A word of warning

I know I said it was ok to use upholstery fabric, and I know I said that as long as it looks right……..

Big BUT!

A friend of mine is going to a wedding in Finland next month and they have been asked to dress in traditional Nordic clothes so she asked me if I would make her an outfit.  Now as she is a very good friend that helps out whenever she is asked, she is a person I would never refuse. So we discussed, at length, what kind of fabric she needed for a Viking apron dress.   You know, natural fabrics like wool, linen or cotton were what I suggested. 

She turned up at my house very pleased with herself a few weeks ago with some fabric given to her by an old lady she knows.  It was upholstery fabric, it was very thick upholstery fabric and one of the upholstery fabrics was a thick cord!  Now I am all for using what you have, but this is for a wedding and it is to be worn all day not for a two hour performance!

I grunted a bit and suggested it was not quite the fabrics I had said but she was pleased with her bargain basement gift and was not going to be put off.  So I then went into ‘well you asked for it’ mode and said nothing more.  Stage one of apron dress was a very thick woven fabric to be made into an undertunic.  I spent the morning measuring and cutting out and sewed it all together.  After turning it in the right way I noticed a bit of seam was undone.  Not exactly sure how I could have done this I sewed it again, turned it in the right way and noticed a bit of seam was undone.  Getting a bit tense at this stage, I sewed it again, turned it the right way and noticed a bit of seam was undone.  In fact pretty much every seam was undone.  In fact, the fabric was such a loose weave that even the overlocker wasn’t stopping the seams unravelling!

I text my friend and told her it was just not happening with this stuff and we are going out on Tuesday to get what I suggested in the first place. 

I then moved onto stage two, the apron itself and I am now struggling with the ultra-thick cord which is going to have the movement of a lump of wood.  She will be hot, she will be uncomfortable, but she will have saved herself £10 so who am I to argue?

The reason I am telling you about this is simple.  If you are going to use upholstery fabric make sure that it is suitable for the purpose given it!  My upholstery silk looks lovely and moves right; it just feels a bit plasticky.  The fabric for the blue Belle skirt is thick, but not too thick for her to move in.  Please make sure that the fabric you use is not going to cause problems for the wearer, even if it is only for the duration of the performance.

As for my friend, she will still be wearing something extremely hot and uncomfortable and maybe next time she will understand that you need the appropriate fabrics for the job!  Of course, having wasted so much of my time making something I knew was not suitable, there may not be a next time.

A bit of motherly advice

Before I allowed mother in the room, I told her she had to walk in and tell me her first impressions.

She stood in the doorway, did a quick intake of breath and said 'that's beautiful'!

Then I made her tell me what it needed.  Very quickly she that it needed lightening (not the weather type I hasten to add).

The result was a peplum with a row of gold ribbon and braid to match the bertha and bows to give that well known 'Belle' look without the ruffles all the way up the skirt.

She also decided I needed the beads on the bodice front.  So being the dutiful daughter that I am, I added the peplum and have started on more beads which are, so far, at the top of the bodice front if you look carefully.

The peplum was made using the fabric cut from the edge of the fabric to make the underskirt the right length and pleated to the match the size of the waistband.  I haven't yet sewed it to the waistband and if you look carefully you can see where it is pinned on at the side.  The braid and ribbon was put round and I beaded the braid to match the top.  As the skirt is still on a still too small dummy, I havent attached the bows yet, I need to measure it all out properly so they are in the right place when the dress is worn, but you get the idea!

Step two was to send a pic of this to younger daughter who is the Belle obsessive.  Her reaction?  

"Is this for the panto :( "

Note the unhappy not smiley face!  This means she likes it and is disappointed it is not for her.

I put her mind at rest by telling her I had left out many of the 'real' Belle features and of course the fabric is horrible and her wedding dress would be pure silk.  This placated her and left me happy that the biggest critic of a Belle dress had approved it!

I now have many more hours of beading before the dress is finished but I am on the home straight.  

This has truly been a labour of love and has taken far longer than any other costume I have made...but it had to be done!

The little girl in my mind

The gold dress has caused me problems!  I always have an issue with the ‘ooh ahh’ dress anyway but this time round it has become the most important thing in the world (I should probably not take these things so seriously!).

