I can't believe it. I've actually made a gown.

Okay, so it's not done yet. It's just the bodice and skirt. And I had a stomacher (stolen from another bodice) that I thought would fit but it doesn't after all. And the sleeves aren't even cut out. But even though it's not entirely done, I'm ridiculously proud of myself. I made a gown!

From The Green Gown

The gown is green 100% cotton brocade with a nifty floral wreathy pattern in it. I lucked out and managed to get it for 75% off since it was "discontinued." The pattern is the Simplicity "Elizabeth Swann" pattern (4092) with some slight modifications. I changed the back zipper *shudder* into a seam, and it now opens in the front and goes on like a jacket. I don't have the stomacher done yet, which is why I'm holding it in place with my hands.

I also changed the skirt. It was designed to be four panels, but with the seam allowances I discovered that required nearly a whole extra metre of fabric. Removing the seam allowances and putting the side panels together into one so that there's just a single seam down the back meant I saved a LOT of fabric. Enough that I've been able to make mistakes cutting out the sleeves and one of the bodice pieces with out having to run out to Fabricland for extra cloth. Furthermore, instead of pleating the front and gathering the back, like it says in the pattern instructions, I just pleated it all the way around. I think it gives it more poofiness, not to mention being easier on the sewing machine.

Shockingly I didn't need any alterations to the back or sides to get it to fit right. The stomacher, however, needs some changing. According to the pattern, the bodice is supposed to have 3.5 inches of ease. I say "If you can breath, it's not tight enough." (yes, I know that you should be able to breath while wearing a corset. Don't interupt my rhetoric). The bodice is boned with heavy duty duct ties, and I'm all skin and bones anyway. Why SHOULDN'T I wear it like a corset? So I just have to make the stomacher narrower, and it will all work out fine.

But this is all besides the point. Holy cow, I've made a GOWN!

I'm in the pirate festival! I'm in the Pirate Festival! YAY!

I'm not playing a pirate, but that's okay. I'm instead playing the governor's daughter who is in love with a pirate. Glee!

Best of all, I get a pretty dress. Hee!

I'm using the blue satin I bought to go along with a bodice I'd bought off of ebay that it turns out doesn't fit me (boo). However, I've got 7 yards of fabric, and I only need 4.5, so this should be good.

I'm going to use the Simplicity 4092 pattern, even though I like the butterick 3096 better. Why? Because I got the pattern from Wal-Mart, and they only sell Simplicity and McCalls.

Things I HAVE to do to the pattern.

*take it in. The silly thing has THREE AND A HALF inches of ease. It's supposed to be form fitting, with half an inch of ease at most.
*Alter the closure. Zipper up the back? I don't think so. I'm going to instead have the back sewn up and make one side of the stomacher detachable.
*I'm I'm using the sleeves from view a and the contrasting stomacher and trim from view b.

I'm going to trace the pattern now. Buh bye!

Do NOT make the front slit on shirts from the Tudor Tailor nearly so deep as they have them in the book. Maybe 6 inches, not 11. That opens somewhere around the solar plexus.

In other news, the costumes are finished. They're pretty, but I don't have photos. They look kind of odd just sitting there, and I can't really model them since they're so huge on me.

Making clothes for other people is HARD!

Last night I went to the Complete Works rehearsal. I got measurements. Life was good.

But apparently I have the measuring skills of a duck you know. My measurements that I wrote down indicate that Jared has some sort of weird concave chest, and we're not even going to talk about Matt's measurements. Apparently he's some sort of monstrosity. And I'm also a moron and forgot to get crotch measurements or Matt's neck measurement. What's wrong with my brain?

So I actually get out my copy of The Tudor Tailor and I- SHOCKING!- follow the instructions. The measurements I'm sure of on Jared actually match fairly closely to the measurements in the book, which is just cool.

However, the patterns in the book sort of have to be resized. A lot. I really didn't feel like counting individual squares and trying to draw freehand curves, so I though I could just scan and enlarge. But nooooo, my scanner decided to be a piece of crap and not work. So I took a photo of the page and opened that up in The GIMP. I used the path tool to outline the pattern pieces I was going to use (front, back, facing, collar. Screw you, sleeves and wings and skirting! I might do that, but later), then resized them and used the "stroke path" option.

I used the GIMP to stroke the path. That just sounds dirty.

For some reason, The GIMP didn't want to print, so I printed the whole thing off on 12 sheets of paper. Then I got to have fun taping the paper into the proper layout. Finnally- FINALLY- I got to cut out the pattern pieces. The actual assembly went really fast. Most of the labour so far has been in getting the pattern itself.

I've got all this weekend for sewing. I'm going to get Steph's stomacher drafted, and I'll also do Jared's shirt. I've got to shrink the shirt fabric, though.

