Honoured by my peers

Last night we attended a function at Penrith for the Institute of History and Arts where I was made a Fellow for my work in Costume Design and Construction. This group is dedicated to honouring Australians who are, through their private initiative, leading the way in studying and preserving Australian history and arts. I think I may have been noticed at the innaugural Vintage Clothing, Textiles and Jewellery Show in April last year where I displayed reproduction costumes and vintage inderwear. Those who know me could see that I have come a long way since the early days of making "historical" costumes for re-enactments to now dressing guides and staff at historic houses. There were 7 inductees last night, who joined some very notable Australians who are the Fellows of the Institute. Leonard Teale (actor), Werner Phillipitch (Australian landscape artist), Edgar Penzig (noted Australiana author and collector) and Peter C. Smith (Australian author on bushranging) are just some of the names I remember. I hadn't prepared a speech, which was just as well since I was still not very well and had a husky voice. I had been asked to display my work so I took along my purple and black 1887 bustle dress on a dress stand, the matching hat and some gloves, and my 1870's repro corset. 6 photos on easels of my costumes, and my Elizabeth the first wig and tiara on a stand with jewellery, collar and gloves and wooden fan. I displayed them on a table with a heritage green cloth covered with a battenburg lace square tablecloth over it. I had several people come up and ask questions and comment favourably, and gave out a couple of business cards for future contact. Now I just have to decide whether I'll travel to Bathurst in 2 weeks to display my vintage underwear at BATHEX 2007. In any case I'll be going as a visitor, I just have to weigh up the logistics of exhibiting!

Beetlejuice for an Eistedfodd

I've been recovering from the flu for the last 3 weeks, but this costume is needed for the City Of Sydney Eistedfodd on Saturday night, so I just had to soldier on for the last 3 days and cut and sew this outfit plus 17 hot pink organza pre-made mens' ties for the supporting dancers. Talk about "the show must go on" ! My daughter is the model, and she is 5 foot 2 inches tall while the dancer is taller and has longer arms and legs. The suit is in cotton lycra so the jacket had to be fused with Whispaweft interfacing. I use an Elnapress to do bulk fusing, so it takes less time than with a domestic iron and is more permanent too. The jacket is fully lined, and the hot pink organza shirt is sleeveless but has armhole facings. It is all quick- change so the shirt has little velcro squares for front fastenings and the trousers have a half elastic pull on waistband instead of a front zip. I sewed a mock fly on the centre front seam though, just in case the jacket pops or she decides to leave it open. The sleeves are intentionally cut on the horizontal as in the photo reference from the movie still. I'm a devil for detail as you probably know by now!

Pirates of the Carribean, At World's End

Aaaarrrgh ! Members of the Australian Costumers' Guild attended a screening of the movie at Parramatta Great Union in suitable piratey garb. Here I am in all my glorious "pirate wenchieness" back at home after the movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend to all. Might even go again, in costume, just for the fun of wearing it again ! I do have a decent collection of costume "bits" in my spare wardrobe suitable for such occasions, so was able to put together quite a nice pirate wenchy look. I modified the straw hat to make a tricorn, and I bought a scorpion necklace and a black scarf, total cost of outfit $20. I made the stomacher at the last minute, and thought I'd share the making of it in a little tutorial, see posts below. The same method was used in my Elizabeth I costume bodice in an earlier post.

The Stomacher Project, or How to Make a Quick Pirate Wench

To set the scene, I was invited to attend a screening of "Pirates of the Carribean 3" with members of the Australian Costumers Guild (see link at sidebar) on Saturday night last. I cobbled together an outfit from skirts, a wenchy blouse and a brocadey vest which used to fit well, but alas, no longer would. So on Friday night at 8 p.m. I decided I needed a stomacher to fill the gap and look a little more "authentic" for the 1770 ish period. I looked up the period in Nancy Bradfields "Costume in Detail" and found just the thing. Next I searched the stash for some suitable fabric, discarded several, and settled on some ribbed cotton / viscose blended linen look with a fairly dense weave so the boning wouldn't poke through. I made a very rough pattern using the measurments in the book as a guide and cut out my 2 pieces. As this was a spur of the moment job, I used the "boning" material at hand in the stash, see below for details.

Sewing started

Stitch the layers together, right sides together, with a narrow seam leaving top open for bone insertion. Turn through and press. On the wrong side mark the centre front with a faint pencil line. Using a small stitch, sew from bottom to top along this line, then change to zipper foot. Insert first trimmed and smoothed bone into the stomacher and with your nail press it up against the stitched line. Line up the zipper foot alongside and smoothing and adjusting as you go stitch along the bone. This should give a snug boning channel. When all the bones are sewn you can slip the top ends out to trim and neaten if needed. Now work on the other side of the centre line, alternating sides each time. Repeat the boning insertion, smoothing and stitching with zippper foot until you fill the stomacher completely. Some bones will need radical shaping at the bottom to match the shape of stomacher, remember to smooth edges with sandpaper as well. I like to alternate stitching directions from bottom to top and vice versa each time to avoid layer puckering. I don't use pins at all, I don't need them but it's a personal choice. I prefer this method to marking a line using the boning and stitching along that, the zipper foot should avoid any needle breakage problems. This is a very quick method of making boning channels.

Partially boned, showing materials used

The stomacher partially boned, using the materials in my stash. At the top of photo 1/4 inch ribbed clear plastic boning removed from its sewn cotton casing, bought at Spotlight by the metre. Cut ends were sanded with coarse sandpaper to round them and prevent poking through as much as possible. The 6/8 inch yellow plastic below it was used when I ran out of the clear version - packing strips used to tie up a new exercise bike box (not mine I hasten to add!) It will do for this project since it will be worn rarely. I did notice the whole thing moulded nicely to my shape by the end of the evening, but reverted to straight eventually.

The finished product

Completed stomacher with 2 rows gimp braid sewn by hand below binding. The straight piece of self-binding is machined along top edge on right side then folded over and turned under and hand sewed on back after trimming tops of bones well below seam line. Click on photo to enlarge to see where I made thread "eyes" in position on side top to allow hooks on vest to hold stomacher in place while lacing up and to prevent gaping while wearing. A theatrical trick, mentioned in the Hunisett books "Theatrical Costume for Stage and Screen", I think.