Tag: things ive made

Pattern cutting for puppets

I was asked to help out Markus making the bodies for the mother and librarian puppets as he was having trouble figuring out how to pattern an hourglass form. I used my costume cutting knowlege to sketch a basic bodice bloack for the pattern, as if making a mannequin. I adjusted the shapes to match the design and proprtions compared to the father.

Mother pattern ver1; darts at the shoulder and waist to create the hourglass form.
Darts taped closed to create shape
Pattern ver 1 compared to fathers body – its too narrow as the father has side pannels meanwhile mother is based on a bodice black made of just a front and back
Pattern version 2 ; still needs to be a little wider and slightly less sloped shoulders
Final pattern for the mother.
Final puppet body
Body with costume – i draped the fabric over and sewed on the turtle neck collar

For the librarian character, they wanted a similar shape to the mother, but a little fuller and with a slight hunch back. I remebered on of the tailoring books i used at kingsleys had an extemsive section on pattern adjustments for different body types so referenced that to create the hunchback pattern.

Headteacher Puppet Process

Digital design reference
Full puppet design
Paper pattern created by sculpting the face in reusable oil based clay, cover in cling film, cover in tape, mark out pannels, cut and enlarge by 150% on a photocopier
Cut out pattern in plastazote
Glue pattern pieces together using contact adhesive
Face before being heat gun shaped – looks too round and undefined
The lips needed building up further, it took many attempts to get the expression right
Finished face – I used the heatgun to define the shape of the nose, bridge, forhead, cheekbones
Sketching ideas for the shoulders – it needed to support a graduation gown and a neck support
I used the hand drill to cut out a large hole to feed the coping saw blade through
Cutting out internal shape to make the structure lighter. Later I switched to a handheld jigsaw
Dremel to sand all cut edges smooth
I used disks of plastazote to build up the shoulders
My work on the puppet complete! She will have her face covered in pleather, painted and her hat attached

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)

Some things ive made Nov-Jan

All fixed!
Twill trousers sewn from scratch
Set of calico sleeve blocks in 8 different sizes – useful for fittings
Calico toile for Hamilton
Canvas for a Hamilton jacket
Inseting and basting my canvas into the jacket front
Hamilton Cuff, ive made 4 so far
Ruff collar
Trouser toile for Operation Mincemneat (ive made 4 now i think?)
shaping then inserting shoulder pads into a jacket toile
Herring bone stitching shoulder pads
Inserting sleeves into a jacket toile – I ususally struggle getting pitch right but did well here!
Trousers for Operation Mincemeat – I made 3 pairs total
Patch pockets for Operation Mincemeat
inserting a soft lining into a jacket then felling it by hand
CF hemline
Closeup of the hand felled lining – stitches must be invisible and lining must form a perfectly straight line
sleeve lining flat felled onto armole – ease must be distributed fairly evenly and line must be straight.

Shera Costume Process Album

Corset Pattern
Cutting the front corset pannels in no stretch coutil
COrset sewn together, ready for the first fitting. we used 2.5cm seam allowances ncase it needed to be let out.
dress fitting notes
fitting the sleeve
Corset with the seams trimmed and pressed post fitting
resin gemstone with the front emblem sketch
emblem cut out in the gold, ready to be fused then machine stitched down
finished corset with boning
EVA foam wings with fabric covers
Before and after: boot covers
final costume backstage photo