Roses everywhere

Violet and Sky blue

Although tedious, I have once again started on the surface decoration for the white queen which means lots more hand made ribbon roses. Following the same process as before I have found that when you reach the stage of pulling the tail of the rose, if you use the other hand to twist the petals slightly it comes out more realistic and rounded. This saves having to use the glue gun to tuck in the sharper corners. So far I have used 57meters of ribbon for the roses and shall be using about the same again to finish the roses. Where each is hand made, it has become quite time consuming and I have found I'm having to make them during my spare moments such as on the bus and waiting for dinner to cook. However if I continue the way I am doing I should hopefully make enough to cover the areas needed in the design. I have also got some volunteers who have said they will help make some on the condition I do a workshop on how to make them first and the health and safety aspects. (Lighters are used so masks need to be worn to make sure that fumes are not inhaled, lighter safety etc)

The colours that are being used are:

• Dusty pink
• Baby blue
• Lilac
• Sky blue
• Violet
• Silver
• White
• Easter yellow
• Peach
• Turquoise
• Antique Gold
• Rose

Work Plan for Week 12

Week 12	Easter	Easter
Monday 25th March	Top decoration White Queen Teaching Workshop
Tuesday  26th March	Top decoration White Queen
Wednesday 27th March	Top decoration White Queen Teaching Workshop	Write personal blog Disability Mentoring
Thursday 28th March	Top decoration White Queen
Friday 29th March	Top decoration White Queen	Write personal blog
Saturday 30th/ Sunday 31st    March	Top decoration White Queen Teaching Workshop	Write personal blog

Sun Sea and Sewing

For most, the easter holidays is a time where you get to go to far of places and enjoy the sun sea and sights. For us costume ladies, we have our own version. Its called sun, sea and stitch. Yes over the past week a few of us have been working on Bournemouth beach on various parts of the costumes, I have also been preparing my workshops and making sure my paperwork is up to date for them.

I have been crocheting some swiss rolls and fondant fancies ready for the workshops as examples of how to make them. I am taking six workshops over the next two weeks which include several different patterns and age groups to plan around. I must admit I am enjoying the workshops and finding that through teaching I am gaining a lot more confidence in my own work. Below are some of the examples I have ready for the class:

Chocolate swiss roles

Strawberry rolls

Work Plan for Week 11

Week 11 Easter	Learning	Personal Development
Monday 18th March	White Queen Rose detailing March Hare twirl
Tuesday  19th March	White Queen Rose detailing March Hare twirl Teaching Workshop	Write personal blog
Wednesday 20th March	Personal day Teaching Workshop	Write personal blog
Thursday 21st March	Adjustments from fittings
Friday 22nd March	Adjustments from fittings Teaching Workshop	Write personal blog
Saturday 23rd / Sunday 24th   March	Fittings for all cast members Teaching Workshop

March Hare breeches and waistcoat

Back before fitting

Front before fitting

The March Hare fitting was specially for the breeches, hat and waistcoat. We firstly worked on the breeches which were made out of calico to begin with. Instantly when put on we could see the crutch was to low and would need to be heightened. The bottoms will need to be baggy as the actress will be wearing tights underneath as well and needs the appearance of being a tatty hare. The director has requested that the trousers are a size larger than the actual actress. To solve this I feel adding elastic to the top of the breeches and around the bottoms shall help keep the garment puffy along with fitting the actress.

Notes from breeches fitting:

• Raise crutch
• Shorten legs to pinned line (just under the knees)
• Heighten waist
• Add elastic to the waist and legs

Front after fitting

Back after fitting

Close up of leg

Front of waistcoat

Back of waistcoat

Fitting the waistcoat was quite simple as wool stretches. This garment fits well across the back and once the fringing has been added to the waistcoats edge, it shall be complete. Elizabeth has asked for it to be quite chunky, however the only stitch I am that is slightly chunky is a treble stitch. If I repeat this stitch so it becomes a quadruple treble stitch, it would be chunky enough to form a braided fringing which would also be decorative statement. The buttons which Elizabeth has picked out shall be attached the edge of the waistcoat through the braiding and poke through the holes, making a fastening. The waistcoat shall be needing a very hot press with the iron, as well as watching for stretch.  I have been asked to add pockets to the garment which shall contain various watch faces, so following the pattern on the waistcoat I shall knit various size squares which can be sewn onto the waistcoat.

