This project has been made possible by donors to the College of Fine Arts Fund for Excellence, the University of Arizona's School of Theatre Film & Television, and the individuals who have generously donated to the Medici Scholarship Foundation (specifically Ms. Robyn Kessler and Robyn and Jeff Timan) . Thank you for all your support!
These posts have become much more spaced out now that this project is coming along. The days feel so short, but I did manage to get an extension on the project. I didn't realize that patterning these pieces would take so much time and energy, and that each mock-up would present new problems that I had not expected. But that is the purpose of this project!
So I think this is where I left off in the last blog post. I have completed the base of this piece! The boning and busk are all in place, and it is fully biased together! No raw edges on this baby! You can see here the boning being inserted and the busk being finished.
Working with bias made from this organza is an absolute nightmare. It doesn't exactly press well, and by that I mean when you press it, it shrinks in places and looks like you've burned it if you hold the heat on it for too long. But I got it on there by some miracle!
I've also been able to begin on the tutu. I have decided to french seam all of the seams [yay...] so the raw edges don't present a problem when I insert the boning. Here is what it looks like so far with no structural materials (and finished bodice base!).
Funky!
I've noticed that using the french seam as a casing for the boning is an absolute no-go. I cut each like I would a circle skirt, but when I insert the boning, it bows in a way that is not pretty at all. So I decided to put some sort of casing into the edge of the skirt at each of the seams. It was definitely a better option, but the casing is really ugly, which presents a different problem entirely. This is technically an 'art' project, after all, and we can't have ugly!
Below you can see what I mean...
So, alas, it must stay like this until I can consult with my adviser on how to fix it. I also realized that I have to cut SO MANY MORE half-circle skirts. See my incredible sketch:
At this point I had only cut three in order to make sure the construction method I was using would be suitable for the final project.
I also was able to play with the globes that sit on the top of the bodice as well, and came up with a great solution!
These bubble shapes will be sanded down and fully covered with the nude fabric. They will then be sewn on, able to keep their circular shape, and still look really nice! I am happy with this portion.
Anywho, after the tutu glitch I decided to move on to constructing the male pieces since I already had much of that patterned out. I constructed the under-pieces of the pants portion, and patterned the rest of it last week. Here you can see the beginning of the construction for the bloomer-esque undergarment.
I just want all you costumers out there to appreciate the fact that this was seamed using flat-felled seams. All of them. I used these specific seams to encase the 1/4" rigilene running down each seam.
Here is where I left off on Thursday of last week. It needs a waistband and needs to be finished around the leg openings, but I did a pretty good job on it if I do say so myself. I made the decision to use muslin for the under-portions of this piece. The mock-up I made really obscured the bloomers and the globes encircling the knees, and the purpose of this project is to highlight the structural pieces, not make them more confusing. I think it still fits with the theme and will be much more appealing to look at.
I also made the globes on the knees as well, which you can see in a previous picture. I will have to remove one piece of the boning from each so they can sit side-by-side underneath the pants. I was also able to pattern, mock-up, and construct most of the balloon top the male is wearing as well last week. Here is the mock-up for the balloon top.
You can see it's a lot bigger than intended, and the shape was not quite right. I patterned this three times before it looked correct. Here is where we left off today:
The balloon top is much better fitting and the correct shape (YAY) and I can now begin on figuring out how to encase the structural materials that I need to use on it. The bloomers and globes on the male's kneecaps look pretty cool.... I am quite excited to see the finished product.
Thanks for reading!