Victorian bodices...so far!

I think we are doing pretty well.  Me and eldest daughter spent a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon, and more over Sunday, trying to get the bodices finished.  While we didn't quite manage that (there was a road trip declared in the afternoon to go and get Burger King for some reason) we did get them 'mostly' finished except for the necklines and bottoms.

Here is eldest daughters bodice, she has never made anything before except a cushion at school and the odd straight lines on a machine when I pass her the fabric and I think she has done really well! I promised to do the neck trims and did that after she left but the bodice and sleeves were all her own work with a little direction from me.  She has taken the fabric with her for the skirt and has been instructed to gather and hand sew it to the waistband.

The unexpected bodice has not got as far as the neckline still has to be finished to be at the same stage.  I was impressed when I put it on daughter that it did actually all fit which goes to show that if you know the body you are making things for it makes life much easier in the fitting department.

I did my first ever double puff sleeves on this and they have worked out well, daughter seemed pleased with it and as she doesnt go in for really pretty things I breathed a sigh of relief.

I will get back to work on these over the evenings this week and then another full on sewing weekend to get them finished for the week after!

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!

Victorian dresses

Some weeks ago I showed you where I had cut out a bodice for Victorian dresses and then it went into a bag and stayed there.  This weekend I decided to get the dress made and finished so that I can devote next weekend to helping other daughter make hers.

The fabric for this was picked out over a year ago and was intended for my youngest daughter’s prom dress.  She then decided she wasn’t going but would still like the dress...when I had time. 

Fast forward a year and we are getting things ready for an event where we rent out the panto costumes for charity.  The theme this year is Christmas so us girlies decide this is the perfect opportunity to dress up in Victorian dresses and sing carols to raise extra funds (just because we can!).

So I made up the bodice of the dress daughter had originally wanted (not historically correct) and we try to decide how to make it look Victorian in a way that can be removed so she can wear the dress as it is.  Then daughter says, forget it, just make it Victorian - do what you want with it!

I then had the choice of sticking with the original, perfect fitting bodice, or change it so that the shoulders were lower as would have been historically nearer!  I stuck with original bodice, looked for a square neck period dress and found one.

Although the shoulders should be lower the rest is as near to the original fashion plate as I could make it and when she is wearing it the shoulders are lower than on the dummy.

She wanted the lace up back so I kept that instead of hooks and eyes and she also wanted light boning to the front to which I also obliged.

The puffed sleeves should have been muslin but I stuck with the very stiff satin so that I didn’t have to interline.  I get the feeling at some point DD4 will change her mind and all the Victorian stuff will come off and go back to original bodice!

The skirt is cartridge pleated and hand sewn on and although here it is shown without a petticoat I do have one ready for her in the caravan of costume.  The event takes place on a field and we just have to hope it doesn't rain!

I finished this dress while daughter was away for the weekend so it was fingers crossed that it all fitted her and she liked it lol  She tried it on when she returned last night and swirled around the room asking in her best mickey taking voice ‘Daddy, do you love your princess?’, so I am assuming this 17 year old likes it lol I just need to sew up the hem now and she asked me to put some more black lace around the waist or I do have some 8" wide lace which will make a very pretty sash, we just need to decide which to do.

Here is a pic of the dress I made myself last year which I will be wearing.  It was based on one of the dresses in Janet Arnolds ‘patterns of fashion’ and I spent ages hand pleating all the ruffles.  I also made an underbust corset to go with it, my theory at the time was that it was being worn for a school event and I wasn’t sure ‘the girls’ would look appropriate in a full corset, so I wore a bra up top just to be sure.

We went to Gressenhall for the school visit, really worth a trip if you are in the area.  I was really pleased when one of the ladies that worked there noticed I had a corset on and said ‘oh well done!’ So it really does make a difference to the proper Victorian look to have the undies correct too.

What a beauty!

Well the meal was a total success in my eyes! Yes, it is Beauty and the Beast and I am so excited about it you wouldn't believe! I also got that money up front so I can relax and plan without worrying about how I am going to pay for everything (I am feeling slightly smug about that and intend to show them what they can get with a bit of extra money).