The hat was the final garment which had to be double checked. Using the spare hat (it is always better to have spread of everything) we placed it onto the actresses head and got her to move her head around. We found it was the perfect fit and required no extra padding. However the hat shall require a chin strap for added security. 

White queen line drawing second version

From the fitting came the decision to change the dress into a two part bodice and skirt combination. below is the altered line drawing.

First Fitting for the White Queen

Today I had the first fitting for the White Queen Dress on my stand in fitting model Zoe, and it went quite well. There was only a few small things that needed to be changed and the overall appearance of the dress was approved by both my lecturer and Elizabeth. The skirt was the correct fullness, though it was decided we would add extra pleats to expand the amount of material in the skirt. The backs fastening shall be eyelet and lace up with  ivory ribbon.

Before Fitting Front

Before Fitting Back

Before Fitting Side

Notes from Fitting:

• Take in skirt and bodice 2cm each side at CB
• Shorten sleeve to marked pin lines (aprox 7cm)
•  Increase surface decoration
• Make hem line ankle length, 28cm off the ground
• Separate bodice and dress to make it a 2 part outfit

After Fitting

Amazing crazy roses

Over the past few days I have been making up my surface decoration samples ready for the fitting. The roses need to go around the neckline, waist and hem of the dress. From the design it seems they are in clusters and then trailing from various areas. I propose to make up some small clusters of roses on net which can then be sewn onto the dress at a later date along with other single roses. Each of the roses are now taking about 40 seconds to make and I am hoping that the more I make the more I shall speed up. I have started to add buttons and hot fix rhinestones to the roses as well in accordance to the running theme throughout the event which is buttons and a bit of glitz.

Elizabeth found some pretty white flower buttons which I shall be sewing into the organza roses. The small heat fix rhinestones shall also spread from the roses over the bodice and onto the the right hand sleeve which shall be made out of lace. I have so far made 2000 ribbon roses and am going to need at least double the amount.

Its all about the fur

The March Hares shirt shall be 'digitally printed' using a large printer at our university. The printer works on the basis of reaction and needs natural fabrics which are painted in a special coating. I have found that as my printed material shall become a shirt, cotton is the best material to go for. I found my material at:

http://www.whaleys-bradford.ltd.uk/fabrics/section-s-coated-fabrics-for-digital-printing?p=3.

What needs to be remembered is that the machine the fabric goes through needs to have a constant tension, so when ordering material always add an extra meter. The fabric's width cannot extend larger than 150cm, otherwise it shall not fit through the machine, however you can print as many meters as you wish through length ways. Most manufacturers print several hundred meters for large scale projects.

When preparing the image to be printed on the fabric, I have found that working on a smaller tile (10cm by 10cm) my image can be reproduced throughout the fabric and has become quicker to load. I took the fabric for the March Hare breeches and scanned in the fabric through a flat bed scanner. Once this was done i made up a 10cm by 10 cm tile and cropped the image until it fit. What I like is that the fur has a tufty appearance to it which fits in well with the March Hares characteristics. When saving the file I was advised using a TIFF file at 200-300 DPI was best as it allows larger files to be saved into a more compressed means.

Once the fabric has been printed it must be allowed to dry and then rolled in hessian. Once rolled it needs to be placed into a steam cupboard for a minimum of 40 mins to allow the dye to fix. Once the time is up, unroll the material and wash with luke warm water. DO NOT USE DETERGENT.

I have booked a slot for my material to be printed on 7th May. This shall allow me enough time to make the shirt and add the detailing. Below is my tile design ready for printing.