Final write up of the Brides Outfit from Abu Hussan. Arabian Nights 2015.

I glued orange jewels all over the finished outfit which took several hours to do and was quite fiddly. I used a super glue but I have noticed since that some have fallen off. I wasn't always successful in keeping the glue neatly concealed behind the jewel. There were times when I ended up blotching the glue onto the fabric so it showed beyond the jewel on the fabric. This annoyed me as it stained the fabric and showed darker than the fabric should of been. I would need to research a better way of gluing small jewels onto a costume in future.

The completed Bride's outfit in all of its glory.

I was not entirely happy with the stitching of the lining on the seams of the outer garment. It slightly puckered the quilting which although was not that noticeable, annoyed me. I found it quite bulky and difficult sewing the lining in place on the machine. I used the machine on the seams to give extra strength. If I was to make this outfit again in a similar fashion, I would also line the inside of the bottom frill. It would give a more complete professional look to the overall garment. I hadn't lined the frill of this outfit as I did not have enough lining fabric plus time would of been against me as well. It did not notice on stage anyway, it just would of looked more finished when examining it off the hanger and up close.

Back of the Bride.

I hand stitched the hem of the lower frill which took time as the circumference was quite large. It was quite difficult to get the hem even as you could not easily see it due to the expanse of fabric.

I would of preferred to of used glass tear drop jewels to finish the triangular purple lace trim. Instead I used metallic gold and green beads. They gave a nice effect to the trim and were used as they were cheap and the budget wouldn't of stretched to tear drop jewels.

Bride's Headdress (Abu Hussan - Arabian Nights) February 2015

I made the basis of the Bride's Headdress on an old Gendarme Felt Hat of which I had cut off the peak. I split open the top and pushed down on the felt to make the hat shorter in appearance. The cut felt top I inserted into a tubular piece of card and glued in place. I closed the top of the card tube by folding over the card and gluing in place.

The base of the Bride's Headdress using an old felt hat and thin card

Next I wrapped the blue fabric from the Bride's dress around the tubular card. I wrapped wadding around the felt hat to pad it out and glued this in place. I then wrapped the red fabric from the Bride's dress around the wadding to give the appearance of a turban. I glued and stitched this all in place.

The hat taking shape and form.

Adding the trim to the headdress.

I then added the red beading, gold sequins and gold fringe.

Getting a feel for the outfit and what to do next. More to do to the headdress and one of the sleeves need adjusting. Being modeled by the actor.

I decided to make paper flowers in orange and green from tissue paper to decorate the tall tubular part of the headdress. The design I based my idea on had some sort of large pom poms around the edge. I cut the tissue paper into long fringes and gathered them up into a circle. I stuck these flowers on with glue. I glued the veil into place so it flowed down the back of the Bride.

Close up of the paper flowers.

Next I made 2 strings of pom pom and wooden bead necklaces to hang from the headdress along with a gold bead adornment. This I felt gave interest to the whole headdress and also drew attention away from the bare neck of the actor.

The finishing touches to the headdress and how it finally looked.

I found an old brooch of a wild cat which I felt was appropriate for the Arabian Nights. Added with some small colourful feathers I glued these in place on front of the Turban. I glued small matching orange jewels that I had also used on the Bride's outfit to the turban fabric. I also trimmed the gold fringe that sat across the eyes so the actor would be able to see clearly.

The Bride in Abu Hussan story of the Enormous Fart. Arabian Nights 2015. (Continuation of making of)

After successfully making my Toile for the Brides outfit it was time to cut out the fabrics I would be using.

(Pattern pieces laid out on the red and orange fabric)

I had chosen soft furnishing fabrics for their weight and appearance and although I was originally wanting an overall 'red' looking outfit so to look traditional and in keeping with the colour of a bride in the Far East, the outfit has ended up mainly orange in colour, even making the red fabric I had chosen take on an orange glow.
The orange fabric I had chosen turned out to be a Sanderson fabric which normally retailed at £40 per metre but the piece I had found was an off cut of 4 metres which was sold to me for a bargain price of just £20  :-). It is possible the Sanderson's fabric could be silk or at least have a high percentage of silk in it.
I preferred the wrong side of the Sanderson's fabric as the pattern appeared stronger and bolder but the downside of using the wrong side of the fabric, which I did do, was that the loose threads would catch and snag, so I had to be exceptionally careful whilst stitching it with the machine. Unfortunately threads did snag but where possible I left these be if they were only slight and where a large snag occurred I trimmed it with scissors. I like the effect of the wrong side even with these problems.
I noticed if I held the fabric one way round if gave the appearance of pattern and background both being orange but when hung the other way it gave the appearance of the pattern being orange and the background had a slight hint of a gold sheen. I preferred the latter and chose to cut the fabric so hopefully the background gave the aura of the gold sheen. I felt this to be more in keeping with the correct chosen look of the Bride. I also felt it would be preferable alongside the red fabric I had chosen.
The red fabric also had a pattern on it and again I hung it in both directions to see how it looked and surprisingly decided to cut the pattern in the opposite direction that I had originally felt I would have it hang. I felt the direction I chose looked better on the extra long panel at the back of the Gown.
I had an idea that I would quilt the orange fabric panels but then decided rather than cut the 2 outer sleeve pieces in just the red fabric, to cut one in red and one in orange. This gave me the dilemma whether to still only quilt the orange fabric, thus having one outer sleeve quilted and one not, so I decided to quilt all of the red and orange fabric panels.

