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.

I'm still here.....

I have been quiet for a few weeks as the maternity wear was the last thing I made!  It is the last few weeks of term and I am tired, tired, tired.  I don't want to start on panto costumes as I don't want to get them wrong.  I also have a number of Egyptian accessories to make for the school end of year production, which is today’s job.  I also, via friends at panto, have somehow managed to volunteer my services for 30 drawstring bags for the local scout group. That will be next weekend’s job!

Last weekend there was a garage sale in our village, so me and daughters spent three hours trudging around the streets along with hundreds of other people.  Best buy was a beautiful wooden high chair for £5.  Daughter’s boyfriend kept complaining that he didn't feel right buying things for something that wasn’t there yet...although the retort was, it has a face so it needs something to keep it happy!  He is, of course, secretly very excited but also scared of his approaching parenthood!  Daughter was over the moon to get a copy of ‘The hungry caterpillar’ for 50p.  Apparently, every child needs a copy of ‘The hungry caterpillar’ and ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’, so we are still looking out for the other one.

I also had mother’s birthday weekend and I took her to the theatre to see ‘Dance ‘til Dawn’ which starred Flavia and Vincent from Strictly.  It was a wonderful show full of dancing and singing and a very funny narrative that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good night out!  Mother was over the moon before we even got there, by the end she was like a little girl she had such a good time.  I felt great too, she is not the easiest person to get presents for but we really hit the jackpot with this one!

I also got the list of ‘who is what’ and had some thinking to do!

First up is the fact that my (at the moment small bump) daughter is to play the bad fairy.  She is due to give birth about a month before the performances and will be sharing the role with somebody a couple of sizes smaller.  So this will mean judicious use of the how to make something adjustable in the bad fairy department AND there is only enough of the fabric for one go at this!

I have to find out how to reduce the size of the two tutu’s (try saying that after a few glasses of red medicine) as the baby fairies are teeny tiny.  I also have to go and see various people about their costumes to find out if they are happy with what I have planned and come up with a plan B if they aren't.  At the moment I have £50 of budget left but don't have a wig or mask for Beast or any trimmings, so that will be interesting if I need to replace anything!

So think of this post as the calm before the storm.  The post leading up to the summer holidays when I will spend many days sewing and there will be an influx of things done.  The post that is saying; ‘wait for it’ and ‘bear with’.  Just one and a half weeks left of school and then sit back and watch the costuming begin!

Maternity skirt

While I am still waiting for the definitive list of ‘who is playing what in panto 2015’ I have a weekend of doing something (nearly) completely different.

I say ‘nearly’ because 24 years ago I was attempting my own foray into maternity clothing that didn't go too well.  In retrospect I am not sure if it was due to the pregnancy itself or lack of ability as I only managed to make one dress and have a complete breakdown over a pair of maternity trousers that were never finished (the fabric ended up being made into a party dress for eldest daughter).

But there has appeared an unexpected, but very welcome, baby bump on eldest daughter in the last few weeks (if you look carefully you can see how tight her Victorian dress was over the tummy!) and she is now complaining that all her normal clothes are too tight.

I had previously bought some cotton for a maxi skirt for her, so project number one is to make her a skirt but use buttonhole elastic on the waistband instead of a fitted one.  I am, of course, using my skirt from a rectangle pattern as there will then be plenty of fabric to cover the bump throughout the pregnancy (2 metres).

I made the skirt up but only put the elastic through the back half of the waistband.  The skirt will now expand through the back by loosening the elastic with the button.

I then measured 8 inches from both sides of the centre front and marked , then cut out two strips of fabric to make into ties.  At this point I would love to show you pictures of how I continued but my friend turned up and I forgot to take the photos being eager to finish the skirt before my daughter came to visit later on in the day!

However, I can show you how it looks when it is finished.  I sewed the ties into the waist by folding over around half an inch and sewing the ties into the fold at the previously marked points.

I made the the ties long so that the skirt can be loosened at the front allowing room for the bump to grow.  You can just see in the pic how the extra fabric folds behind the ties to make a pleat.

I promise you, there is a pretty bow at the front that has disappeared in the photo!

If she likes this style I may make another one for her in which case I promise to remember the photos.