In my mind I picture the scene, families sitting in the village hall watching a pantomime that they do not expect to meet the grandeur of the Palladium, but a bit of gentle entertainment they can all enjoy.  Then amongst those in the audience is a little girl (I think it’s because I had four of those little girls that it seems so important).  This little girl loves dressing up in her princess clothes and watching her princess DVD’s and has been excitedly looking forward to this panto.  It’s Beauty and the Beast…it’s got Belle in it, and Belle does wear that lovely gold dress doesn’t she (Belle was the favourite Princess of two of my little girls, I can’t let them down)?

So it’s the ball scene and Belle comes on stage to one of two reactions;

Oh it’s a fairly pretty dress, or;

Oooooh ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Then, when they go home that little girl is either thinking of that beautiful Belle dress, or just enjoyed the evening.

This is MY moment, the moment that the costume department rises to the fore (can you see me on my soapbox), the moment when we can make a little girl ecstatic or just let her carry on watching the local village panto.

I want to make that little girl ecstatic!

So I made up the bodice as the pattern instructed and put a panel of gold in the front.

Then I looked at it.

This dress is NOT a copy of the Disney one but does need to be an interpretation of it to keep that little girl happy (wherever she is I hope she appreciates the effort I put into this).  I have shown you the design I am basing it on and I merrily cut out the bertha and pinned it on.  I then attached some gold ribbon and lace and took a step back (15 foot rule, remember).

Very pretty for normal wear, but not enough for stage, the creamy colours would disappear in the spotlights.

Attempt number two involved adding some black and gold sparkly braid;

As bit better but it now makes the whole thing look brown, not gold.

 I pulled off the bertha and remade it with the gold fabric I had put on the front panel, put the ribbon back on and added some cream, lacy braid.  And stood back…still not enough!

Then I virtuously sat there for a whole day hand sewing gold beads and pearls onto the bodice.  Here it is with the top row of beads sewn on;

A couple of hundred beads to the top of the bodice have given it some glitter but I still need to add more to the front panel.  But one day of bead sewing was enough so I ventured forth and finished the basic sewing.

Here is the dress as it is today;

The dummy has padding added to the correct measurements for the bodice but the skirt is pinned back smaller, hence the gap between the two.

The skirt was cartridge pleated onto a waistband  (I will do a tutorial for the cartridge pleating in the future as it does add fullness to the skirt without the need of a petticoat).

And I step back…it needs more.  Something on the skirt?  Or does it need more sparkle in the shape of some descrete sequins?  I dont want it looking tacky but it does need to stand out from the crowd.  I just don’t know what it needs and Auntie Em wont be round for a few days to help out. 

I do have my mother round today, she is always good as a practise audience member and I do have my daughter round later, but she is  coming after a scan so will be, no doubt, talking babies.

So if anyone reads this today and has any thoughts…do let me know…it’s for that little girl!

Sewing on hold

Yesterday, I did no sewing! 

Auntie Em came round and we sat and played with the various bits of gold stuff that was available and decided on what trim to use on the gold dress.  But then we got distracted by the prospect of the costume for the Beast’s manservant Pierre. 

Now the director had suggested that he was dressed in doublet and hose, but me and Auntie Em found this a strange choice of costume being totally out of keeping with the time frame of the other costumes.  So we made an executive decision that Pierre should be similarly dressed to Beast in a frock/ tail coat.  The actor playing Pierre is also known for his wonderful Dame performances which will be sadly lacking in this year’s panto.   It therefore seems appropriate for Pierre to be the campest manservant in history, just so that the actor can strut his stuff you understand.

Texts were exchanged with him and we sat giggling away as we sorted out some lovely pink/gold jacquard for the coat, gold stripes for a waistcoat, cream crushed velvet breeches and lashings of lace.

Eldest daughter then arrived and we had a chat about her scan next week, Auntie Em left, daughter stayed, two other friends turned up and one of them was able to throw some light on a problem that had been developing during the day.

My first suspicions that the antique gold fabric was waxed cotton were proving to be unfounded by me as I inspected it more closely.  The contemplations had continued throughout the day until my other two friends arrived.  One of them does a lot of fabric wall hangings and collage and as soon as I showed it to her she declared it was upholstery silk (she then stuck it between her teeth and chewed on it to confirm her suspicion!) and it was treated with anti-dirt, water and fire resistant coating, hence the waxy feel!

