Costume Alteration

Here is a small costume alteration for a character in "Smoke on the Mountain" presented by Bank Street Players.  The waist of this 1930's-era dress needed to be expanded about 5 inches.  This is tricky in a cotton dress with a form-fitting bodice like this.

The director suggested I put a zipper down the back and add fabric there, so I went with that.

The cut down the back of the dress and widening of the waist created a diamond-shaped opening (below left).  I knew the inserted fabric following this shape would emphasize the waistline.   So I inverted the diamond, making the lower part wide enough to cover the waist expansion, with the upper part emphasizing width in the upper back instead, with the triangles somewhat echoing the triangle design on the front of the dress (right).

Below you can see the original opening.  On the right, the dotted lines show the raw edges of the dress underneath the insert.

Below I have placed the insert on top of the back of the dress, then pinned and top-stitched it on.  Note the zipper was put in the insert before it was placed on the dress.  Easier that way!

The dress originally had a side zipper.  I removed the side zipper and closed the seam.

Here are the front and back of the costume, pressed and ready to go.   The insert, cut on the bias, gave just the amount of stretch needed to fit the actress and give her room to move while retaining the form-fitted look.

Valence Mock-Up

Recently a customer asked me to work with her on drapes for her new house.  She wants some pinch-pleated drapes, some with a valence only (the lower halves of these windows have shutters), and some pinch-pleated sheers to go behind existing drapes.  She sketched what she would like to see with the valences.  Here is a mock-up I made using muslin.  I taped it to a mounting board and hung it in my work room so I could make adjustments to the pattern if needed.

An interesting thing to note is the difference between the left and right swags.  See how the left swag is a little choppy, while the right swag drapes much smoother?  It is much more obvious in real life than this picture. The difference is caused by cutting on the bias vs. cutting with the fabric grain.  I made the right swag first, as it should be, cut on the bias.  When I got ready to cut the left swag, I did not have enough room to cut on the bias, so cut it with the grain.  I wanted to see the difference because some patterns for swags show cutting on the grain.  This sample is all the proof I need that cutting on the bias is essential, even though it often takes a little more fabric.

Another thing about this is interesting to me as a former math teacher.  I designed and laid out the pattern pieces using trigonometry!  Knowing what certain dimensions of the pieces had to be, I was able to determine the angles, offsets, and pattern cut-out placement using trig functions and the Pythagorean Theorem.  Math is actually useful in real life, and was created in the first place because of such needs.  I know -- blah blah blah!  :)

The final valences will be made of some yet-to-be-chosen drapery fabric, with a plain or decorative lining and cording.  For the cascades (on the sides) and jabot (in the center), I plan to use sausage bead weights in the cording to make them hang "heavy".  It should look great.   More to come on this project, I hope!

Logo applique project

A small project last week was to applique a logo onto two t-shirts.  The customer provided these materials and emailed his logo:

This project did not take long.  I worked with the logo in Photoshop until the printed version (using 2 pages) was the right size.

After applying some Heat-N-Bond to the applique fabric, I traced the cut-out logo (in reverse) and cut it out.

I bonded the logo to the t-shirt and stitched around the edges.

The customer also wanted a rectangle appliqued to the inside back to cover the manufacturer's printed logo and size information.  Another rectangle was placed on the bottom left front (no picture).  

These are the finished shirts.  Interesting logo, isn't it?  The customer designed it.  I do not know what he does for a living, but he could be a graphic artist.

Favorite Shrek pictures featuring Lord Farquaad costumes

Now that I have received the picture disc from the Shrek performance in April, I want to share some of my favorite pictures of Lord Farquaad.  This adult role was filled by a local teenager, whose portrayal of Farquaad was spot on.  He was very much in-character and funny, stealing the show whenever he was on stage!   I would not trade anything for the experience I had working with the actor, cast, and crew!

These pictures were taken at dress rehearsals.  They feature him in his Ruling and Wedding costumes, which I designed and made, as described in earlier blog posts.   As you can see when you look closely, throughout the performance the actor is on his knees, with his lower legs and feet camouflaged by Farquaad's cape  In the last picture, the cast are taking their bows, and the actor at last can stand up!.

Pinch Pleat Method Comparison

After a friend asked me about pinch pleat drapes, I decided to research the latest, greatest techniques for making them.  This type of drape is usually hung on a traverse rod where they are opened and closed by pulling on a cord at one end.  The pinch pleat provides an evenly-spaced fullness and has been popular for years.  Making pinch pleat drapes has always been considered a pain, for two reasons:  (1) The difficulty and math involved in determining the optimum spacing and fabric for the pleats so they fit the window or use a specific panel size, and (2) the steps involved in marking, pinching and sewing the pleats themselves.

