I handed in my last final project today, it's a light blue-grey silk boned bodice for show class. I had a lot of fun doing it, which sounds insane after making the 18th century stays.. more on that further down.
It's basically a bodice which is stiffened with boning, and I based my design on Norah Waugh's 1650-1660 bodice. I have her book about underwear and about women's wear, so I used both books to combine the stays and the outer bodice into one garment.
I built in about 2 inches of waist reduction, which isn't uncomfortable, since I'm not a stranger to tight-lacing.
It's so fun! The original due date was last Friday, but our prof was suuuuper nice and gave the whole class an extension until tomorrow. With the extra time, I was able to make sleeves, and achieve the look I was going for. Obviously, I could have gone for something more modern, or I could have invented something, but I really have a knack for historical stuff it seems. My inspiration came from the film Molière, which I believe to be a masterpiece. It's a wonderful story about Jean-Baptiste Poquelin dit Molière, who is a famous French playwright from the 17th century, and incorporates Molière himself into a number of the plays that he wrote. All the ladies in the film wear this wonderful off-the-shoulder look, and my favourite is Madame Jourdain's dark blue gown.
This week, I also passed-in my first tailored jacket ever. When I started it, I thought: Oh! I like men's wear. I think I've changed my mind, I like the precision of it, but I'm not positive I would want to have a career in it.
It's a wonderful teal colour, which is apparently easier to work with than black. For a first jacker, it seems like a good decision. I wonder though, if anyone would actually wear it in public. If I were a size 40 man, I probably would, alas, I'm a woman, and I'm definitely not fond of women's suit.
Before these two projects were due, I had two other final projects for two other sewing classes. (Have I done anything else than sewing this term? I'm trying to recall, and aside from stressing a lot, I don't think I have.)
Anyhow, I had to make a dress to represent Tokyo for my draping class - let me explain a bit about draping here, no I don't mean drapes as in curtain, and I don't mean drapey-looking ugly tops made of polyester knits. Draping is the art of pattern making by draping fabric on the stand, what is the stand? It's a mannequin. How do you make a dress for yourself with a size 8 mannequin? You pad the mannequin until it looks like you. Yep, I had to give my mannequin a more human shape by creating a tummy, a butt, and adding 5 inches to the original waist circumference. If there's a girl with an eating disorder in costume studies, don't take that class. Back to the project, Tokyo dress, yes!
Everyone in the class was assigned a different city, and had to come up with a design for it. I was thrilled when I opened my little envelope and found "Tokyo" written in it. The first thing that came to mind was the Shibuya crosswalk by night. I could easily picture the business of the intersection, the neon lights, the dark blue sky, the myriad of people everywhere. I went to my mannequin and played around with an old bedsheet and draped the bodice of the dress first, which is structured with a cotton-twill lining. The skirt is flow-y, and has a blue satin ruffle at the back. It also had pockets, because pockets are great! I have lightly beaded the right shoulder from the mid back to the waist point with oil-slick iridescent coloured beads, and the effect is subtle and quite nice, though I took this picture before applying the beads. This project was also finished two days before the due date because I was attending a reception after the opening night of Pericles, and I wanted to wear a nice little black dress.
The prize for most intensive end of term project goes to my 18th century stays. I got stuck in a bad situation when my fabric took three weeks to arrive, instead of the two weeks that I had planned on. It left me with exactly one week to make a pair of stays. Seven days, and during those seven days was Tech weekend, so I had to be at the theatre, and I also made that LBD. Damn it was a busy time.
These are a pair of stays with stomacher from 1730-40 in a gorgeous peachy silk taffeta. The pattern is taken directly from Norah Waugh's book, and altered to fit our bodies.... and a few other changes too, introduced by the Lynn Sorge-English method. The shift (or chemise) that I'm wearing underneath is also for this class, and is the one I'm wearing under the blue silk bodice. The stays are "half-boned" which means that we put in only every other bone from a fully boned pattern. Sounds right, but when you actually do the math, it's closer to 3/4 boned, and thus it feels like armor. We're not using whalebone (for obvious reasons) or reeds, or other natural matierial, but rather 1/4" wide steel bones... It took about 14 hours just to get all of the bones cut and prepped to be inserted in the channels. I have only one inch of waist reduction built into these, I thought I had more, but somewhere during the construction process it disappeared. Oh well, no biggy, I still get the right shape through the torso, and that's what matters.
I'm happy that I finished everything, and on time too! Actually, I was done everything early except for the stays, which I finished an hour before the class in which they were due.
I know it's really vacation time when I start building a doll. A friend of mine saw my Molly pincushion, and asked me if I could make a doll of myself for her. I started it today, and it's already almost done. It's also dressed like I am today!
I know, this is an awful mirror selfie... BUT, it's the only one that really shows the clothes I'm wearing and the doll's too. I made the purple skirt a few years ago, and apparently still had some of the fabric left over in a bin, so I made a skirt for the doll with it. I'll paint either a heart or a ribcage on her torso, and I'll have a creepy stitched shut mouth across her face. I also still need to add more yarn for the hair, but other than that, she looks a lot like me. I'll be done tomorrow.
I'm going home to New Brunswick on Friday, I'm really looking forward to it. My plan for the break: research, PAD application and hanging out with my family, 'cause you know, family is important.
On that note, Happy Holidays!!
