Some portfolio-related-ness

i spent the entire of yesterday in the library looking for inspiration for final major project, and found a few historical costume related competitions, so expect a LOT of new work over the next month-ish there will be LOTS! and i found janet arnold's patterns of fashion volume 1.......so there will be much much new portfolio ralated work!

VERY interesting new blog sort of dissertationy related...ish

well i'm trying very hard to write the first two chapters of my dissertation, feminism and it's affect on fashion design, and i've found that i'm more and more distracted by random blog-ness. Granted some of these incorporate feminism and its relationship with fashion, but more and more i'm getting distracted by other posts and reading very big chunks of blog rather than just the feminism/fashion post i started with.... its not helping me write very much.....

It has helped me find some very interesting blogs though, one in particular i've fallen head over heels in love with! seriously look at www.ayearwithoutmirrors.com! its the blog of phd student kystin gruys, living an intire year without mirrors, this includes using shop windows as mirrors, and looking at photographs! whats even more astounding is she's started her year 6 months before her wedding! shes starts her blog form the begining of her year, in march 2011, but i'm not sure how she's getting on with it because i'm trying really hard to make myself write dissertation instead of reading more of her blog.......

xx

summer update

okie so havn't really done much this summer, definately not as much as i'd intended to do anyway. bit busy with work at the minute, but had a few days of this past week so after a lovely evening n tonight with the OH he pushed me to start a dress like i'd intended to do all summer.

i've started an 18th century dress, based on a few sketches from nancy bradfield's costume in detail, and stills from a webste called recycledmoviecostumes.com, which picks up on all of the costumes used in period movies, all of which are used in multiple movies. examples include a costume used in marie antoinette, the dutchess and the magnum temptation advert!

my favourite dress from recycledmoviecostumes.com

i love the bow decoration down the front! it may be going onto my dress i think

next my sketches from costume in detail

and finally the start of the dress - en foureau back pinned (that was a pain- there has got to be an easer way of doing that), front partially sewn, and a little edgy time thing joining the shoulders and the top of the pleated back

there we go thats all for now, back at work tomorrow, but should have a bit more done tuesday when i'm off because a nice man coming to fit a new washing machine ..... after the last one has died a horrible horrible death ......

much loves xx

finished for summer...what shall i make now?

well uni all finished for the summer, and this year i've completed a marie antoinette 18th century inspired gown and an elizabethan inspired (queen elizabeth in elizabeth the golden age inspired to be precise but it didn't quite turn out entirely as i'd planned, pictures of that to follow in a later post what i'm less tired) gown. with uni finally finished for summer and not much to do i'm a little bit stuck on what to do next......

my sister bought me nancy bradfield's 'costume in detail- womens dress 1730-1930 last xmas so i'm considering trying something from that, either a robe a la polonaise, or .........nope decision made it'll be a post revolution robe a la polonaise, the bodice and back of the skirt cut 'en fourreau' meaning as one, pleated down the centre. i have no idea exactly how i'm going to do it yet but the sketch in bradfeild's book is just too pretty not to try it at least once.

i'll try and update this slightly more now i don't have uni deadlines etc but i can't promise, still have work! not sure quite how far i'll get with this one, it probably won't be finished until i go back to uni and get septembers bursary! i'll at least get as far as the main body of the dress done, i know i've got fabric left over from the previous two dresses- mains this one will either be gold like 18th century dress, with a bit of some white from the elizabethan dress, and possibly a bit more gold from my fabric stash! and then anything else i can find.........the trimmings probably won't be done until september, as well as finishings like binding.

the sketch from costume in detail, to give you an idea of what i'm intending to make.....if slowly!

more to come, much love x

lovely new-found blog

rather off topic, but i thought i'd share with you a lovely new blog i found today (whilst telling the OH that I WAS DOING UNI WORK HONEST!! i don't really think he believes me...)

www.chezbeeperbebe.blogspot.com has some fabulous homemade and recycled things, she does post a lot of family things about her children etc too, and its a fantastic read! i might have sat and read the whole blog this afternoon........if it was a book it would be un-put-down-able!