On the market today are at least two products that are designed to make the forming of the pleats much easier.  One is a header tape with strings you pull to automatically form the pleats.  The other is a header tape with evenly-spaced narrow pockets you use with a special pleater hook. When you select the pockets to use, you determine the spacing of the pleats and amount of fabric in the pleats (to a degree).

Deciding to Make a Comparison

I decided to make samples comparing traditional pinch pleats with those using the pocket header tape.  I selected a fabric that I happened to have in enough quantity to make two approximately 30" wide, 12" long samples.  It is borderline heavy for pinch pleat drapes, and as you can see in my finished samples, the gathered fabric tends to flare out because the length is so short.  But for long drapes, this weight would be fine.

For lining, I again used a fabric I already had - blackout lining.  This lining is my favorite because it prevents the sun from shining through, fading the decor fabric and in some cases making the fabric look a different color.  This lining also completely blocks outside light, especially good for bedrooms.  Again, a disadvantage is the heavy weight of the lining, making it a little bulky for short pinch pleat drapes.  So keep that in mind looking at the finished drapes below!

Pocket Header Tape Method

The pocket header tape sample started with the hemming the lining and the decor fabric separately, then stitching the sides together so that the decor fabric wraps around the sides.  Since the pocket header tape has to be sewn top and bottom edges on top of the lining, I turned under the top edge and sewed the header tape on top.  The first picture below shows the panel from the outside, the next shows the inside of the panel and the pocket header.  (By the way, you can see a line of stitching down the right end of the panel - I didn't need to do that, and do not know why I did!)

The good news about the pocket header is no need for calculating pleat spacing and pleat fabric, the bad news, possibly, is that you have to work within those measurements.  The pockets are spaced 1.75" apart, so your spacing between pleats must be a multiple of 1.75".  The pleats also must use a multiple of 3*1.75", or 5.25".  And the pleater hook itself makes each pleat span about 1".  I chose to have three spaces between pleats and use one space for each of the three folds in the pleats.  So my 57" finished panel width resulted in 5 pleats, 4 spaces between, and two ends measuring a total of 4.75".  Creating the pleats is just a matter of inserting the four prongs of the pleater hook into pockets.   Here are pictures of the inside and outside using the pleater hook method:

In the picture above, you can see the right two pleats look "open".  This is what the pleater hook does by itself.  In the left pleat, I stitched across the bottom of the pleat, pinching it together.  I guess the look you want will determine whether the bottom of the pleats need to be stitched.

Traditional Pleating Method

The traditional pleating method requires marking the placement of the pleats on the fabric, then pinching them together and sewing.  This gives you great control, and allows you to design your pleats to fall exactly with the curtain rod width.  Many who do pinch pleat drapes by this method use some sort of pinch pleat calculator available on the Internet.   The pinch pleat calculators you can find out there start with your panel width.  Of course, I had to design my own! 

I wanted to specify my spacing requirements and fabric width available and have it tell me not only my perfect spacing but how many yards of fabric and lining to buy.   I wanted my traditional sample to use similar spacing and pleat size as my pocket pleat sample, so I keyed in the applicable numbers to my spreadsheet.  The yellow spaces are where I enter specifications, and the blue spaces are my calculated cut widths and gap/pleat measurements.  Note that in this method the pleat itself does not take up space, so the gap and pleat inches cannot be exactly the same as the pocket method.

Using the gap size of 6 inches and pleat size of 5 inches, I laid out my completed panel, with plain header tape sewn at the top (first picture), and marked my gaps and pleats with pins (second picture):

The next step is to match the pleat pins, fold and stitch.  I marked my stitch line with a chalk pencil before stitching:

After marking, I sewed a 4" line down the mark for each pleat. The next step is to pinch the pleat in and stitch across the bottom.  It is very quick and easy, actually.   Since the fabric and lining are so thick, I tacked the folds in the upper part of each pleat with a couple of machine stitches.  

Here is the result, showing the inside and outside views of the traditional pleat (top sample) and pocket pleat (lower sample):

Comparison

Personally, I like the traditional pleat result a little better.  And I like the control you have to make the pleat fit window sizes and rods exactly.  Isn't the pocket pleat method easier?  Hardly, in my opinion.  The marking of gaps and pleats and the little bit of sewing required for the traditional method does not take much time.  The time-consuming part of making these drapes is the preparation of the panel itself, which is basically the same for either one.  

Other considerations are:  Amount of sewing:  There are different ways of preparing the header part of the panel for the traditional method, either one of which requires less sewing than the pocket pleat method.   Ironing:  Someone pointed out pocket pleat drapes can be ironed as flat panels after washing, whereas the traditional pleats have to be ironed as pleated panels.  But the pocket pleat pleater hooks are harder to reinsert than traditional hooks, so same difference to me.  Expense:  The pocket pleat header tape is more expensive - $1.99 vs. $0.79 per yard for plain header tape, and the pleater hooks are more expensive.  But for a 36" finished drape, you are only talking about a $6.00 difference.  

