter explained the features of the shirt -

- The pin tucks

- The smocking

- The frills

As much as this shirt looks a challenge it should hopefully be worth it. As a group myself, Erica, Philip and Emma sat down and discussed how the shirt should be made. Again with my previous experience from the two previous garments I knew how important forward planning would be for this garment. It seems to require a lot of thought process when considering the elements like the frills, as these are concealed in the seams. Also the tucks being so small (an eighth of an inch wide!) that this will really require some precision and accuracy. The smocking technique is completely alien to me so that will need some assistance. Fingers crossed there aren't too many problems!