I really like the spelling and number bean bags, they're very cute! i really do feel the need to make some, but i think the OH is getting a bit scared now with my sewing cute baby things! hehe

shiny new fabric time!

well i did a very bad thing on my day of on saturday....i went to the factory fabric shop......

i went the intention of buying calico for the elizabeth dress toile (not that i did one for the marie antoinette dress but apparently one can never underestimate the importance of a toile, or rather one doesn't get the extra marks from uni if i don't make a toile, so guess i have to do one for this dress)

unfortunately i saw a biiiigggggg box of marked down ends of rolls, discontinued fabric etc before i managed to get to the calico, and it had lots of pretty fabric in! i found 100% cotton velvet that would be perfect for the elizabeth dress, and marked down to £1/mtr i couldn't say no! I managed to find just enough for the dress, cut very carefully! found a few odds and ends of damasks and other prettys too!

luckily i did eventually manage to get to the calico for my toile at guess what, £1/mtr again!!

the OH wasn't too amused at my mass fabric buying, but i managed to justify it with 'i've bought it all now, so i won't have to go fabric shopping again this semester'!

paper pattern and toile will be done tomorrow, so pictures of those will be online tomorrow night!

marie antoinette inspired dress - corset

front of corset

back of corset

side of corset (or rather side of 'pair of stays')

Well i finally got a whole day off uni to concentrate on the marie antoinette dress on thursday, so i sat down and got as much of the corset done as is possible for one person in a day!

I managed to get the pattern drafted, calico cut (the two inner layers which hold the boning, there will be a lining layer and an outer decorative fabric layer hiding these two), boning placement all marked, all of the sections sewn together, and the boning channels sewn (note for the future - its probably easier to sew boning channels then sew all the pieces together...i think i chose the bloody hard way.....) and finally all the boning slide nicely into the channels and the ends sewn up!

I did run into a slight problem here, i bought my boning on a roll (poly boning, yes i know not very historically accurate, i'd have loved to use wooden bones to be accurate, or even just metal bones, but they were REALLY expensive, and my skint student status must be remembered!) because my boning was on a roll it was curved, so when i put it in the boning channels in stayed curved, and the whole corset erm.....curved. (note to self - find out how to flatten boning!) I pinned the whole thing to my mannaquin in the hope that it'll somehow mould but i'm not betting on it!

Next on the ever- growing list of things to do - cut the outer fabric (going to be the same as the dress fabric) and find a pretty lining fabric (yeyyy fabric shop mission!!), sew all four layers together, place eyelets and sew binding! I'm thinking of separating the bottom into tabs like most of the 18th century stays i've found online, so it looks a bit more authentic?

day off tomorrow so hopefully i can get plenty done then!

uni make module - revealed!

well i know i was quite mean in my last post and tempted you with hints of a new project but all will now be revealed!

my new module at uni lets me chose whatever i wan to make, as long as it is somehow related to what i want to do during third year. having greatly enjoyed making the marie antoinette dress for photography i have decided i'm going to spend third year doing historic theatre costume (i may as well do something i enjoy rather than trying to break into the haute couture or ready to wear market, which i don't really enjoy designing for) so this module i'll be recreating an elizabeth 1st tudor dress, somewhat similar to this -

My version will be pink though, and thats all i'm letting slip today!

designs for this new dress to follow soon, and i'll try and post up a few updated photos of the marie antoinette dress, it's getting finished just quite slowly!

fashion illustration; inspiration and technique, Anna Kiper

well i had a wonder around WHSmiths when i finished uni early this afternoon (looking for the OHs magazine) and found this delightfull book, 'fashion illustration; inspiration and technique', by Anna Kiper.

Maybe i was attracted to the pretty picture on the front i don't know, but something about it caught my eye. After a quick flip through i was sold and bought it, for once this is a fashion illustration book that doesn't rant about 'the right way' to illustrate! it promotes that every illustrator should have their own style, and thats it absolutely fine to illustrate using different mediums! (don't think i've mentioned before that at uni we are taught that the only way to colour illustrations is with tria markers, not only are they about £5 each, they don't last 10 mins and they're bloody useless, all of my marker coloured illustration look like a 5 year old coloured them in!)