(Quilting of both fabrics. On the red I decided to do straight lines running in both directions to make diamond shapes with the pattern. On the orange I decided to select lines on the pattern and stitch them in gold, I repeated these lines throughout the pattern).

As I thought about the construction of the outfit I felt that it would be a good idea to quilt all the panels as this would give the whole garment more body and I felt sure would solve the problem of holding the sides out more to give a more bell shape which is what I wanted. As it is, I do feel now that the panels are sewn together, it does indeed give the outfit a much better shape with the way it hangs.
When cutting the pattern out on the fabric and not knowing how much the quilting may shrink the fabric against the pattern size I decided to add 3 inches around the whole pattern, I needed to add a seam allowance around the pieces anyway but this way I had allowed plenty to play with. Once I had quilted the pieces I realized that my allowances was much more than I needed as the quilting did not shrink the fabric by much at all.

(Quilted and lined outer sleeves)

I forgot to change the neckline of the pattern when I cut it out of the fabric (as I had decided that my neckline, like my sleeve, would show different layers of fabric to give a multi-layered look). This was ok. I went ahead and made the alterations later on once made up.
After I had cut out all of the pattern pieces and had quilted them, I realised that one of the small triangular panels (no.5) had been cut with the pattern running in the wrong direction. Thankfully it was a small piece of red fabric, so the stitching was far more simpler than if it had been the orange fabric. I just cut another piece and quilted that one.
I stitched all the pieces together but originally stitched up one side seam differently to the other side thus making the armholes a different size. I un-stitched the smaller armhole side and re-stitched it to be the same size as the opposite side. The pattern on the back panel allowed me to line the sleeve hole up to the same place the correct armhole was.
When all the panels were stitched together and hung on the mannequin (without the sleeves) the whole appearance was puffy and bulky and the pieces did not lay flat.

(Looking 'puffy')

 I decided to stitch on the outside in gold embroidery thread to hold the seams open, This gave the outfit a much flatter appearance and definitely a preferable one.

(Seams stitched down, thus giving a much flatter appearance)

I next cut the sleeves out in 3 different fabrics. Unfortunately I did not have enough of the beige, under fabric, so had to cut one sleeve out in 2 different pieces of fabric and stitch them together. This did not matter as due to the other 2 outer pieces of the sleeve covering up the incorrect piece of fabric, so it could not been seen on the final sleeve.

(All the sleeve pieces cut out)

(One sleeve had to be cut in 2 different fabrics and stitched together as I did not have enough of the beige fabric. I was always having to swop the thread colours and bobbins in the sewing machine as I was working with many different fabric colours).

I stitched all the pieces of the sleeves separately and slotted them one inside the other then stitched them together and fixed them to the robe. The blue fabric I puffed up and gathered and stitched half way up the sleeve, I also put pieces of small cut out pieces of wadding inside, between the beige inner sleeve and the blue middle sleeve, so the blue fabric would remain puffed looking whilst worn and not fall flat. I wanted them to stand out and be noticeable.

(One sleeve finally attached to the gown).

I decided to line the outer pointy sleeve with a gold lining fabric as I wanted a nicer finish than the wadding. It is possible that the underneath could be seen and the wadding did not look appropriate. The gold lining gave it a much more regal finish. Again I stitched around the outside edge with gold embroidery thread to give a nice finish and a flatter look to the bulky fabrics.

I also zig zagged around all the rough edges of the fabric pieces before stitching them together so to help prevent them from fraying.

