final push

The past few days have been the final push for the production The Canterbury Tales. After the dress parade I only had a few notes 

• Turn around belt so the lacing is at the front. (twist around the belt)
• Give the costume a more worn look. 
• The bloomers appear french, cover lace. (Katie to look at this issue)
• Bigger purse.
• Deal with the puckering issue around the hem of the tunic
• Add fur to the cuffs of the velvet sleeve.

Remaking the purse so it was larger seemed quite simple, however once laid out I stumbled over a few roadblocks. The remnants of the fabric were not enough to complete the bag to the required size. So to conquer this I took the size of the bag which to be originally made, deducted 1.5cm around the entire circle and sewed some of the remnants towards the top of the bag to help give the required shape. Once the pattern was cut out I double turned the hem and slip stitched it securely down. I found that double turning the fabric helps to stop the inevitable fraying.  I placed the eyelets 2-2.5 cm apart to keep the rustic hand made appeal to the bag.

The puckering issue became my worse nightmare which I took several hours to try and rectify. When I finally thought I found a solution I found the velvet puckered. Mandy, our lecture was kind enough to show me a way around the puckering which involved ironing the binding into small pleats and then securing using slip stitch. 

The fur worked out to be the trickiest part of the costume so far as there was no way of stopping the fraying of fur going everywhere. I found the best way to tackle this was using a lint brush to get rid of the excess fluff and then use a large tack running stitch around the cuffs. This is a material I must admit I'm not to keen on working with, this is due to the application process which though secure I'm not to pleased with as there is a very faint line running across the CF line where the edges meet. 

Thankfully as everything goes in threes one thing has happily gone well which is the second point of giving the costume a more worn look. This came naturally through the constant use of the garment during dress rehearsals and tech runs. Diana was very helpful in making sure the velvet on the garment was ruffled on stage and through the use of her movements the material lost its new fluffy look and started adapting to a more matt finish. 

Over all I feel the costume has finally come together. The components work well and Diana looks the complete portrayal of Lauren's designs. The real test shall be when it appears on stage. Saturday shall hopefully be a truly wonderful day where everything shall come together.