No wonder it looked good and felt so bad!

I had put it in the washing machine and, once the cycle had finished, removed it to find not one drop of water was left on it and I bundled it to one side ready for cutting.  I also cut off a small piece to test ironing and it performed perfectly, holding some pleats in place to perfection.

So I am now about to embark on the gold dress and, unusually for me, I am actually going to use a commercial pattern (Simplicity 4731) that I have had, unused, in my stash for many years.

There will be inevitable changes to this.  I will be making the off the shoulder version but making the sleeve short to give a base for lace and ribbons to be put on. 

I have also decided to put in a side zip on a separate bodice and then do lacings at the back to make the bodice adjustable for others to wear at a later date but will not need to be used during performances.  I am hoping for an end result something like this;

So today I will be sewing again, on two more weeks until the holidays are over so I really need to crack on and get as much finished as possible before I am back at work.

The fifteen foot rule

I just got the feeling that I should spend a little time explaining how the fifteen foot rule works in my mind.

After posts about using upholstery fabrics, curtains and anything else that comes to hand, I am about to embark on ‘The Ball gown’ to be  worn by Belle that needs to be this panto’s ‘ooh ahh’ dress.  Every panto needs an ‘ooh ahh’ dress.  It is always worn by the princess (or other principal girl role) and she needs to make a grand entrance that makes the audience go… (Wait for it) …. “Oooh, ahh” at the vision of beauty before them.

I had decided, way back when Beauty and the Beast was the desired pantomime and not even confirmed, that I would not be making the ‘ooh ahh’ dress in yellow satin as seems to be the common choice.

The first reason was that I think (and this is only my opinion) that satin does not look good on stage!  By satin I mean the cheap polysatin that is all I would be able to afford, not duchess satin that looks gorgeous and sumptuous and I can only dream of a budget that would stretch to being able to afford that.   Polysatin is too flimsy and has no substance to it and the only way to save it for a dramatic dress would be to cover it in starch.  It also has a shine to it that screams out cheap costume (think of all those fancy dress costumes you can buy that are all made in polysatin).

The second reason is that yellow does not suit everybody and can make them look drained, not a great idea for stage!

So, in my mind I had decided on an antique gold for the gown.

When I went on my big fabric hunt of 2014, one of the things I was looking for was antique gold for the ball gown and I found the perfect colour.  The only problem being that the fabric is a kind of waxed cotton and not too wonderful to the touch.  After continuing on the hunt and finding nothing else, I went back and bought this fabric that was in the perfect colour…all because of the fifteen foot rule.

The simple fact is, it doesn’t matter what the fabric is as long as it looks right!  From fifteen foot away, waxed cotton looks and moves like an expensive taffeta!  Upholstery fabric that matches beautifully with another upholstery fabric looks like expensive jacquard.  Sadly, the perfectly beautiful fabric with flowers appliqued onto it of the same fabric looks a bit bland from fifteen foot away and needs something to lift it and you will find yourself wondering if you should be using it for the costume after all (yes I am talking about Belle’s first dress)!

If, like me, you are a fabricaholic, one of the first things you do when buying the stuff is feel it!  Just remember that nobody in the audience is going to feel the fabric and train yourself to think how it will look from a distance.  Pantomime costume is all about illusion, there is no need to worry about how the seams are finished; nobody will see it.  There is no need to worry about a few tacks here and there that hold the costume in place; nobody will see it, and there is no need to worry about what the fabric feels like; all they will see is something extraordinary on the stage.

If you are looking at something in your living/sewing room and it doesn’t hit you in the face then you can be pretty sure you need to add something.

Today, Auntie Em is coming round and we are going to be deciding on the ball gown and its ‘beautifying’.  The only thing I can guarantee at this point is that we will not be worrying about the fact that the fabric is waxed cotton!

Belle's second dress

When I started on the second Belle costume I realised I had an immediate problem.  The fabric to be used for the skirt is actually upholstery fabric and very thick (but when you only pay £1 a metre you can’t refuse) which gives limitations on how to do the waistband.  As you know, I like to make things adjustable and, with a skirt, that inevitably means  using elastic as the waistband.  This fabric is far too thick for that and would result in a lot of bunching around the waist.