Anyways hopefully some illustrations to follow soon, now that i'm quite inspired!

Also, uni has thrown a fantastic project at my this module! not giving anything away yet through, will only say its a make module and its going to be fantastic!

marie antoinette inspired dress - prepare for a bombardment of posts!!

well prepare for a bombardment of posts today, finally finished bloody uni work work (thank god, i was ready to give up!) and i've finally got a day off from work so there'll be lots of work on the marie antoinette dress today!

i'm planning on getting the dress finished (binding done, hems fixed etc), petticoat gathered (again) and hopefully corset started but that might be me getting a bit ahead of myself, not sure i'll get quite that far in one day!

Next semester starts on wednesday though so need to get quite a bit done today, otherwise i'm going to end up falling behind with it and the dress will get pushed to the back of my head, and forgotten about!

more to come probably about tea time, i'll post photos i promise!

of lost things and found things and wonderful university IT technicians!

well i managed to leave my usb memory stick at uni for the 3 time this week, after being pretty sure i put it in my bag! after a screaming match with the boyfriend (in which he said lots of mean things but did tell me to buy a bag things couldn't fall out of, so i'll take that as 'go and buy another handbag darling') i went to bed last night very annoyed an angry, more with myself for losing it than him for shouting really, since i did start the shouting.

Luckily the technician at uni has learnt that i'm pretty useless and regularly lose important things, he remember which memory stick is mine when someone hands it in! I walked past his desk this morning mumbling to myself about having to start work i'd done all over again and he waved my memory stick at me!

so of lost things and found things! and an ode to wonderfull IT technicians everywhere! thank you!

marie antoinette inspired dress - part 4

well here we go as promised, a few teaser photos taken during my test fitting on my model! since i now have my very first follower (hi martine!) i thought it's time i started posting things when i promise i will, instead of my usual rambling promises and losing track of time and forgetting.

so here we go, a few photos of my model test fitting, the dress is still in the same condition as it was on the mannequin, the smaller sections sewn together (eg. bodice is all sewn together, skirt pleated, petticoat gathered......well sort of......you'll notice the petticoat is worn in some of these photos but not others as we had a mass-ungathering problem when my model got a bit over exited!)

Full body photo (try to visualise it being worn with paniers, the skirt looks quite flat here, it's fully pleated to be worn for lots of volume but really needs paniers as the fabric is not very stiff and so doesn't really look as i intended it to)

front/side view (arms definately need to be adjusted, they're intended to be quite fitted but my model has much slimmer arms than i guesstimated)

Back view, showing the pleated sack back i incorported, i'm quite proud of this bit, i had no idea how to patterndraft it so just guessed once i'd finished the back and fitted it to the space between the shoulders (it involved lots of pleating and pinned and rather a lot of swearing loudly but i figured it out eventually!)

These were photos taken for my sketchbook for university, to document the development of the dress from fabric to a full garment, they were supposed to be professional looking photos, but i loved my model enjoying wearing the dress so much that i got a bit carried away taking photos.

To quote my model to the letter 'ohhh its for flashing (refering to the open front of the dress after she managed to ungather all of my gathering) quick quick take a picture of me flashing!'

reading list

well since finding that the library at university actually had an amazing selection of books on 18th century fashion, and drifting around somewhat and ending up finding rather a lot of other books i fancied reading i now have quite a lot of books waiting to be read

at the minute i'm nearly finished a biography of madame de pompadour (louis xiv's mistress), which goes into amazing detail of the clothing worn during the period. This is definatly one that will have to be blogged about when i'm finished it, but for the minute i'm just going to leave you in suspense!

a few others on the waiting list include -

'the culture of clothing - dress and fashion in the anchiene regime' by daniel roche

(this is one that i found on uni's online library catalogue, and i've spent the last 3 weeks looking for it in the library, its a pretty big place!)

