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! 

And the other one!

Eldest arrived as promised and her skirt was all sewn into place.  She just had a couple of seams to finish off so we decided to try it all out on her;

She didn't put the corset on and it is all pinned up at the back but I think she deserves to be proud of her efforts!

Victorian dress from corset pattern!

I got up nice and early today and drunk copious amounts of coffee in preparation for a BIG sewing day.  At some point eldest daughter will turn up to start sewing her own dress so I at least want the ‘unexpected’ dress (I shall now call it UD to distinguish from the dress daughter will be making at the same time, hereby called DD) to have the bodice cut out so that I am at the same point with UD that daughter is at with DD.

I am hoping to have enough fabric to make two bodices, one day dress and one evening for UD.  The downside of all this is that I do not have the daughter around to get measurements so I am just hoping that I have enough knowledge of her body that it will fit. Luckily I come from a world where when a daughter asks for a Wonder woman corset I make her one and I therefore, in the bottom of my pattern drawer somewhere, have a pattern drafted to fit her that I can use for sizing and drafting a bodice. I do have a preference for hook and eye fastenings and would have preferred to do that, but due to the lack of the body UD is supposed to fit I will do lacing at the back of the evening bodice.  

After Googling frantically last night I have decided this simple dress will be the first bodice;

As the fabric is semi sheer I will also have to underline it for the evening gown, I have loads of white muslin so that will have to do (Q. Why is so much of what I do based on what is available in my stash? A. I don't know but it proves I need one so who cares!)  

Both DD and UD will be underlined and this involves cutting out two sets of pattern pieces, one in the fashion fabric and one in the lining fabric.  These are treated as one and sewn together.  It is a relatively quick and easy way of giving a lighter fabric some substance or, as is the case with UD ensuring you are not making a completely see through dress that your daughter will refuse to wear on modesty grounds!

The day dress will not be underlined as it will be based on this. 

I can see two advantages to this: First is that it doesn't have a fastening so if evening dress doesn't fit daughter will definitely fit in this one!  Second, I can tell her to bring along a strap or tank t-shirt to put under this if I don't have time to make a chemise!

But back to this morning...

I have taken the front pieces of my corset pattern and pinned it to my board.  To start with I left the side front as it was the one which dealt with the majority of daughters curves (there are quite a lot of them!)

I was basing this on the ‘Patterns of Fashion (2) 1860-1940’ pattern of an 1861 evening dress.  I know there is seam allowance added to my pattern so we are good to go! 

I drew round the pattern pieces and joined the middle front to centre front, then added the shoulder pieces.  I will check the measurements for the shoulders with other daughter when she arrives as she is similar size in most areas except the boobage!  I shifted the middle front piece over and re-drew in red.  The corset had a high top so I lowered the neckline to the centre front and also raised the sides as the corset went over the hips.

At this point I would love to say I made a toile, fitted it to my daughter and made minor adjustments to ensure it all fitted correctly.  Unfortunately I can’t say that, what I did do is sit staring at it and wonder if I had done anything wrong. 

I then made a cup of coffee and pondered it a bit.  I sat staring a bit longer, drank the coffee while staring, stood up and looked out the window, sat down and stared.  Contemplated cutting out the fashion fabric then stared a bit longer.  Looked at the fabric, reminded myself it was only £1 a metre (oh yeah, it was only £1 a metre so if it goes wrong no great shakes).  

Then realised that the skirt wouldn’t go wrong so if nothing else she could wear a shirt with the skirt and look ok for the event.  Second realisation was that I also had the other bodice to make that doesn't need to fit exactly.  Then realisation number 3 that I could check the measurements against the book for back up! Lucky I did that!  As I measured I realised that I had reduced from 3 pattern pieces to 2 and not taken away the seam allowance!  So back to the drawing board and removed those seam allowances from the pattern.

I then had an even more brilliant idea!  I still have the Wonder woman corset!  I put the corset on the dummy and pinned the pattern to it.

Daughter has more boobs than the average Victorian and this was always the issue when trying to make this bodice. All of a sudden I could see where the pattern was wrong!  A quick snip with the scissors and another piece of sticky tape and the pattern fitted the corset perfectly (lets hope the corset still fits the daughter perfectly).

Well the front of the pattern was ready...all I needed to do to the back was add the shoulder straps.

All done!  Then I get a text from daughter saying she is coming over tomorrow so I will have the body to work from!  Although after all that effort I may just go for it later today!