Hmmmmm.. I was just looking at the fabric requirements in The Tudor Tailor for a shirt, and it only says 3.5 metres. I have 5, and I'm NOT makeing the silly thing knee length. If I'm very very lucky and very very awesome, I just might be able to get a shirt for Matt out of the same fabric. But that requires a LOT of lucky.

I think what I might do is use the "smock" shoulder width, the fitted sleeve and only go to hip length instead of knee length. I've done smocks before, with even trickier fabric. This should be a breeze.

I've just jinxed myself horribly, haven't I?

I got all the fabric I need. There's some stuff I didn't photograph, because it's either boring (the blue that will be used for Laertes' robe (it's just a navy blue bedsheet)) or I'm sick to death of it (the purple velvet! Argh!)

However, everything except for a few more yards of the red stretch velvet has been bought. My original estimation was that a single costume might go as high as $50.

Hoo BOY was I wrong! All the fabric I will need, plus notions, and minus the stretch velvet... (drum roll please) $66.54. That's for NINE costumes! I'm amazing.

Ummmm... not much interesting to say about this one. This is white fabric, for a white shirt. Yes, it's kind of heavy, but for most of the show this is the actor's only shirt. Though it might make certain audience members happy, I don't want to put the actor in a see through outfit.

Besides, I sort of want to steal this shirt afterwards. I don't have a good piratey shirt.

This fabric I love love love. It's another one from my stash, but it's a fairly popular fabric so I can get more. Which I'll need to since this will be PERFECT for Claudius' robe for Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Lucky me, there's amazing sales going on at Fabricland right now, so I can get more.

But look at it. It's gorgeous. I'll almost be sad to see it go, it's just so pretty. But I'm not going to make anything out of it for myself, so someone else should get joy from it. Specifically, the nice Complete Works of William Shakespeare people.

Do you know how stupidly HARD it is to find heavy, plain black fabric? Nearly impossible! I don't understand why, everyone LOVES black!

So we have a slightly textured black fabric for Jared's breeches. The texture won't really show up to the audience, they're just too far away.

And holy COW was it on sale!

Hamlet's the prince, right? So he can't wear just plain grey! That will not do!

Also, uninterupted grey would look quite dull. We need contrast!

Therefore, ribbon! The ribbon will be in a chevron pattern down the front of the doublet, like we see here.

That will be done last. It's more important to get everyone dressed than to get the trim.

The trim, however, is kind of boring- it's just plain ribbon: a thick black ribbon with a thin gold layed over top. Pretty, but not all that cool.

As for the actual grey fabric... wow. I LOVE this stuff! It is, as you can see, grey. But it's a kind of shiny grey with a very faint gold warp. In other words, you can barely make out a gold diamond pattern. It's just enough to make it look very very fancy.

You know what makes it even better? It's discontinued, and there's a rediculously fantastic sale at Fabricland right now. It would normally go for about $17 a meter. Due to me being awesome, it's only $5/meter.

I am VERY tempted to go back to fabric land and get enough to make myself a gown.

I started getting fabric for Complete Works of William Shakespeare this weekend. We begin with pawing through the stash.

This is red knit lycra I used for making a superhero costume for my OAC art class. I bought a bit too much, and it's been sitting on a shelf ever since.

Now, it comes to life again as the tabards for Bernardo and Horatio in Complete Works. I have just enough to make the two tabards. Since we're going for low-to-no cost, and I want to get rid of it (because I have good taste, I tend not to wear lycra) it will be used in this show.

So, for all intents and purposes, Cathy's white shirt has been finished for ages. And it was only supposed to be a mock up, anyway.

So tonight I got to work on the blue shirt, which is the "real deal." I'm still a bit antsy about the sleeves, because they're deviating from the original pattern quite a bit. The pattern calls for full length, but I've made them elbow length. That means they need to have different cuffs than a shirt with full length sleeves, and I have no pattern for such a thing. But I think I've got it figured out, and I have enough fabric to do them again if I mess up.

I have all the pieces cut out and I just have to iron on the interfacing and I can start sewing. But then I have to get buttons. Though I have learned how to put on buttons with the sewing machine, they're still a pain.

I appologize to the universe for the colours on this one. Purple and red SOUNDED like a good idea in my brain. Why didn't it work on paper?

Anyway, this is Laertes. According to the director, "playing him very much like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast... a brighter coloured piece to add (like purple) would be good."

Purple? Well, purple I have. Purple velvet, specifically, yards and YARDS of the stuff, left over from my pirate coat. So we get a purple velvet doublet and knee breeches made from the Dawn Pages patterns (see the Hamlet entry for links). I don't know what colour to do the breehes in, though. I honestly thought red would work. Pencil crayons have proven me horribly horribly wrong. Blue could be good, but Ophelia/Gertrude's skirt is blue. I might just go with black, since these also have to work for Horatio and Polonius.

