Final Touches.

Today Saw me put together some final parts of the costume before the big photoshoot tomorrow.  So, Last night I left the corset with some bits pined on, such as the fur.  

The last stage of the day, was to look into the shoe matter. As seen in the picture above, I found a pair of heels I wanted to use, but they were black, and originally i wanted Red straps etc.  I did try this, but I felt that it was far too time consuming to keep at it, So ive made the decision to use them black, but buy some for the next Shoot. These are the shoes I will be using, and in comparison with red version

Putting Together

At this stage, I need to reassure myself by putting everything together, so I can get a Idea of what I have left to do.

 From the pictures, I can see that I need to create the Hood, and the shoulder Armour. So I set about creating the Hood, the same way as I made everything else, First i played on some calico, then drew this out onto the real fabric, sewed it together, then sewed in the lining.  Here is a finished picture with my Wig.

Then, I set about working on some more final details, such as the armour.  So To make the armour, I bought some sheet aliminum, cut it to the shape i wanted, then I pop riveted the three layers together, and using some black spray paint, I added some texture.  Also, I added a ribbon to the cloak, and played with the idea of fur on the cloak.

Corset Finishing.

To finish my corset I need to line it.  I have decided to do this using the same fabric as the outside.  

To create the lining i cut out another set of panel pieces, but the other way round.  Once these were cut out, they had to be sewed together at the seams, the same way as the main corset body.  

Next, I put the lining face down on the outside of the corset so they match.  I went along matching all the seams, then sewing 3 sides, top, bottom and the lower end. Leaving the arm hole & Longer side open.  

Next stage was to trim down all the seams, leaving the lining a bit longer than the corset. I then folded it through so its the right way round, and pressed all the seams down.  Then I pinned and sticked up the arm hole, mainly by machine, but the last part had to be done by hand, as well as the arm hole, I needed to sew up the open end of the corset. I did this with a slip stitch.  

Once this end was all sown up, I finally moved onto the final part of the corset creation, the eyelets.  For this I first measured out where they will be going, by having them spaced out 1.5 inch between each, and starting 1/2 inch from the bottom.  After marking them out, i used a Eyelet punch to first punch the hole, then using the same tool, and changing the ends, I fastened the eyelets together.  I chose to use Silver eyelets, to tie in with the silver of the shoulder Armour. 

Completed Corset. 

Skirt Creation

Next is the Skirt that needs creating. First I need to cut/create a pattern.  For the pattern, I used a basic Pencil Skirt pattern onto calico, then adapted it by cutting the bottom to my desired look, then put this onto paper to create my Pattern.

Next I laid out my patterns on a layer of the stiff white fabric, and cut out both pattern pieces and did the same on a layer of the outside fabric.

Once I had all the pieces cut out & darts added. I next had to baste two layers together. A layer of White & the Outside layer.  This was done with both pattern pieces.  

  

The Next stage was to sew the two panels together, but leaving a 20(ish)cm gap on one side for the zip. Then to follow this, i added the lining. I did this by creating a new skirt, and attaching it to the waist band, right side to right side.  Then I sewed in the zip, by putting right side of fabric to right side of the zip. 

Next I put some 'Supercurve' onto the top seam/waistband of my Skirt, this was to add rigidity and a slight shape the top of the skirt, as there was no waistband.  

Once this was pinned on, i went round the 'Supercurve' near the bottom, about 1cm from the seam.  Then folded  the lining over and pressed it.  

Budget & Schedule

Before the project gets into full swing, I need to create a budget for what I want to spend on this project.  I am happy to spend what it takes to create the ideal costume for me, but still need some idea.

Budget:

Fabric:  £30 for the corset & skirt
            £20 for the cloak
            £20 for the Hood

Accessories:  £10-15 on Metal for the Armour
                     £10-15 on Wig
                     £10-15 on Haberdashery Bits
                    

Schedule:

Week 1 - Research, Initial Designs.sketchers
Week 2 - Further Research, Corset Design
Week 3 - Corset Design, Technical Drawing
Week 4 - Pattern Cutting, Start Toile
Week 5 - Complete Skirt & Corset Toile
Week 6 - Start Corset
Week 7  - Start Skirt & Cloak
Week 8 - Finish Corset
Week 9 - Finish Skirt, Cloak & Make Hood
Week 10 - Finishing Off, Final touches

Corset Creating

Now I have the paper patterns and my chosen fabric, I started to create the corset.