After much contemplation, and a cup or two of coffee with my mum, the best solution appeared to be making a waistband that could be adjusted with buttons in two or three places that would be able to take it in (or our) by up to 6”.

The skirt needed to be worn on a 34” waist so I have tried to work it that this is the middle ‘setting’.

I cut the fabric into gores, three measure 10” at the waist and 3 measure 5”, the small gores were the ones I intended to use for the adjustment.

I sewed one of the large gores to one of the small gores along the same side so I ended up with 3 pieces that look like this;

 I then sewed those three pieces together leaving an 8” gap at the top where the adjustment will take place.

 Each of these pieces now measured 12”, so I cut three pieces 15” by 3”  and applied them as waistband facing by sewing onto the upper edge of the waistband, press and then overstitching.

 I then put buttonholes on the larger gored piece at one end and the button on the smaller piece.  The button can be moved to adjust the size of the skirt.

All it will take now is to move the buttons to change the size of the skirt.

 The bodice was made using the tried and trusted pattern and I made some binding in the co-ordinating fabric for the sleeve edges and eyelets in two other pieces at the front to add a design feature.   I then added broderie anglaise lace to the neck and bottom edges.

This doesn’t sit very well on a dummy that is three sizes too small, but I am sure you get the idea! 

Belle's first dress

A couple of weeks ago, Auntie Em brought round this bit of fabric from her mum’s stash. 

I immediately paired it up with the fabric I had used for my younger daughters Victorian dress (that would be the lilac one) and it was a perfect combination.  So out came the Victorian skirt...already made so a bit of a time saver, and off we went to Belle’s house to get her measured. 

The first thing to do was shorten the skirt as the actress is a good 5” shorter than my daughter in the leg department (we have incredibly long legs in my family and my 5’6” daughter has an inside leg measurement of 34”).

I didn't want to do a permanent shortening as there is bound to be a time when daughter wants to wear the skirt again, so I thought of various ways I could take the length off yet make the process reversible.

The plan I came up with is similar to honeycomb smocking (there are many tutorials out there if you want to see how it’s done) but on a larger scale.

The fabric where the red pin is, is pinned to where the black pin is.  The green pin to the yellow pin and I did two lots of this for each section. 

I am lucky in the lilac skirt already had a square pattern in it so I didn't have to measure anything!  I then did a simple stitch to hold each fold in place.

The skirt is now 6” shorter but can be easily returned to its original length.

The bodice was the tried and tested one that I know I can put together in a couple of hours, but the whole effect was a bit bland for stage so out came the purple lace to form the detail at the front, neck edge and bottom of the bodice.

The next project is Belle’s second dress made with this combination of fabrics.

Playing with the good fairy dress

Me and Auntie Em had a play day! I had made a skirt (rectangle and elastic waist) from part of the coffee coloured sari for the good fairy dress which I showed in a previous post.  I then sat there with bits of lace and fabric, pinning them on and trying them out to see what looked good.  I really wasn’t satisfied and then had a moment of inspiration and sewed a layer of tulle over the top of the sari.

It was one of those grrrr moments when I realised the tulle was just a couple of inches short of going round the skirt waist.  I then set to pinning all those bits of lace and fabric on again and it still wasn’t working as I was now trying to cover up the gap.  Then Auntie Em turned up complete with two bags of lace and she did the same as me.  This went on for nearly two hours, pinning, tutting, unpinning.  Then Auntie Em had her own moment of inspiration and suggested turning the skirt and making a feature of the gap instead of trying to hide it.

A lovely bit of lace was soon sewn to the edges and we put some gold leaves and butterflies on.  We left it there as we were going to measure up our ‘Belle’ and didn’t sew any of the bits on, I don’t know if this is how the end product will be or not but it was a fun afternoon!  The top is just the sari end draped over the dummy to give the finished effect as we don’t have the measurements to make the top yet!

The Beast's costume

Apart from some buttons on the sleeves and front the jacket is now complete.  I tend to leave the hand sewing and do one big session of buttons and fastenings.