First project completed I will also be having a go at upcycling some old clothes for her, so watch this space!

The Victorian ball gowns get worn at last

So it’s half term and just to ensure I stick to my usual holiday routine I have completely annihilated my back.  I first had an issue last week and spent Tuesday and Wednesday unable to go to work. It improved enough to return for the day, then off to the event on Friday.  With judicial use of a corset I got through the weekend with little problems until Sunday morning the back re-emerged to triumphantly reduce me to a snivelling wreck and I spent the next three days unable to move.

This morning I have movement again so I can at least get the laptop in motion to show the finished Victorian dresses.

This is eldest daughter in her dress that she proudly told everybody she had made herself.  It is the first thing of any substance she has made and is quite within her rights to be proud of it!  If you are thinking it looks a little tight you would be correct.  In the intervening period between measuring, cutting and sewing daughter has found out she is pregnant and that little extra growth has made things not as well fitted as planned.  The dress will now have to go away for quite a few months as it is unlikely it will fit for the foreseeable future!

The unexpected dress went well considering the lack of fitting!  I did have to put some tacks in the shoulder as it was too loose, but the rest fitted perfectly and there was no issues of popping out bits of body. 

I did manage to make two petticoats which helped poof out those skirts a little.  I would love to see them with proper crinolines so you may see me making them some time, just to have a look you understand!

Sadly, due to the weather, we raised little money for the charities, it would appear people don't want to dress up in the rain but I suppose it is the thought that counts and we did try!

Now we are just waiting to see who is playing what role in the pantomime and we can get started on the costumes.  This may prove interesting as eldest daughter still wants to be in it even though she will be extremely pregnant for most rehearsals and a new mum for the actual shows!  I suppose it helps to have a mother willing to make you a last minute costume once the bump has gone.

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!

One Victorian ball gown nearly finished!

I had a day which involved a lot of huffing and puffing and became reminiscent of curtain making yesterday.  If you have ever made curtains you will know what I mean....metres and metres of fabric, sitting at a machine running it all through.

Then there was the metres of fabric being pleated to put into waistbands.  All in all it was just metres of fabric and somewhere underneath it all was a 'me' trying to get it all done by the end of the weekend.  

It's early Sunday morning now and I am waiting for eldest daughter to arrive to get her dress in the same state as the unexpected dress.  She phoned last night and was in the same state as me, metres of fabric being gathered into the waistband.  She did say however, that she was sure it would all be finished by Friday, but then she does have a couple of days free in the week and I dont.

I had left enough seam in the UD to put in the boning by hand so that was a plus.  This hadn't happened with DD and I was left with the job of trying to attach boning in a ribbon casing, without it showing on the outside.  It doesn't sit right to my eye and we will decide this morning whether to just take it out and leave that for another day, as eldest will be wearing a corset underneath next weekend.

I pleated the UD skirt into the waistband and then pleated another five metres of muslin/linen (I'm not really sure what it is as it wasn't labelled) into another waistband for the petticoat.  I then sewed five metres of cording into the petticoat and it does give it a bit extra 'poof'.  I did read somewhere (forgive me if it was on your blog/site, I did try to find it again but it is lost in the internet ether for now) to put a layer of net between skirt and petticoat to give extra poof but after all that pleating and gathering I had lost the will to live so there is no net at the moment, although it may happen later today if I get everything else done.

So here is a pic of UD at the moment.  It needs a final pressing, it needs fastenings on bodice and skirt (more hand sewing of hooks and eyes) but I do believe it is finished unless I measure the skirt for the third time and it really is too long in which case I have decided to make pin tucks in the skirt to take some of the length away.

I'm hoping to get an inbetween pic of DD today too, although the big pressing will take place after hooks and eyes so the best I can offer is pics of the finished dresses on the girls after the weekend.

Youngest daughter is away again this weekend and I still haven't done the hem on hers.  I was hoping to be able to pin the hem with her in the dress but it looks like it will now be a case of sew it and see as I am not going to attempt it after Tuesday when she returns!  I have just realised I don't have the petticoat for her so sometime today I will have to go through the boxes of costumes to find the hooped petticoat!  Arghhhh!!!!

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!