And I thought I was prepared!

I was feeling quite pleased with myself you know, getting that dress finished meant I had all weekend to devote to helping my eldest do her dress.  I know satin wasn't my first choice of fabric but daughter loves the dress and I suppose that's all that matters.

I had arrangements with eldest to come over on Saturday for a big sew in with the thought that I could finish off anything she doesn't finish with a weekend in between the dressmaking and the charity event, loads of time!

Until today when I find out that I now have daughter number three coming with us as well and therefore need to get a dress for her to wear too.

A quick look through my stash and the navy satin is discarded, firstly because I am wearing navy and secondly because there is no way I was going to have a go at another satin dress at the moment. It really does make things harder with all that slipping around and I dont think it looks quite Victorian, more '80's bridesmaids dress!

That left the choice down to some gorgeous taffeta in an orange/red two tone and a lovely striped embroidery throughout.  Of course daughter didn't want that but I did have that ear marked for a bustle so not a problem.  The other option was lilac cotton gauze that was waiting for a summer day dress to be made from it.  So lilac it is but what do I make from it?

This is even more complicated than the green one, at least I spoke to youngest daughter about it before starting and she had picked her own fabric!  This is a case of telling her what fabric she is having and her saying 'make it pretty'  I probably won't even see her before she is putting the dress on, luckily I have made plenty of dresses for her before so know her body shape and size.

I have come up with this very basic style;

I'm not sure I have enough fabric for the layered skirt but will see how that goes over the weekend.  I may yet find something I like more but at the moment this is what I am going with so wish me luck!

The fabric

So, you have the ideas in your head, you have your designs all drawn out, which leaves one thing; buying the fabric!

This can either be exasperating or the greatest fun ever.  It gets exasperating when you can’t find what you want, the best fun is when it all comes together with hardly any effort.

I have just returned from my great fabric hunt of 2014.

I have learned to combine the fabric hunt with visiting my husbands’ relatives in the northern lands where the choice of fabric in one town far exceeds anything available in the whole of Norfolk!  This does mean I get two shots a year at this and the first buy up usually involves getting over 50 metres of fabric in one day!

This year I managed to get pretty much everything I wanted and came away on a high (this was rapidly depleted as we hit traffic jam after traffic jam and it took us over 6 hours to get home instead of the normal 4).

Here is the haul piled up on my table;

Now in the sensible world of the seamstress this lot would be washed before sewing but I have a life to lead and I never wash the costume fabrics before a performance!  This way I make the costume to fit and then if it shrinks, or some of the pattern or bling comes off in the wash, it is revamped for the following year without me having a hissy fit!

The one exception I will make to that this year is the Beast’s costume as I may need to use the padded shirt for another panto and I don't want a shrunken lining ruining it all.

I didn’t get an elaborate gold for Belle, but I did get some old gold taffeta and a piece of patterned gold that I will use for the bodice and decoration, I expect some bling will appear on that before it is finished. 

I could have bought a yellow colour but if the person I think will play Belle gets the role, she really doesn't suit yellow and it makes her look jaundice.  There is always the possibility she won’t be Belle but it really won’t make a difference in that case.

The big job is to now fold all this fabric up and put it away.  It will probably take all day lol

I am itching to get sewing and trying to work out which costumes I can make that are adjustable so they fit whoever gets the role.

Fairies galore

The next characters that really draw my attention in a costuming way are fairies.  Unfortunately, last year there was a directorial intervention in the fairy costume that I really should have ignored.  She wanted the fairy to look all punked up (I wanted a tutu), at the last rehearsal before Christmas the fairies mother stepped in as she didn't like her young daughter dressed like that, I told her I agreed completely so there was no hard feeling there lol.   This put a halt to the punk fairy but as there was now no time to make the tutu she ended up in the fairy costume that was one of the few nice costumes we already had on standby.

I have two types of fairy in my head, the young fairy in a tutu and the older one in a floaty ethereal gown.  This year I get to do both, not once but twice!  Good and bad fairies, one of each young and old.

There will definitely be tutus on the young ones.  Of course it will be black for the bad and I will probably do cream for the good.  This is based on the two saris’ I already have in my stash, conveniently one is black with silver and the other is a very pale coffee with the same colour embroidery.

I have this kind of thing in mind for the bad fairy;

It’s a theatre costume by Bruno Santini used in Iolanthe!