The doublet's going to be really simple, since it's only worn for a short time. No epaulets, no skirting, no trim. Like Hamlet's doublet, there will be glued on buttons if there's time, and it will be fastend with velcro or snaps or some such thing. Speed speed speed.

Also like Hamlet, there will be knee high stockings rather than tights. It gives the right look.

Unlike Hamlet, Jared (the actor wearing this outfit) gets a real shirt, because it will be visible as his other two characters. But it's only going to be long enough to tuck in, rather than long enough to sit on.

I could have some fun with Hamlet, since he doesn't have to do any costume changes.

However, I'm not going to, because the name of the game is speed and cost.

If I was going to give historical names to things, I'd call the pants "venetians," but I'm making some changes. I'm drafting these from the drawstring breeches pattern on the Dawn Pages site, and- time permitting- finishing the cuffs like in the fitted breeches instructions. If time is not so permitting, then they just get elastics at the knee as well.

The doublet will actually be a doublet. Shocking. But it won't fasten with buttons or lacing, because they take FOREVER. Instead, we'll have snaps or velcro and hot glued buttons. Classy. The epaulets and skirting are yet another "if there's time" thing.

For most of these costumes, they will be built in stages. Once all the costumes get through stage one, then they go to stage two. They all have to get through stage three before stage four can be reached, and so forth. I don't want to end up spending all day putting on trim on one costume and only getting to work on cutting out another costume the next day.

Instead of doing something stupid like actually having the boys wear tights- they'd kill me- I'm stealing a page out of Chris #1's book: "knee high school girl socks." They look right, but don't... er, bind quite so much. Since they're knee high, they're covered by the breeches. Since they're covered by the breeches, no one needs to know how high they actually go.

As for the shirt, HOPEFULLY my short white one will fit. Since only the sleeves are seen, it might work. If not, I'll just sew appropriate looking sleeves onto a white t-shirt. What the audience doesn't see won't hurt them.

This is the Ghost costume. The Ghost is Hamlet's dead father, hence the crown. The Ghost is only on stage for about a minute, hence the simplicity of the costume. The Ghost is a ghost, hence the sheet. There are other pieces that are more important. Unless the director decides she wants something drastically different, this is what she's getting. The end!

Oh the nostalgia. The main part of this costume is from the first renaissance costume I ever made, my purple gown. It was not only the first piece of garb I ever made, it was the first piece of clothing I ever made. In school we only made things like pillows and bags. Things that didn't require curves or more than a couple of pieces.

Maybe that's why I like rectangular construction so much.

Anyway, this is Gertrude. The purple gown as it is currently won't fit Steph. However, I learned a nifty trick when I was in Henry V. I had to wear an Elizabethan gown that was made for someone much larger than me. In order to make it fit, they just removed the stomacher and moved it over, making less of a gap between the front edges of the gown.

So why can't I do the opposite? I add on a stomacher, using it sort of as a modesty panel, so that I can spread out the front edges of the gown. Sew it down on one side and snaps and hooks on the other, and you can get into and out of it in no time flat.

The gown is worn over the Ophelia costume- blue skirt and white shirt. This makes changing even faster. Yay!

Claudius is Stephanie's most complex costume. Makes sense, since it's the King. However, since I'm a clever dickens and I have learned the magic skills known as "rectangular construction," it's still not that complex.

The original description was vague. "some kind of cloak or coat that can go over the baby doll
(maybe?) and that somehow looks masculine." By "baby doll" she meant the Ophelia costume. That I can do. But it remains NOT a baby doll in any way, shape or form. But this gives me plenty of room to be creative.

I've been watching too much Homestar Runner, so when I think "king" I think "King of Town." So we get the red robe with the ermine trim. The colour combination is right- that's what Elizabeth wore for her corronation- but the cut is nothing like was worn in the Elizabethan era, because this has to serve a different purpose. As Mrs. Iacoviello, my high school art teacher was so fond of saying, "form follows function." For most of this stuff, the function is to look Elizabethan. The function of this is to cover up other costume pieces.

It's basically cut like a kimono- a big rectangle in the back, two smaller rectangles in the front, rectangles for the sleeves (I might put in gussets). Seamed at the shoulders and sides. The front opening will be trimmed with white- fun fur if I can get it cheap, but just felt if I can't. The same fabric will be used for the shoulder yoke. There will also be shoulder pads, trying to beef it up and make it look more masculine. If there's fasteners, it will just be snaps, because like all the costumes for this play it has to go on and off in record time.

