Skirts Make the Man

Breakfast at the worktable. Pretty good start to the second day of the New Year.

I bit the bullet and remade the tunic bodice since the original just wasn't working. Decided to do things a bit differently this time. It's funny actually - being some nine years into this whole costuming gig, I'm finding that stuff isn't good enough. What would have passed six years ago needs to be taken apart and completely redone today. While the finished product is a delight in itself, the process has become just as rewarding. That being said, there are still plenty of times where I want to pitch the sewing machine out the window.

Anyway!

The bodice became double-breasted with a grown-on collar. I was watching The Blue Max while sewing on the trim and realized that I had subconsciously made it a bit similar to the uniforms of First World War German pilots, which have always been wonderfully dashing (especially when worn by Karl Michael Vogler):

I did the trim with the help of Claire Schaffer's terrific Couture Sewing Techniques. It's a great reference if you want to level up your handwork.

 

Trim is always a barrel of laughs. I fell-stitched it from the outside, wrapped it over the raw edge, and bound it to the inside. A few clips here and there around the neck edge helped it curve better. It doesn't lay was flat as it could but it could be worse. There's a heavy canvas interlining in there to give it a bit of body too. I didn't want bulk seam allowances so I basted them down. It wasn't possible to do the same to the outer fabric but I still wanted nice clean seams there so I cut narrow strips of Stitch Witchery, inserted it under the seam allowances, and pressed it. The Stitch Witchery acts like glue so it worked out pretty well. Just make sure you use a pressing cloth otherwise it makes a hell of a mess on your iron.

Because I really want to push the 'uniform' aspect with this, the lining is double-toned so I can have a nice red turn-back if I want. The idea here is to look just as sexy when I'm half-dressed as when I've got the full works on.

 

It will close with a concealed placket eventually. I'm still debating whether it needs an extra strip of black and white trim just outside the red; this particular chap is the Lieutenant after all...

The skirts also underwent some tweaking. I added a layer of canvas to the second skirt to help with the stiffness problem (thanks for the input there, everyone!) and did up the appliques. 

 Blogger is flipping stuff on me again so you'll just have to look at it upside down. I am still an applique n00b so my edges aren't as smooth as they could be. If anyone's got tips or tricks, I'm all ears!

Lastly, I pulled the third skirt off the original bodice. The double-breast set-up of the new bodice presented some difficulties for attaching it because the front split of the skirts doesn't line up with the front opening of the bodice (which is off to the side). In the end, I decided to button it to the inside of the bodice and the reasons were two-fold: the second and first skirts are going to be strung on a belt so having the third skirt inside the bodice cuts down on the outside bulk. It also stops the tunic from working itself up and over the skirts if I sit down or bend over.

 

It doesn't look like a lot on paper but these few details have been lurking in the back of my brain since March so it's nice to have them out of the way. Next steps? Carry on with the skirts, finish the arm-holes, and get started on the armour pattern.

There have been a few developments on the side - cast a new nose for Marius, decided on this summer's main project, and some utter craziness planned for late summer. More details to follow. Or if you can't wait that long, there's always Facebook!

All We Own...

And so back to Oz we go. When I initially conceived the idea for the Guard costume back in March, this is pretty much how things went:

A whole lot of enthusiasm but not much sense. And the results were... less than satisfactory. There was a lot of blind fumbling with skirt sizes and wasted time/fabric* as well as ham-fisted armour design due to a poorly proportioned dress-form.

So it's time to step back and figure out the next steps. First off, let's get a bit of design going on here. I've never been keen on a costuming project unless it's related to a character who makes the work interesting. This was an issue from the start with the Guards because they're all the bloody same. So the sketches started and after a couple of months, I started coaxing out some individualism.

 

There's already a noticeable difference from the Guard design in the film. They've ended up with pointy ears (because I wanted an excuse to have pointy ears) plus looong braids which may/may not be symbols of rank. Lieutenant Illarion in the top left is the chap I'm basing my costume on. I've got him pegged as the guy who gives the broom to Dorothy in the film. I've cooked up this whole backstory which morphed into a rather convoluted Oz 'fanfic' (gross) that lurks in the bowels of my hard-drive. There is even a Mk. I version of this costume - something light I could wear until the final version is finished.

ANYWAY, with a bit of time to mull the characters over and with commissions finished, it's time to get this road on the show again. So where are we at? Walk with me. We'll do this together. Currently, this is what I've got (damn, now I've got to put it on... right, just a minute here):

So when we left this in *coughAprilcough*, the skirts weren't fluffing out the right way but some clever application of bustles solved the problem perfectly.

 

Note the bustle fabric choice. This is currently missing the third skirt, which I have to recut. I'm tempted to add another layer of interfacing to the second skirt for extra support because they do have an obvious rigidity to them. The interfacing will be tricky - while it irons on smoothly enough, it develops bubbles over time where the adhesive lets go and I want these looking as smooth as possible from the outside. If anyone has tips on how to iron fusible interfacing to best effect, I am all ears!

Also, the shoes were a total fluke. The chaps in the film are wearing 'blocked' shoes and I didn't have the faintest clue what I was going to do here until I was over at my room-mate's parents for dinner one night. There was Chinese opera playing on the TV and one of the characters was wearing boots that were nearly identical to the Guards' footwear. My room-mate's mum happens to be just such an opera singer and - lo and behold - she had a pair in the house! A couple of weeks later, a pair were procured for my monstrous feet and we were off to the races. I'm going to build a greave system around these to widen them out a bit. (And practice walking in them because snapped ankles tend to put a damper on things...)


I'm trying to decide if I want to rework the tunic top to make it more robust. The hooks and eyes feel a bit precarious and the collar doesn't fit as well as it should. I want this whole thing to be as functional as possible - as if it were a real uniform.

So the next steps? Get the skirts straightened out. Add the second interfacing panel to the second skirt, add the embellishment, add the lining, and then move on to the final outer skirt. The second and third skirts will be held up with belts while the first one underneath is attached to the tunic top.

Onwards ho!

*I'm never sure which is worse. Probably time since you can usually buy more fabric.