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.
