FITTING :)

Fitting is necessary in costume design as not every actor has the same body shape and size, so we learned how to do a professional costume fitting.

I truly enjoyed doing this technique as it made me feel like an actual professional. It was, of course a bit uncomfortable as it was the first fitting I had ever done but I think I learned a lot and that is the most important thing to do. My model (I leave the link to her Tumblr here)

 was truly very helpful and patient as I am very new in all this so I appreciated the confidence within each other that we have develop through out this project (which has helped a lot). But anyway, after a long time of trying to fit the pattern pieced that I had previously pinned, I realised that I was doing it WRONG!!!!!!! I jumped the step of stitching my toile so I basically draped the corset onto my model. This turned out to be not as bad as I thought and created a better fitting. The down side was that some of my pattern pieces weren't symmetrical so I think I could have worked that out better with the stitch lines on. I think I have definitely learned my lesson and will pay attention better to the instructions. 

So the fitting experience overall was cool and it was easy to do, but it does take time to keep both sides as symmetrical as possible as well as it will look quite wrinkly as it doesn't have no boning at all (something I was getting pretty stressed about at the time).

  

DRAFTING CORSET

To start with this project, we got given a historical pattern from the book, Corsets: Historic Patterns and Techniques (available in Amazon or Google Books). This was the corset we had to recreate and adapt for our model. It is a Late 19th - Early 20th century corset. It is an over-bust type of corset, meaning that covers the breasts, and has a very beautifully, defined hourglass silhouette. The back is higher than the front and it is attached with cord or ribbon that pass through metallic eyelets, as it would be historically accurate to use them as well as the metallic split-busk fastening at the front and steel boning.

To draft the patterns we used dotted pattern drafting paper of an inch (distance in between dots) and simply followed the scale given at the bottom of our template and following the outline of the drawing.

TIP: To trace my patterns, I realised that it is easier to draw them across the paper in order and all in the same height as when its the time to measure and adapt, its is more comfortable.

Once I had my patterns drawn, I had to measure how much they were on the paper and how much I had to add in order to fit it to my model. I measured bust, hip, waist and height and the difference between the measurement of the historical corset and the measurement I needed, I just had to share the extra cm through the whole corset (to do that I cut my pattern pieces and then adapt them in pattern paper)

Once they were adapted, I cut them out and they were ready to do my toile!

TIP: REMEMBER not to add the seam allowance to your pattern pieces!

PATTERN DRAPING WORKSHOP

Through out the earlier weeks of the course, we learned how to drape a pattern into a mannequin. This technique is very useful as it adapts onto the desired shape very easily as well as creates a very well fitted toile. This techniques can be used directly to a model and, as I have already pointed out, gives a perfect fitting if its been well done.

So for this workshop we used:

• A mannequin (as it was only a workshop but again it can be done directly onto the model)
• Calico (I used medium weight calico but I would recommend to use one that has a similar weight to the fabric you are going to be using)
• Pins to hold the pattern pieces
• Some chalk (this is optional but can be used to mark where the pins are although you can just leave them on)
• Fabric scissors or sheers (to cut the excess fabric)

So we started by cutting rectangular shaped pieces of calico and basically each piece represents each of the panels that the garment is going to have. I only did half of my mannequin as this bodice would be symmetrical in both sides but if it wasn't, it would be necessary to create both sides as a visual guide for yourself.

I proceeded by pinning the pieces together by pulling towards the the imaginary stitch line where both of my patterns met, keeping always a correct shape and cutting excess fabric.

Once I had all my pattern pieces together, I decided to alter the neckline by creating a sweet-heart neckline. I created it by just drawing the shape in pencil directly and cut out the shape when I was happy with it. I also added a trap to make it look a bit nicer, and this was made by folding a long strip of fabric two times.

TIP: If you did cut too much fabric or the piece you added is too short, you can always attach an extra piece of fabric and it will not affect the final outcome :)

This is how it turned out to look! I really enjoyed doing this workshop as it gave me the opportunity to develop a new skill that I will definitely use for future projects. It is very easy to do and you have infinite possibilities going from something simpler to a more complicated garment.