The crown is just going to be a cheap dollar store type thing, probably reused from the "histories" section in the first act, if they're using one then. Which they should.

The Bernardo costume! According to the director, "Steph isn't on stage for too long as Bernardo, and while she is, she's pretty miserable that she's being forced to do the play... so she's not really even playing the character. Thus, i'm thinking we'll pass up on the costume altogether, or she can come in with one of her other pieces half on."

Skip a costume? NEVAR!!!!!!

However, it's still only worn for maybe thirty seconds, so I'm not putting a lot of work into it. It has to be thrown on and taken off in record time. Therefore no fasteners, no fitting, nothing.

Underneath this tabard (which actually has the Danish Coat of Arms on it. Hee!) The actress will still be wearing her "base" costume, which she wears for the rest of the show. All of Steph's pieces get thrown on over top of that

This is the final piece I'm making. If I run out of time/money, I'll skip the white cross and it will just be red. The goal is to have it as the simplest costume EVER. Also, the Horatio costume is pretty much the same- the tabard over Jared's base costume for Hamlet, which is a white shirt and knee breeches in an as-yet undetermined colour

Here's my original design for Ophelia. The request was for, and I quote, "baby doll (maybe white) (think 10 things i hate about you)the green underbust gown from 10 Things I Hate About You thatjust ties up under the chest.... it could have long or short sleeves"

Okay. Sounds good.

The only problem is that it also has to morph into Gertrude and Claudius, all while spending as little money as possible.

What RSC did was have big robes that could cover the other costumes. The Claudius costume was HUGE! There must have been nine yards in the Claudius costume alone, plus about four in both Gertrude and Ophelia. That gets pricy, and I don't have that kind of money, so I'm working from my stash and costume closet.

The white chemise is my full lenght linen chemise I first used at the pirate festival. The body on it is huge on me, so hopefully it will fit Steph, the actress who will be wearing it. I'm kind of worried about the sleeves, though. They're kind of tight on me, but there's lots of stretch.. If they don't work, she can wear my short chemise.

The blue skirt comes from my very first rennaisance costume ever. It's some horrid artificial crap that you couldn't pay me to wear to a renfaire now, but it will be great for the show. Again- it was huge to start with, so I can reposition the waist fasteners and it will hopefully fit Steph.

If the director still wants the underbust corsetted thing, I'll make an actual underbust corset, seperate from the skirt. I could even make an Elizabethan "paire of bodys" type bodice, which can then be used as a corset so the Gertrude dress will fit better and the Claudius costume won't look as... feminine.

I began work on a white blouse for my sister this week. It's running double duty- one, it's a white blouse, which I am making in exchange for a pirate hat which she knitted and felted for me, and two, it's a muslin for the blue blouse which I am making for her, in exchange for some socks she made me. The white blouse is where I get to experiment a bit, because I bought this fabric in high school for rediculously cheap, and there's enough for about three more shirts should I make a mistake, and it was only about $5/metre anyway. The blue fabric, on the other hand, was about $10/metre, but it's exactly what she wanted.

I'm using the blouse pattern from Sew U, a book Cathy got me for Christmas. It came with three patterns in four sizes. I hate hate hate tissue paper patterns. The small pieces ball up and float away, and the big pieces rip, tear and wrinkle. And once you cut out one size, all the other sizes are ruined.

So, I trace the patterns onto a material called "Trace-A-Pattern" It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's stronger. Since it's completely see through, you can lay it over a tissue paper pattern and trace all the cutting lines and so forth with just a pen or pencil. Then that gets cut out, and the tissue paper pattern stays intact. You can then keep the traced pattern should you want to make the same garment again.

On 60" wide fabric, this blouse uses 50" of fabric. It's a very plain blouse- no pockets or yokes or anything like that. But to spice it up (and use some of the fabric that would just be scrap otherwise) I've decided to cover all the buttons. Nifty yay!

I would have pictures, but the outlines don't really show up that well so there's no point.

I'm an artsy person by nature. I always have been. I love working on various projects, doing different things. I'd like to say that I'm expressing myself, but deep down I'm pretty sure I just like showing off the things in my head in a way that other people can appreciate them.

But I'm not an organized person. I haven't ever been. But I'm going to try.

There will be various tags for this journal, all cross referenced and so forth.

• SEWING: For sewing projects. Not just my own projects, but inspiration for new projects as well.


• WRITING: Anything that has to do with writing, from abstract thoughts on the writing process to snippets of written work


• THEATRE: My thoughts on theatre, whether I've been involved in it or am just a spectator.


• WIP: Work in Progress. When I'm still in the middle of something, but it's coming along SO WELL! Or so terribly. Or whatever.


• NEWS: Imporant things people should know


• VARIOUS PROJECT NAMES: Just to keep stuff together.