The whole development of this costume has been one that has evolved whilst continually working on it. My decisions and thoughts have grown, changed and evolved throughout the whole process. It has not been an outfit made with a set of instructions to follow, I have had to think, make decisions and adapt along the whole journey. I have designed and created the whole Gown from scratch and I am very pleased with all my efforts and have a sense of achievement that I am proud of. Having said this though not everything has gone to my liking and I feel I would need to look at my pattern and make alterations if I was to make this outfit again. I am not happy with how one side seems to hang lower than the other side and I just cannot seem to match up the front panel from top to bottom against the inside panel, top to bottom.

Whilst working on my outfit, which I am making for my Costume Construction Unit, I have also had to oversee the making of all my other designs for the Arabian Nights Play by the 1st year makers. I have had to attend their fittings, advice and generally be involved with the process of their construction also.

I cut out the under frill in sections, on a curve, in the beige fabric and stitched them together. I cut the blue frill in rectangular lengths across the width of the fabric, cutting several pieces and stitching them all together to make a length twice as long as the beige under frill. I then ran a gather stitch along the whole length so as to gather it and pinned the gathered panel onto the under frill. I stitched these 2 together.

(Cutting the under frill on a curve to follow the curved line of the top outer garment and adding the gathered blue frill).

I had found some white cotton, broderie anglaise trim and had Lois and Natasha dye it for me a purple/ burgundy colour. This trim was then attached to the under frill so that it showed below the gathered blue frill. I also added this trim to the sleeve below the blue middle sleeve and also around the neckline.

(Adding the trim to the sleeve and the under frill).

(The dress finally coming together and taking shape).

I added a red bead trim around the lower edge of the outer top garment and around the pointy outer sleeve. I machined and hand stitched this trim on. I also added these beads around the neckline.

I then had to work on the neckline by cutting some of the quilted fabric away. I did this as I had forgotten to adjust the pattern before I had cut it out in the final fabric and I wanted the neckline look as if you could see the other layers of the outfit.

(Cutting away some of the quilted fabric around the neckline).

(Attaching the blue frill, trim and beige under garment to the neckline. One side added, one side to go)

I decided to add a lining to the whole outfit to finish off the inside so as to hide the wadding and give the outfit a professional finish. I also decided to add the lining so I could attach the under frill to the lining and not to the top outer garment. The reason behind this was I wanted the outer top garment to look as if it was separate from the under garments and I did not want a stitch line around the outer garment.

(Cutting out the pattern in pale yellow lining fabric).

After stitching the lining together I attached the frill onto the lining and then attached the lining to the inside of the garment. I zig zagged around all the rough edges and stitched the seams down to give added strength to the seams. I did this as the lining had to take the weight of the frill, which was considerably heavy as there was a lot of fabric. I then started by hand stitching the back neckline to the outer garment then I stitched, by machine, around both of the arm sleeves. After doing this I secured the lining by machine stitching down the 2 back panel seams and also down 2 of the diagonal seams on the side. Again I did this to give support and strength to the lining fabric which is holding all of the weight of the frill.

I have had some difficulty in fixing the lining in places without ruching the outer garment but after putting the outfit on a mannequin and working slowly and taking care not to pucker the fabric I have managed to pin the lining in place.

The frill does look slightly lower on one side than the other, even though I carefully measured and pinned the frill onto the lining evenly. I feel this is due to the outer garment appears to hang lower on one side than the other, which I mentioned about earlier on. If this pattern was to be used again I would have to make adjustments to it I feel. Having said this I am sure the overall look of the outfit when being worn will be fine without having to be too concerned with having to make alterations at this stage.

I have also stated to glue, using super glue, small orange jewels to the red fabric to lift the flatness of the fabric and make it sparkle and give it a more special look. 

I also added gold sequins to around the neckline to lift the red beads around the neckline on the advice of my Tutor.

More to come on the finished outfit on another blog page soon :-).

 

Arabian Slippers for Arabian Nights 2015

Below are 6 pairs of Arabian Slippers made for Arabian Nights Play being performed in February 2015.
All have been made by me using machine embroidery and lurex machine embroidery thread. Non slip rubberized fabric has been used for the soles for safety reasons so the Actors do not slip on the stage. Each slipper has been stitched 3 times around the base for added strength. The slippers have been made with felt and has wadding between the outer and inner layers including the sole.

Initial Scaled Toile made for The Bride in Abu Hussan/Arabian Nights Tales 2014

I spoke about how I attempted to make a scaled Toile of the Bride's Outfit in my first post on this subject and how it did not work out and why.

Below are photos of  the attempt.

It was not very successful and I went on to make a full size basic Toile which I then adapted and went on to make the correct pattern from. (see other post)

Adapted Toile Sleeve/Extended Back Panel - Bride of Abu Hussan 2014

After a discussion with the head of the department I decided to make some adaptions to my Toile.