To me it is six of one, half-a-dozen of the other and comes down to which look you prefer.    

Skyline bags design project

Getting my bags ready for 3^rd Friday Downtown in Decatur and my Etsy shop have consumed the last two weeks.  This post summarizes my “bag journey” so far.

There are many types of bags, colors, looks I could make (and probably will!).   But at this stage, I really want a consistent look and feel to my products.   At the same time, I want the products to be unique and stand out.   Something one-of-a-kind.    

I fell in love with a particular fabric that is a continuous city skyline pattern – a very urban look.  My idea was to cut out unique skyline shapes and appliqué them onto different background fabrics to create unique bags, pillows, and possibly other products with a city theme.   The bags, I thought, would be perfect for travel, and also would make the statement “I love the city!”

Here is my first bag, a mid-sized tote that I made to test out the skyline concept: 

Eventually, I want three types of bags in my collection – a mid-sized tote, a small cross-body bag, and a light backpack-style bag.  After sketching out several designs for the cross-body and light backpack, I realized those bags could be just different sizes of a single design.   This would give me the consistency I was looking for.   So I temporarily abandoned the tote and concentrated on these.  Here is an example of each:

     

What these have in common is a front that has a skyline appliquéd onto a contrasting fabric, a back that is made of the skyline fabric, two zippered, lined pockets on the back, and paracord straps threaded through grommets.  The bottom is “boxed” to give it depth, as is the upper pocket which fills the inside of the bag. 

A selling point addresses a pet peeve of mine related to backpacks:  Why would you want pockets, even zippered ones, on the outside of a backpack?  I did not feel comfortable in crowded spaces or traveling with the idea that someone standing behind me could access my bag.   Instead, my bags feature pockets on the inside, next to your body.  This is more secure and allows the outside of the backpack to have an uninterrupted design.    These pictures show the back of each type of bag:

                

I selected seven different background fabrics and made a cross-body bag and light backpack using each one.    Now that the bags have been made and are on my Etsy shop (DawnSewingandCrafts.etsy.com), I need to get back to the mid-sized tote.  How can I redesign the tote so that it looks like it belongs with the others?    

Lord Farquaad Wedding costume completion, dress rehearsal

It is done!  Lord Farquaad’s costumes are ready for the first performance, tonight.   He has to be dressed four times:  Ruling costume, Exercise costume, Ruling costume, Wedding costume.  Lots of steps to get everything pulled together for each one!  It takes two of us to pull it off for his two quick changes. 

Let’s hope we do not have another wardrobe malfunction as occurred last night in rehearsal:  During one of his maneuvers, the sweatpants on the little legs dropped down, unbeknownst to the actor.  “Awkward!”  Hilarious to the lurking audience of moms in the auditorium and to those of us in the wings!  Some safety pins have been added to the Exercise costume.

Some have asked how the hat was made.  I started with 4” thick green foam I had left over from another project.  I drew a 12” diameter circle on the top of the foam and cut out a cylinder using an electric knife.  On the underside, I drew an oval that roughly matches the shape of a head, and with the circumference of the hat band.  (Here is the math teacher in me coming out!)  I used the electric knife to taper the hat from the upper brim to the hat band oval.  Then I used the electric knife and some scissors to hack out a cavity for the head.   To smooth out lines and roughness in the sides of the hat, I covered it with batting.  The sewn hat cover, using stretch panne velvet on the sides, went on next.   After some elastic and pearl trim it is ready to go.    Here are a few visuals:

Another challenge we had was keeping the little boots facing straight ahead.  We had a band of elastic round the actor's leg (above the knee pad) and around the fake leg ankles.  But the shoes tended to turn in and/or out while he was on stage.  We solved the problem by cutting a long u-shaped wire out of a coat hanger and punching it through the front of the knee pad.  The long metal spikes then go through holes we punched in the heel of the boot and run along the inside sole of the boot.  The fake leg foot keeps the metal spikes in place inside the boot.  Problem solved!

I wish I had more to show you at this point, but I am the worst person to charge with taking pictures!  However, there are a couple:  Below are shots of Farquaad having his makeup applied and being fitted with a mic.  This is dress rehearsal, so a few touches like black socks instead of white are still being worked out.

This young man, tall but still in middle school, is already an impressive actor.  Backstage, he is professional, courteous, and enduring all hardships of makeup, wig, hot and, in ways, uncomfortable and restricting costume (he has to perform on his knees!) with the comment “It’s worth it to be on stage.”  Onstage, he takes on Lord Farquaad’s demanding personality and quirky mannerisms perfectly!  It has been a pleasure to work with him.  I’ll get his autograph now while I can!