Tag: Skills

ROH Journal 21/2/25 – Last day

Today was my last day in the menswear department of the Royal Opera House costume production department. I wanted to use the day to answer any last burning questions about the work they do and part of that was asking for a tour of some of the other departments.

During my internship I’ve used my lunch breaks to explore the building. Throughout the FRO and BOH there are lots of costumes, hats and props from past production on display so it was a great insight into the variety of work done at the ROH. Ballet and Opera are very new to me, I’ve never seen an opera and only 2 ballet, but I’m slowly building a repertoire. I love how decorative the productions can be, previously I thought opera to be stuffy and old fashioned but the productions at the ROH shoes how dynamic it can be.

The Cinderella mouse costume and head in particular is so inspirational. I love his fancy little tailored historical jacket + silly mouse head 🙂

Costume designs for Into the Woods
Final costume for Into the Woods
Hat on display in Foyer, from Alices Adventures Underground 2020
Don Quixote designs and fabric swatches on display outside the womenswear workroom
Military style embellishments on display outside the menswear workroom
Tutu construction and embellishment samples on display outside the womenswear workroom
Cinderella Mouse costume on display in foyer

At lunch I also tried to peak into some of the other departments (often they were busy and I got too nervous about disturbing work/ the team on their break so I didn’t go into any). Lucy was very kind to introduce me to some of the people working in the Dye/print shop, Hats & Jewelry, Props and Revivals departments.

After seeing it’s behind the scenes in the props department, I’d really like to see Die Walküre but sadly cant afford the tickets. 🙁 Fingers crossed it will be available for streaming on Young RBO

Royal Opera House Waistcoat

Since there was not much going on in the menswear department, the tailors suggested I make a waistcoat using a basic pattern they have so I could see the techniques they would normally use when making something for a show.

The process was fairly familiar to what I’ve done before so I tried to get as many details from the tailors about how they like to do things and what’s best when making for ballet compared to bespoke or opera.

Front pieces after striking, cutting and thread marking
Under collar
Backs sewn together
Back pieces prepared – cb seam sewn and neckline reinforced with silesia
(Larger piece) canvas, (bean shape) horsehair chest canvasing, cut so stronger threads run horizontal across body to fill out the chest area
Hourse hair “bean shape” covered by the black demette layer. Fullness was put into the demette and hourse hair to push the chest top cloth out.
Demetter cut slightly bigger than horsehair to cover its shape edges. All are tacked to the canvas, with fullness put into horshair/demette to push out chest
Hourse hair and demette padstitched to the canvas
Permanent pad stitches, tacking removed
Canvas dart closed – 1 dart leg is cut, dart is closed, fusible holds in place then zig zag stitch over everything, trim fusible neatly and stitch down edges
Fuse 1” around pocket opening on front to reinforce fabric
Attach canvas and front pieces: there is no dart in fabric front so it must be done carefully following steps
Mark pocket position, check both pockets match
Welt pocket cut out and fused – lightweight everywhere, heavy on the welt shape. Cut 2”Above, 3/8” below and sides
Chalk welt outline, tack lower welt edge to front, making sure pattern matches when flipped
Matches perfectly 🙂
Place silesia pocket bag inbetween welt and front seam allowances
Final pattern matched pocket
Cut bridal 1 1/2” strip, tack to to breakline while stretching the bridal – this will ensure breakline does not stretch/ become baggy
Pad stitch bridal and lapel, rolling the fabric while stitching so lapel wants to lay flat against chest
Pad stitches must flash through to front fabric but be small enough to only be minimally visible
trim canvas to 1/8th inside thread marks along the CF, neckline, armhole. Apply fusible
Apply fusible tape to all trimmed edges the herring bone stitch the inside edge to permanently attach (outside edge will be stitched down)
Sew collar CB seam, this collar doesnt need iron shaping as the seam shape gives it a lot of shape
Pad stitch collar canvas to undercollar, trim canvas back to stitch line
Front Lining is attached around the armhle – sewn 1/8″ outside of the stitch line so will cab roll back and the lining is not visible
Sew shoulder seams, back stitch collar to neckline (position using the stand)

Savile Row tailoring vs Opera House tailoring

Greg mentioned a few times about friends who worked at Saville Row + costume tailors who apprenticed there

-“very small world of tailors”, “there’s not many of us, so we all know each other.”