She suggested I should make the sleeve of the outfit more obvious that it is a multi-layered garment. I decided to take one of the sleeves off and cut it shorter at an angle. I then made a full length narrower sleeve to go inside the shorter sleeve and finally I made a mid length sleeve which I gathered and puffed out to go between the 2 sleeves. Thus giving the appearance of 3 different sleeves.

(above shows the extended bridal train made from the full length tapering back panel and the final sleeve with 3 distinct layers to it. Also shows the stages of adjusting the sleeve pattern).

She also suggested that the bottom gathered frill and underneath frill should go all the way round the bottom of the outfit and not stop at the edge of the back panel which tapered down to the hem line. She felt that the frill ending at the back panel did not give the outfit a continuity of complete separate layers underneath the top, first layer of the dress. I agreed with this and chose to continue the frills all the way round the bottom.

She suggested I should cut the back panel shorter and end it at the beginning of the frills.

Although I undid the back panel and added the frills all the way round, I decided to extend the tapering back panel and make it more of a feature. Allowing it to give the appearance of a bridal train at the back of the outfit. The tapering full length back panel was one of the features I liked about this pattern and I wasn't going to lose it at this stage.

I discussed it with the actor whether this would be practical for him whilst wearing it to act in and he loved the idea. We both agreed if it wasn't working for him whilst on the stage during a dress rehearsal I could shorten it to a more manageable length. 

Another suggestion made was to lower the front neckline and add another neckline underneath that then sits where the original neckline was to be, thus giving the appearance again of more than one layer.

She also suggested that fabrics should match up in places to give the appearance of complete dresses that are in layers. Baring this in mind I have decided that the material I use on the gathered frill will also feature on the gathered middle sleeve and the underneath neckline. The fabric used on the underneath frill will also feature in the full length narrower sleeve. The shorter top sleeve will have the same fabric as the main top coat.

Arabian Nights 2014 / Bride of Abu Hussan Toile

I did not have a pattern for the outfit I was to make. I had chosen an original design from the book Costume Patterns and Designs by Max Tilke published by A. Zwemmer Ltd, London. I am making the Bride's outfit for the story of Abu Hussan's enormous fart, part of the Arabian Nights tales. The dress is described as a dress of 7 layers. I have chosen this outfit for my period costume unit. 

I chose the design of a long coat, (headed in the book as 'The most important types of garments of the Middle East'), the reason I liked this design was the front panels of the coat were cut at a diagonal angle. I also liked that the rest of the coat was in lots of small diagonal sections wrapping around to the back. The back panel of the coat was a strip of fabric starting across the width of the shoulders and went the whole length of the coat, tapering narrower towards the bottom of the coat.

The whole design, for me, made it more interesting and a challenge to make. 

The Arabian Nights have their roots in the 7th Century. I discovered that the widths of fabric further back in history were not as wide as our fabric widths today due to the size of the loom. This explained why the coat design I had chosen was made of small widths of fabric and sewn into larger pattern pieces. 

 I did not have a pattern to follow only just a picture of an outfit. I had to start by just draping the calico fabric of the toile over a mannequin. I chose a male mannequin as the person to wear my outfit will be a guy. I feel that the height of the actor and his mannerisms will carry the outfit off well.  

I had never done this before but once I got the idea of what I was to do I got into the swing of it and enjoyed the process.

I started with one side of the outfit and drew and cut to shape and size. Then draped onto the other side of the mannequin, following the same procedure of drawing and cutting as I went.

Originally I had tried to make a scaled toile of the pattern in small sections of calico that had been cut in 20cm widths, I laid them out diagonally, drawing and cutting each of the sections of panels as I went. I then stitched these together using a zig zag stitch as I had not allowed for any seam allowances. I did get quite confused doing it this way and was not very successful.  It was decided to make a base under garment in calico on which I would sew sections of fabrics to give the appearance of the original design.

The pencil drawing above shows my simplified way of how I saw the original pattern and how it was to look . I drew it in sections so I could understand how each piece should fit together. 

When drawing my initial design of the Bride using this pattern design, it reminded me of Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dream-coat and I decided that I would use different fabrics for different sections.

The whole Bride's outfit is to be OTT and madcap. A theatrical, Dame quality outfit. I also need to adapt the original pattern to appear to look like a dress of 7 layers. I also researched traditional bride outfits of the Middle East / Arabia / India and have based some of my design on a traditional Yemen Jewish Wedding Outfit.