For the good fairy I want lots of floaty prettiness, this beautiful gown by Firefly Path sums it up nicely;

I just hope there isn't another attempt at directorial intervention on these, it will have to be ignored this time I’m afraid, and she may not be happy about that!

This is the frustrating time for me, I know the characters, I start to plan costumes, but as I don't know what body the costumes will go on I have to sit and wait drumming my fingers impatiently on the table top.

Chorus costume completed

Half term is nearly over and with it goes plenty of sewing time.  Yesterday I spent with my mum and eldest daughter and we headed out to our local branch of ‘The Range’ which is full of so many crafty things it kept us occupied for ages!

My mum is an artist, and I do mean artist not painter, so she wandered off to get her supply of oils and canvas’s while me and daughter took a look around all the other stuff available in there.  I very nearly bought a straw Easter bonnet to turn into a Dames one but it was really too small for an adult head.  I did get some silver embroidery thread as I have a project in mind that will mean playing with that, if it comes to pass I will let you know about it.

I did manage to finish off a skirt to go with the bodices with my tried and trusted rectangle and elastic method (see the tutorial for how to make it) and think they look ok together so I will try and get a few made up before the serious sewing starts in the Easter holidays (yes I do plan that far ahead).  If time and cash allows I may add some trim to these later but it's good to know they are ready to wear as they are if need be.

I know I should probably have positioned this without the sun streaming in behind but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, it’s always nice to have proof that the sun does shine in Norfolk in February!

I also want to make some waistcoats in the same material for the male chorus members, unless I get distracted this may well be my weekend sewing for a while, quick easy and productive is how I like it when I only have a few hours a week to dedicate to it.

We didn't get very far did we?

It's half term, which of course means I have a horrible cold as I do every holiday!  Eldest daughter came round yesterday and took pity on me.  I like daughters that no longer live at home as they realise what it is like when you are feeling ill yet you still have to do all those household chores to do.  She made me coffee and some cheese on toast and I admit I did feel a bit better.

Our planned day of sewing didn't go quite as well as it could have done, she got this far;

Maybe we should be impressed that she managed to cut it out as I kept pinning on and unpinning youngest daughters pattern as I kept getting it wrong!  We decided to call it a day as the chances were my non-working brain would ruin the whole thing.

I managed to get this far with the green satin;

which is probably very deceptive as I have to take in the sides and the shoulders and can't be bothered to unpick it all at the moment :(

Suffering as I am from a brain that is refusing to cooperate I have decided that this is not the time to be making something that requires proper fit and construction!

Both bodices are therefore going away until we both have another day when I am more up to it.

However, I refuse to waste my holiday and not do any sewing and, as I have the bodice pattern all out and ready, I will get out my pile of pink and blue stuff and cut out some of them for the chorus bodices I have planned.  They will not be lined and there is no issue of them fitting exactly as they will have some kind of lacing so they will all be multi-sized, so I can do a bit of bish, bash, bosh on them which I am hoping sickly brain can cope with and keep sewing addict me happy.

Oh I hate feeling ill as it always ruins all those great plans :(

Professor McGonagall dress robes and what happens next

So I cut out my lower sleeves and sewed them on.  The pattern I used was made for a full circle lower sleeve but McGonagall’s are open at the front so I curved that round (I have drawn on a dotted line where I changed it).

A good pressing all over, sew on the buttons and the robes are finished and ready for world book day :D

Meanwhile...

During May I take the costumes to a Motorcycle event where they are hired out and the money goes to a cancer charity (bear with me on this, I do tend to skip around on the costumes I am making).  The theme at this years rally is Christmas, so me and my daughters are all getting ready to be decked out as Victorian Carol singers!

Last year at school we had a day out at Gressenhall Museum in Norfolk (highly recommended) where they do living history events (there is a point here) and we all had to dress up!  This is the dress I made myself (complete with corset) so I am ready to roll on what I will be wearing (see, the point was made).

My eldest daughter has expressed an interest in being able to make historic costume so, as I am on holiday and she has a day off work, today is going to be ‘start the Victorian costume’ day.

I will be making a costume for youngest daughter while eldest daughter makes her own under my guidance.  Basically they will both be the same pattern which is also the one I used for eldest’s Robin Hood bodice and has already been fitted to her but will need tweaking for youngest.

I have green satin for youngest and some beautiful white with black embroidery for eldest.  We also have this crazy plan that eldest will be making her initial dress as a mid Victorian and then making an apron and bustle in the same fabric so that she gets a two for one.

I will let you know how we get on!