-People seem willing to share their knowledge & methods

-Each tailor will have their own method of doing something, and there’s no one right way 

Each Savile Row shop has a house style and method of making. Generally tailors are allowed to innovate to achieve a client’s vision – don’t have to follow the set way. 

There is a big difference in methods of theatrical vs bespoke tailors caused by time allowances, budget, and styles they make 

First week with Kingsley

For my first week, I’ve just been at the studio for 3 days. I had a little tour and met the other people working in the space. Kelsie is Kingsley’s full-time assistant, then he has a few people working on a casual basis sewing; George, Sarah, and Katie. Another costume maker Katy Adeney also uses the studio, they each have half of the room and split the rent + business rates.

The studio is very chatty and everyone has known each other for a long time. George and Kelsie met at uni then Katie and a few others worked together for a season at Dorset Theatre. In contrast, the work is very professional and made to a specific standard.

As a freelancer working for costume supervisors, the costume quality are being judged by costume designers and supervisors, not just by audiences watching them in a show. That means all work produced needs to be of a certain standard of quality, inside and out.

For Kingsley to gain an understanding of my skill level and for me to learn the standard methods used at the studio, I repaired some old corduroy trousers and made a twill pair from scratch. I was at first worried about “failing the test” but quickly realised I’m confident enough in most of the processes and it was completely fine to ask for clarification on preferred methods for specific tasks.

Removing th waistband
All fixed!
pockets in
Patch pockets, very happy with the top stitching
Twill trousers sewn from scratch

Lyric Hammersmith – Week 4 Log

Monday Chats about networking & finance

  • Harry and I went through a few of his contacts in the costume industry who he has worked with before and who I could potentially contact about doing a placement. This was so helpful as i find researching and contacting people in the industry so nerve-wracking. It was also great to see the network of freelance costume makers across London as most of my online research into placements came up with more established theatres and costume hire companies than individual makers.
  • I also had a chat with Charlotte, head of finance, who gave me some advice about expense reports, invoices and when i need to register as self employed. This was great as i had no idea the threshold for registration was as low as £1000 in a tax year and generally has made me feel more confident about the financial possibility of charging for my work/ going forward in my career.
Finances discussion notes

I feel quite frustrated that only now am i learning about invoices and being self employed as i think this financial literacy should have been taught in secondary school or the first 2 years at Wimbledon. Many students i know had already started freelancing or selling their work by year 2 and to leave this essential information out of the course seems negligent to the reality of working in creative industries where freelancing is the norm.

Going into this placement, i thought most people working in the theatre industry were employed by the theatre or tour company but speaking with the plthe wardrobe team for Raisin in the Sun and Charlotte i realised most are on short term contracts and technically self employed. While it seems exhausting to constantly be hunting for the next gig, there are some advantages like being able to move around parts of the uk and Europe by finding jobs in different cities and the strong network of contacts you build from working on so many projects.

Week 4’s other tasks:

  • I patterned a smock and cloak for Ebonaza’s coronation outfit based on Andrews measurements.
  • Prepared the fur for the cloak by cutting 12”strips and sewed on the sparkly “ermine tails”
  • Constructed the smock and cloak ready for a fitting
  • Jodie and Eman had their measurements updated
  • Joined a production team meeting – each department shares how they are going and any questions or concerns are raised. Things like adjustments for relaxed performances and closed caption performances were discussed .
  • Fitted The Ebonaza coronation costume:

Thoughts on the Ebonaza Fitting:
– Overall it didnt go as well as hoped and the energy in the room was very low.
– For the most part Andrew the actor disliked the design. Rather than a coronation robe he felt the fabric choice was giving 60’s mini dress and made some insensitive comments about feeling like a man in a dress and comparisons to Greyson Perry.
– It was difficult to navigate this as we feltthis was an accurate representation of the design and neither of the designerswere present to give their viewpoints. Even though I understood some of the comments It was quite demoralising having such a bad reaction to my work, especially when the notes were not something i as an interpreter could respond to. In the end we completed the fitting and requested a meeting to disscuss with the designers next week.