As I had already spent time thinking about how to make a beast costume, when I was asked offhand how I would do it, my plans were met with a nod and smile of approval.  The directors main concern that a mic would have to be fitted is not a problem with my idea.

So, I don't necessarily hear you ask, what is the plan?

It's based on this...

Please don't laugh!  My daughter had this doll along with pretty much every other Beauty and the Beast saleable item when she was a kid (she still has them all in a display cabinet!).

My plan is to start with a lining fitted to the person playing the beast (don't know who yet, auditions are in May).  Then add a layer of wadding to bulk up the shoulder and chest area just like the doll has.  I will then make a dark blue, velvet frock coat to fit over the top to create a Beast sized torso.

A pair of fur fabric trousers will make the beast look beastly in the body department, I mustn't forget to add a tail!

The head will be made of a half mask sewn to a long wig which will also have horns sewn on.

I am hoping this plan will work and give a good, easy to wear, Beast.  At this point I hope you are muttering to yourself about how I had said some of my costumes do get more complicated lol

Belle will start off with a dirndl style like she does in the film, but I want to make it more of a romantic ballet style skirt with layers of tulle.  I will start with a lilac one (I have the fabric for these) and change to a gold and pink one when she is at the Beast's castle.

This example come from thecostumelady.net/

I am pondering whether to make one petticoat type skirt with layers of white tulle that can go under all Belle's costumes and add a top layer to the dirndl's of the lilac and pink.  This would then also give volume to the most exciting part of this year...

THE GOLD BALLGOWN!!!!!!

Yesssssssssssssssssss, there is a ball room scene!!!!!

Yesssssssssssssssssss, I get to make the gown!!!!!!!

This is not any gown, this is the gown that started me off!  When my daughter was young the Belle doll she had didn't have a gold dress, so mummy made her one!  I then made a few other things then made costumes for the kids, then the kids got bigger and I was making full size costumes lol  It was the first copy of anything I made and it was this dress for this doll and now I get to recreate that on a real life adult woman!  So the hunt is on for the fabric and my mind is working overtime to figure out how close to the original it becomes.  

The other thing is, my daughter is determined that she wants Belle's gold ball gown for her wedding dress.  The wedding is not on the cards but it will be nice to know I have had a practise run when it comes to making that!

As I go through the script I will let you know what goes through my mind and then see what the result are.  Next week I am off fabric shopping....I really hope I find some beautiful gold!

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 :(

Should a witch always wear black?

There is that moment when you seem to automatically know what a costume needs to look like.  I did it twice in Robin Hood, one was the Sheriff (I was stuck with Alan Rickman in my head and nothing else would do) and the other was Will Scarlett which turned out just as I imagined it with pleather shoulder armour instead of the real thing!

But there are some characters that you just can’t do that with year after year or it gets stale.  Take, for instance, a witch.  We all know that a witch wears a black robe and, of course, what a witch’s hat looks like!  But for pantomime we need to move on from the traditional look and use our imaginations or we will be accused of being downright boring.

We can go down the simple route of adding some trim in a different colour, red works brilliantly as it stands out so well alongside the black.  I remember being told many years ago that photographers will often put a piece of red into a frame as it brings all the other colours out.  Look at this well known scene from Schindler’s List and you will see what I mean.

Other colours that work well with a witch are purple and green (Professor McGonagall is a brilliant case in point); there is also that great bling element of a bit of sparkle with gold or silver.  I have also noticed that although plain black may seem boring on stage, different black fabrics, such as embossed velvets or jacquard prints, add a different dimension so don't be afraid to mix them up a bit.

You can also add interest with shapes in your costume.  Big collars, flowing sleeves, sharp shoulders or  contrasting layers will all add to the look.

Talking of witches, I have finished the robe element of Minerva’s gown and hope to set to those sleeves tomorrow.  I will have to go with the seam method so will attempt to show you how I go about it tomorrow and whether or not it works!