'the second sex' by simone de beaviour

(on feminism, looks interesting, it was one that was named during a lecture and sounded pretty good so i thought i'd give it a go)

marie antoinette inspired dress - part 3

Front of dress

Side view

Back of dress

Well as promised heres a few photos of the dress in-progress

As you can see i've got all of the pattern pieces sewn together, in part at least, the bodice is ewn together with arm sewn on, with stomacher pinned in place, the skirt is pleated and pinned in place, the petticoat is gathered and sewn in place (edit- when fitting it on my model we had a slight.....erm.....well mass ungathering and the whole skirt ungathered, my model got a bit carried away enjoying posing for photos wearing the dress, so now i have to find a more secure way of gathering about 4 metres of fabric, more research needed me thinks), sack back is pleated and pinned to the back

Having it all pinned at least gives me a decent idea of what work i still have to do before its really wearable, for example i think i'm going to add some sort of decoration down the front, and around the bottom of the skirt, perhaps little bows? I think it just needs a little something for aesthetic value.

next up will be photos of my fitting on my model when i figure out how to get them from my camera onto my computer.

marie antoinette inspired dress - part 2

Heres a quick picture of the fabric i'm using for the outer shell of the dress, and the matching stomacher and petticoat. As i described last time, the dull side is the soft suede and the shiny side the satin side (technically the wrong side but its the side i'll be using as the outside for the dress)

Gotten quite a bit done the past few weeks so a few in-progress photos will be up soon!

marie antoinette inspired dress

Well, having not posted very much up at all here, my blog is going to become a sort of dress diary over the next few weeks, featuring my rather challenging marie antoinette style dress make. I picked up the perfect fabric today, a creamy coffee shade of satin backed suede! Yes i know not very historically acurate but it was just so pretty and the perfect weight and it feels so nice!! I'm going to be using it satin side out, which leaves a very very soft suede feel on the back, so it's going to be comfortable to wear. Lining with an off white sateen weave fabric i found today too. All credit for the perfect fabric goes to the curtain factory in Blaydon, a store in the industrial estate near my house that i didn't even know was there untill the bus drove past on my way home from uni and I thought 'oohhh I'll just have a quick look they might have something to finish the pink patchwork quilt.......', I thought i'd buy up all the fabric I need for the dress while it was there (the store is a factory outlet so stock changes very fast and I didn't want to risk it not being there next time)

I'll be posting as I make, so keep checking back, this is probably going to take a few weeks.

few little things sewn

just a few little things sewn over the past few days, having had time due mainly to ignoring uni work, i've completed a set a pretty pink dungerees, and dress and fabric ball, stuffed with batting.

Queen of fashion, Caroline Weber

Well having finished reading Caroline Weber's book 'Queen of fashion-What Marie Antoinette wore to the revolution' this week, and feeling in quite a creative mood at the moment (spending the weekend at the OHs mums house for a few days holiday and I'm feeling quite calm and relaxed, hence creative and not so stressed about having uni work to do in time for going back on Monday) so I thought I'd write a quick review, to pass some time before bed.
Being quite passionate about historical costume, particularly 17th and 18th century, I love a good study of it. However, there are very few decent books on the subject, most are patterns and pictures (not that I don't love a good picture book!) recent films have been relatively good, for example Marie Antoinette and Dutchess. Caroline Weber's contribution though is an incredible contribution to the feild, written somewhere between being a novel and a textbook, so it's an interesting read, you get all of the info from a textbook, with the easiness of reading the novel.
Queen of Fashion talks about the life of Marie Antoinette, from her arrival in France at age 14, her marriage to the daupin Louis VXI, and their initially difficult marriage, through to her rise to being queen of fashion, France's most admired woman, through to her steady decline from power during the revolution to her eventual execution at the guillotine. The book concentrates on the queens control over her fashion choices, an approach which isn't taken by any other biographer of Marie Antoinette. Queen of Fashion acknowledges that the queens influence over her peoples aesthetic values was so great that even during the revolution when she was hated by them, her stylistic choices were still imitated.
The book takes a slightly biased approach, written from a sympathetic perspective to the queens plight, but overall it is a highly recommended read, for anyone, especially students, interested in historical costume.

http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Fashion-Marie-Antoinette-Revolution/dp/0312427344

(Link to amazon.com for Caroline Weber's Queen of fashion- what Marie Antoinette wore to the revolution)