Week 3

Workshop 3:
Attaching Basque
Channel
Leg Frill
CB Knickers
CB tutu
Draping Bodice
Dye Fabric
Adapt Patterns
Cut Bodice
Construct Bodice
Steel Hoop
-Button Hole Hoop
Stringing

This week there was loads to do and I was really apprehensive about getting it all done.

It’s all the finishing touches to the tutu that makes it less of a massive ball of net, and more of a tutu.

Attaching the CB’s of tutu and the Basque to the knickers/tutu was very straight forward. What I found difficult was the CB of the knickers, I had no idea where the seam was meant to fall or how it was meant to be done. The reason for this was because the CB was sewn up on the tutu, it made it look as if the seam was meant to be on the inside, but the whole of the tutu construction, the seams have been on the outside, as it is all about making the costume/tutu the most comfortable we can.

The CB of the knickers was just tacked into place with the seam on the outside again - more comfort for the actress. It is only tacked because of the fitting, if it needs to be taken in or taken out at all, it is easy to amend.

Bodice Draping:
We did bodice draping on a stand for assessment-this is because we are making a bulk costume order for the Arts Ed, they have to be exactly the same, so we have cut the bodice from Dexter’s patterns. To show we understand how the ballet bodice is constructed and where the seams go to enhance the body and the movements of the ballerina we have drafted a bodice that we think would be most suitable for the ballerinas if we where to use our patterns.
The bodice draping we did for assessment I found really enjoyable, when I got into it, it became a little bit of an obsession, I wanted to get it smoother and smoother with any pin alteration I could. I was really happy with how my bodice looked; I don’t think I could have got it any smoother without causing myself more problems, I would have moved a pin and miss aligned everything.

Creating the bodice lines made me realise the some bodices don't enhance the body/let the body move very well at all. Creating the lines in this bodice made me see how the seams in the right places can really flatter the figure.
All of this knowledge will help me in my final year and help my construction/drafting patterns get only better.

Dying Fabric:
When we all dyed our fabric, it was very testing. As the fabric was gold it had the yellow base that we firstly didn’t consider, so we tested the samples and the blues were turning green, the pinks were turning orange and the lilacs were turning pink. To get the desired colour was really hard and testing. Each fabric took differently to the dye, so it was rare that we all had one dye each. I personally had two, one for the net and viscose. One for the main fabric, we did them in the vats as we needed a large amount of water as there was such a large amount of fabric.
Some of us had to add dye into the vat after the dye had already been decided as it was coming out differently every time.
Over all I am really happy with my 3 different fabrics, I think they work well being slightly different shades of lilac they complement each other.

Cutting out the bodice was straight forward, firstly on the drill, where all markings where transferred from the patterns we altered for our artist (noting cutting on the BIAS and straight of grain.)
Each one of the patterns I placed onto my fabric, ironed the air out and pinned them onto my fabric, again, noting the bias and straight of grain.
When I put the bodice together I pinned the seams alternately one with the pin heads pointing to the top and the next seam would be so the pins would be facing the hem. This was done because there are so many panels, it would move much more easily than a less panel bodice would. When stitching the foot on the machine pulls the fabric one way, and as the pins on the next seam alternate, the next stitched seam would counteract the possible movement from the previous seam.

Finishing touches to Tutu:
Putting the steel hoop on layer 7 in the channel to flatten the tutu and control the layers and push them in the right way. The idea is to get the pleats from the knickers to fan out like a perfect ray of sunshine towards the hoop, and after for the net to lie flat, not twisted.
I found this hard to get the steel hoop in, because i was worried about the channel ripping, it was much more time consuming and harder than i thought. To get it to lie flat was a real struggle. It took me a while to come to grips with the method and the logic's behind how the hoop effected the tutu and how the gathering of the pleats affected the shape of the hoop, and how the more of the hoop that was put into the channel it made it flatter.
This prepares for the stringing. The stringing is done to the either side of the hoop so all the layers are pulled towards the steel hoop.

Notes:

Day by day to do list really helped. Continue to do so.

Make sure every task is done in the day that i have planned to do. If completed with more time to spare than thought, carry on and start the next job, nothing like preparing things when you can.

Make decisions along the way that might help in the long run, i.e seeing the fabric was a little crimpled, and testing solutions out to flatten it.