The Bride's outfit will be mostly red in colour, traditional of East Asia, with oranges and golds and other contrasting colours for the other layers.

Because of the nature of the story it is also to have a comedic quality to it.

After I had the 2 front sections cut out, I laid them out on top of a large piece of calico to draw the back pattern piece. 

The outfit will be made in soft furnishing fabrics so will be fairly heavy and cumbersome. Due to the fact the outfit needs to be able to be put on and taken off quickly, I have also designed it all to be one piece that will be done up probably with a few hook and eyes. As the outfit does not have to be worn for very long I am not overly concerned about the possible weight for the actor. It is meant as a show stopper piece and have immediate, full impact on the audience.

The fabrics should hang well and give the desired effect I am looking for.

I have chosen furnishing fabrics for their oppulence compared to printed cottons.The patterns available in furnishing fabrics are more appropriate for the look of the Arabian Nights. I also feel the heaviness is more appropriate for the era.

I then drew a pattern for the sleeves once I had the back and front of the costume laid out. The sleeves in the original picture were just a rectangular piece of fabric folded in half. I also cut out a section for each sleeve where the armpits would go. This was to join the sleeve and the main jacket together.

I stitched all the pieces together using a sewing machine and tried the toile on the actor. (See picture below showing the toile from the front and the back).

Looking absolutely adorable! :-)

I adjusted the sleeve length and the length of the gown to fit the actor.

Once I had the toile all stitched together I decided to set about drawing the different panels onto the toile and also where I was planning to add frills to give the effect of different layers of a dress. This would also let me know how deep I needed to make the frills.

I also wrote down on the panels the colours I am intending to use. I also laid out on the toile the fabric and trims I had gathered so far that I intend to use on the final outfit. (See picture above).

After doing this exercise I decided that I would like to have a go again of making the final piece in sections like the original pattern would of been. It all became a lot clearer now that I had come this far with the toile. I understood the pattern a lot more. It seemed so obvious and simple and I felt confident I could do this rather than just make a simple under garment and stitch the final fabrics in sections on top of the under garment.

After speaking to my tutor about what I wished to do, he agreed it would be a good idea.

I had to make decisions whilst cutting the calico for the new toile, which direction the grain should run in each piece. The back panel the grain runs straight up and down, The diagonal pieces the grain does run diagonally and the sleeves the grain runs up and over the sleeve and not length-ways.

I traced all the sections that I had drawn on my first, original, full size toile onto paper and labelled all the pieces with numbers as I went. I then cut them out. It was beginning to look like a jig saw puzzle but I felt confident as I now understood the basis of the outfit and how it went together.

Once the pieces were cut out, which was a lengthy process, I started to stitch all the pieces together on the sewing machine. Thus bringing the jig saw to life as I went.

the first frill I decided to just cut in a straight length and gather and attach to the main part of the coat. The second, under frill, I shaped to fit the dress. This meant that the fabric was cut curved. I stitched this also to the main garment. On the final piece there will also be a lace layer between these frills to give the appearance of another layer.

I decided to keep the back panel going all the way to the ground and ended the frill/layers at the edge of this panel. I had discussed this with my tutor first and he agreed it would be a shame to lose the length of the back panel.

I was quite pleased with the final outfit and felt proud of my achievement of creating this pattern from scratch. 

By making the pattern this way it allows the fabric of the garment to hang correctly, whereas when I made it as an undergarment in just 3 sections, with side seams. the outfit hung limply. With the fabric cut diagonally the fabric has more body and gives it a better shape. It is now more in keeping with the original design.

(Above the actor wearing the toile which has been made using different sections).

After speaking to the head of the department I have decided to make some further alterations to my toile.

I am going to take the frills all the way round rather than ending at the back panel.

I have decided to keep the length of the back panel but actually extend it to a point and have it hanging separately over the frills as if it is a train attached to the coat.

I have decided to alter the length of the sleeve and add other sections so it looks like 3 different sleeves of the outfits showing. 

It was explained to me that although my costume should be based on a period pattern, it is a theatrical piece and can deviate away from the original design slightly. Also that the final choices of coloured fabrics do not have to all blend and tone as it is to give the look of several different dresses and be obvious where one dress ends and the new one appears. It is ok if the colours clash.

I will also be finishing the bottom edge of the top layer of the jacket with a border of fabric to make it more obvious that the garment is meant to finish there with further layers beneath. The lace layer will not be put between the top edge of the first frill and the bottom edge of the top garment. It will now be placed at the bottom edge of the first frill, again to give a better appearance that it is indeed yet another layer.