There are some minor faults in there and I didn't painstakingly sew on the braid by hand but whizzed through on the machine.  The 15 foot rule came into play there and I have too much to do to worry about minor details! I also made up a quick cravat for the ballroom scene so The Beast's costumes are pretty much finished. We just need to do the accessories for him now.

Unfortunately, I am not the world's best photographer and you can bet any decent pictures on this blog are not taken by me!

I have cut out the Prince's jacket and had a bit of a struggle getting all the bits out of the fabric but did manage in the end.  I have the feeling however, that I will move onto some other costume and make the other jacket at a later date as I do like a bit of variety!

The Beast continues

The pattern pieces for the tail coat all went together well but I needed to take off 2” at the side front to make it sit properly at the front.  I was admiring my sleeveless jacket when the obvious suddenly hit me...I hadn’t cut out the sleeves!

I measured the armscye...26”, and then the longest bit of fabric left...23”!  It took me a moment (luckily not long enough for me to have a complete breakdown) to realise that the jacket was being made from a PAIR of curtains.  So the sleeves for the Beast’s jacket will need to be cut from the other curtain and the fabric left from the first jacket is enough for the Prince’s jacket....phew, panic over!

As it was getting late I left the sleeves and instead sewed on the stand collar.  Then merrily sat and pinned the lace to the sleeveless jacket so I could spend the rest of the evening looking at it and seeing if there was anything I noticed that I didn't like.

I did spend the evening wisely and ordered a lovely curly wig and a cat mask.  The wig will have the horns sewn onto it and me and Auntie Em are hoping to have wire in them so we can put them in different positions.  The cat mask was ordered after a long debate on how to go about the Beast’s face.  I was adamant that we would not be doing face paint for the performance.  Not only is it likely to run, the same actress has to be the prince at the end so we don't want to be hurrying to wash off face paint when she has to do a quick change.

We contemplated making a mask ourselves, either with foam or paper mache, but in the end went for a pressed cardboard cat mask that we can add our own paper mache to and make it more beastly than kitty.  It will then be painted and hopefully this will work but for the grand sum of £3.99 I won’t be terribly upset if this plan doesn't work.

I’m hoping we will end up with something like this...or something approximately near to maybe like this will do!

Adjusting a bodice pattern to a tail coat

 After contemplation I decided that I would use a pattern for the Beast’s jacket rather than a cut and shut job.  I have two blue velvet curtains for this costume that do not allow for mistakes and I am sure it will look better fitted rather than not.

Although I have a drawer full of patterns I rarely use them as I have discovered over the years...if it ain’t broke don't fix it (I said that before recently didn't I?)

My go-to pattern for the jacket is the bodice pattern I used for the chorus costumes.  I used this same pattern for the Victorian dresses too!  With a bit of manipulation you can get the pattern you want from this, with the first step being a quick sketch to show the original and where it needs changing.

The first, and most obvious, change is the sizing.  The bodice pattern will have to be made larger to get it up to the required 52” chest necessary to cover the bulky muscles and shirt.  As I have this pattern up to a 48” chest I just need to add on 4” which I will put on around the edges of the pattern pieces.  Eight pieces, with two sides each, mean I only need to put on about ¼” to each side and wont affect the shaping too much.

The second point is that the bodice is made for a womanly figure (if you get my drift) and there isn't much call for that.  So I will ‘flatten’ out the front side piece to take away any boob allowance.  If I was to do this at the chest area by taking it away, this would change the sizing.  But by adding to the waist area I will be keeping the measurement I require!

The neckline needs to be raised to make it sit closer to the collar line and this is to be done both front and back.  Then the centre front needs to have the bottom changed so that it forms a ‘V’ upwards and not down as the original pattern is (ignore where I drew the line wrong on the right hand side lol).

The front facing can be incorporated into the front pattern piece just to make life easier and quicker when constructing the jacket.

Finally, the ‘tails’ need to be added to the back pattern pieces.

The final pattern pieces should end up looking something like this...

I made up the pattern pieces to plan, cut them out and pinned them to the Beast muscle and shirt to check for fitting.

I just needed to make some adjustment to the side front pieces by cutting some off the width and the bottom needed a trim to get the downward 'V' right. Here the front view also has some of the trim I intend to use pinned to it and a stand collar also pinned on.