To start this, I laid out all my pattern pieces onto a stiff white fabric. (can't spell Name) I did this, on a double layer, to make my corset stiff, as the fabric I have chosen to use is very light weight, and you can see the boning through it.  

Once I had these two layers cut out, I then cut out all the pattern pieces again onto my outside fabric. And then basted these layers together. 

Once all the pattern pieces were basted together, I went round all of them, and worked out where I was going to put the channels for the Boning.  First I drew these on with a chalk pen, then went down the lines creating a channel. 

Once all the channels had been stitched, I then put together the corset & sewed it all together.  the stage after this was to fill all the channels with the boning. This involved cutting it all to the corset size.  This was not easy.  Then I had another Fitting to test sizes etc..

Fabric Samples & Choices.

I now needed to decide what fabric i want to use for all aspects of the costume.

So I took a trip to Birnimgham to scour through the fabric stores.

From here I found a few possibly fabrics. I found stuff for the Hood, and cloak/cape, but not the corset.

TO find some more possible fabrics for the corset, I ventured into the Victoria Centre Market & Found a perfect Fabric. 

First Fitting

The First fitting wait very well.  Not much needed changing or altering.  It need to be taken in a tiny bit on both sides of the front panel. 

The other thing that needed changing was the skirt.  When cutting out the calico, I didn't leave a seam allowance, so it was very tight.  I also cut/drew on the slit that i want to have on the final skirt.  I also then added on the shoulder straps, both front and back.  

Pattern Cutting.

The next stage is to decide who i was to use for my model, then gather their measurements.  I decided to use Cat Mednick. 

Next, i needed to find a suitable manikin, and pad it out if need be.  I was lucky, as I found one that was ideal for my model.  

Now I have my measurements & a manikin with the right measurements and size.  Next I needed to start creating my pattern pieces on the stand using calico.  

I started this by drawing the shapes that i want to create.  I was doing this using my design & the pattern from the corset i wanted to created.  I did this to create the whole corset.  

This is how it looked during the process. I used large pieces of calico, and cut them out to the shape leaving large edges, to allow for a seam allowance.  Once I had all the piece's drawn, I took them all apart, drew them onto pattern paper, then back onto some new calico to create a toile to fit.  

Design & Corset Research

Now I have a character, and I have a design or two, This is My design, that I am going to be working from.

The Main influence on the costume, is the shoulder Armour. I found this inspiration after one of Anne's lectures, and showing images from fashion designers, including Jean Paul Gaultier. 

Now I have found a design that I'm happy with, I need to find a corset that will fit in with my design, and that I like.  I didn't look for long before i found one I liked. I only really had two preferences to look for:

• No Front opening
• Lace up Rear

So whith this in mind, i set about looking through books, and came across 'Corsets - Historical Patterns & Techniques'

From this book, i found the corset which i wish to use, along with the pattern used to create it. 

Corsets, Historical Patterns & Techniques, Jill Salen

So, now from having this corset and the pattern/Line drawing I started to add the detail of the corset into a design and Technical Drawing.  

Character Research.

To start Getting Ideas for my Characters I Look through the list, and look into which characters I found interesting. Three came up at first:

• Valkyrie
• Frankensteins Wife
• Boudicca 

From this list, I looked a bit further into each character, mainly looking a different interpretations of each.  Looking at different pictures, and back stories. This research then narrowed the list down to two, Valkyrie & Boudicca. I decided to create a costume for Boudicca, as the warrior queen image really got me thinking about ideas.  I then looked further into her character and started to find key images of two styles that I could follow. 

                                            

From these two pictures, i looked further into them, and started to favour the idea of using the warrior queen symbol.  I want to create something that plays on the queen side of things.  I want to portray beauty, power and royalty.  From researching further, i started to find more images, one stood out, as ver similar to what I hope to create.  It shows the colours i thinking about, and the whole shape.