Here is the back view, I am still undecided on whether the tails need thinning out a bit.

Next step is to sew it all together!

The Beast's shirt

The ‘muscle’ means that our Beast now has a chest measurement of 50” (now that’s a huge weight gain for our actress) so the shirt was made to go over this.

We need 2 shirts the same, one for Beast and one for the Prince but in different sizes so of course they need to be more or less identical.  There was obviously only one way to go....tunic from rectangle pattern.  This time round I added a collar and the sleeves were made from another rectangle (or two, the Beast does have two arms after all).

So following the ‘tunic from a rectangle’ directions I made one shirt body for the Beast.  The fabric is 60” wide so I was able to fold and cut a length of 30” to give me plenty of fabric for the shirt’s width.

I then folded the centre fronts to form where the fastening will be, before cutting the shoulder, neck and arm shaping.  I sewed straight down to form an easy placket, then cut the shaping and sewed the shoulders together.

Here is a pic of the shirt body before sleeves or the collar are added;

By measuring around the neck edge you get the length of the collar, in this case it is 24”, I folded the fabric double before cutting out the collar shape and used the fold as the collar edge.  The ends were sewn together and pressed.

Then one side of the collar was pinned to the outside edge of the shirt right sides together. 

I then sewed that side in place, turned to the inside and folded over the other edge of the collar, pinned and sewed it together on the inside of the shirt.  

The collar is then sitting nicely on the neck edge ready to be pressed.

Onto the sleeves, which are just a rectangle stitched into a tube and stitched onto the armscye (which you need to get the measurement of to ensure your sleeve is wide enough to fit into it!).  Of course it doesn't matter if your sleeve is wider than the armscye (the hole your sleeve fits into) as you can always make some gathers in it to make it fit...its not so easy to make it bigger so err on the side of no caution.  I have an arm length measurement for my Beastly lady of 25”, so yet again I am going to add some extra length for the seam allowance and even more as I want a nice bit of frilly flounce at the end.

I had a wonderful moment of realising that my sleeves were going to be 30” by 30” on my 60” width material, don't you love it when things work out like that?

I overlocked the edges of the sleeve and sewed a hem on one edge which is now officially the end of the sleeve.  Then sewed a channel 4” from the end to slip elastic through and form the frill.  The sleeve was also sewn to form it into the tube shape.

I would like to point out that my costumes are NOT for close inspection and the 15 foot rule applies...if you can’t see it from 15 foot away it doesn't matter.  However, there is no reason you couldn’t use these directions for a shirt for everyday wear, it is just a case of taking more time ensuring every measurement is correct and everything is sewn together neatly.  For the purposes of three days at the end of January, it is really not worth my while spending a long time on something like a shirt and I call these costumes my ‘cut and shut’ jobs!

So, back to the shirt.  The sleeves were put into the armscye and sewn up, a bit of elastic pulled through the channels and a bit of lace round the ends of the cuffs and it was nearly finished.  The only decision to be made was Velcro or poppers and I went with poppers as Velcro and wadding are in love with each other and over attracted, not a good thing for a quick change!

Shirt done....next step is the Beasts jacket.

Building the Beast

Yesterday I finally got around to trundling off and getting the measurements for our Beast.  She is a lovely lady, but I get the feeling she is going to spend the rest of the year putting up with little gags about her being a bit of an animal!

This year I have a little partner in crime on the costuming front (otherwise known as Auntie Em), this has been a godsend to me as I finally have somebody to talk to about which way to go.  The other bonus is that her mum is another keen sewer who is moving house...guess who is getting all her unwanted bits :D

After a bit of discussion we decided to make an undertunic to provide the beastly muscles.  I used my tried and trusted method of making  the tunic and cut it off just under the bust with a front fastening of velcro for quick removal, I also kept it sleeveless.  This was then used as a pattern for some 2" thick wadding which was placed over the fabric.  The arm muscles were attached with paper fasteners to give our Beast arm movement. Then the wadding was stitched to the fabric by hand.

Here is the muscle undervest:

We may cut the wadding into a more muscular shape, but at the moment we are leaving it until we can test this all out on our Beastly Lady.  Next step is a shirt to go over this.