Experimenting with trouser widths and toiling.

Experimenting

My sample of the trouser works well being three times the usual width of the trousers as of how baggy it has made the leg. This makes the trousers look more like a skirt which is what I want to achieve. I think the pleated fabric looks interesting being pleating further down the waist than the other sample. This would work nicely slightly peaking out the bottom of the bodice, making a feature. To ensure this would stay in place I think it would be a good idea to stitch it at the top and further down in the pleats so that they don’t completely un-pleat but I will allow the thrower legs to un-pleat so that they becoming baggy to disguise the shape. 

This trouser sample is successful as it does make the leg baggier, being double the usual width, but I do feel that it could be baggier to disguise the shape of the trouser further to make it look even more like a skirt. I think this could work better as I want to make sure that this look more like a skirt than trousers, especially when it is still until this is revealed when walking. I like the width of the pleats and this will be translated to the scale of the trousers so that the pleats aren’t too small or big but relate to the width of the trouser. I will ensure the pleats are not too big when making the fit to the original size of the waist so smaller gathers hide the shape of the trouser better, as if it fabric is pulled too far into a big pleats the trouser shape will be seen more. 

I think that this gathering sample has not worked as effectively as the pleating as of the length that needs to be brought it. It also only creates volume in the waist and then leaves the trouser legs looking flat. I also like the feature of the pleats being seen under the bodice and how it guides the trousers into the shape of lines. I found it challenging to gather the fabrics as of the thread snapping, a problem I have come across before, so I made the length of thread longer so it would gather easier and snap less. I feel as though this could be challenging with the large full scale trousers as of how wide the trousers are with gathering it down to the usual waist measurements. I will sew the pleats down 10cm down from the top so they still in place this far down and at the top so that you can see this feature under the bodice.

Toiling

I started by cutting out my trousers pieces, not being able to cut with the fabric folded as of the patterned fabric which will not be a problem for my final as of its a plain coloured fabric but I thought that it would look best with the fabric right sides up. I made sure to transfer the markings from patterns onto my fabric so that the pleats would be even and work to fit the waist in the end. 

I pressed these and used the cold air foot to make sure that these staying in place and were precise. I did this for each leg panel and then sewd 0.5cm from the top of the fabric so that the pleats would be sewn down with the stitches hidden in the seam allowance. I then constructing the trousers making sure to put RST so that the fabric would be the right way up with the pleats going in the correct directions towards the middle. 

Once the trousers were made, the width of the waist looked a lot larger than I thought it would be so I knew that making the waistband elastic would be necessary. 

For the waist band I found the process confusing with how to apply it to the trousers. On my first attempt I sewed the waistband like a tube sewing the rectangle into a loop and then threading the elastic through this loop before stitching the elastic together to be continuous. This didn’t work as it would not allow the fabric of the waistband to stretch meaning that it wouldn’t work as a waistband allowing the wearer to take it off and on and get past the hips with stretching without adding a zip or other fixing. As this happened, I talked to colleagues for advice and I rethought the way that I would apply the waistband. 

For this attempt I sewd the rectangle of fabric RST on the top of the trousers and then folded it towards the back and stitched in the ditched the seam catching the bottom of the fabric at the back of the trousers so that it created a tunnel shape, the waistband. It was slightly challenging to catch all the fabric in this when sewing the stitch in the ditch as the fabric twisted. I’m not sure how this happened but for my final garment I will take extra time in making sure that the fabric lays flat. Once adding the elastic in you can no longer tell that the fabric is twisted as of the gathering the elastic has added. It was hard to add the elastic in as of the difference in length compared to the elastic and waistband. I will make sure to measure twice and cut once for my final. Using the safety pin helped my ease the elastic into the waistband as of the very oversized waistband compared to the final measurement. I like the way that this waistband has turned out as it pulls the waist in to fit but still shows the shape and pleats below it clearly. 

Sewing the line 10cm down from the top to hold the pleats has worked well as otherwise, now that its on someone, you could tell that it would unfold and just add to the baggier trouser rather than staying in place.This trouser toile has worked successfully as when my colleague tried it on and moved around the trousers are concealed and look like a skirt until further movement is made which is what I wanted to achieve so I am happy with the result. 

Experimenting with sleeves

Experimenting with sleeves 

 I feel that this doesn’t look how I thought it would with the fabric on the inside of the arm sagging and not staying at the same height as where the fabric holding up is. To improve this sample I will try and fold up the inside arm more so the weight doesn’t drag it down. 

This gathered sleeve has worked better than the first attempt as how the weight is distributed making it stay more central to the line where the tie is. I think to improve the position of this I need to re-pin how the fabric that holds it in place is sat. I think this would looked better if the fabric was pinned smaller around the pleats so that there is less room for it to move, making the amount of gathers greater.

This sleeve works well to hold up the shape and form of the sleeve whilst being folded. I like how you can see the underside of the sleeve as it shows that the sleeve is obvously folded. 

Whilst this works and looks nice I do like how the gathers look and how the fabric pleats when it is not folded properly.

When I put the mannequin arm through the sleeve it held the shape and weight of the gathers more, which has helped my design making and how I view the sleeve on a real model with an arm through supporting the structure. 

This doesn’t look good as of how the fabric is unevenly pulled to the central point with it twisting. When I do this again I will make sure that the fabric is gathered neat enough to not look rushed or dismissed but loose enough to not look too much like it has been done unorganically. 

This folded cuff holds its shape well within the tie, but it will need to be thinner to fit comfortably inside the fabric piece when it is attached meaning it needs to be positioned lower. I feel that with this folded it looks too plain as it is just a colour block, especially as this will be in a plain coloured fabric so the pleated fabric may add more interest to this sleeve design. 

This is the most successful sleeve so far as the pleats are contained within the fabric strip, away from the tip so it could be sewn. I also like how the the pleats are bigger and of an even size. The fabric of this will be a plain colour so the the pattern wont interrupt the flow of the folds in the fabric.

I have put a toile of a jacket without the sleeves so I can see how it will look with the sleeve and bodice of this outfit. I like how far down the collar and revere comes downs to,as it is accurate to my design and doesn’t come down too far when next to the bodice. 

I like how the position of the sleeve end is just below where the jacket hem is as it breaks up the line at the waist and creates different lengths and dimensions, pulling the viewers attention away from this area and around the garment rather then sticking on the waist. 

I think that this will work well with the waistcoat and sleeves being different colours, making them stand out more rather then blending and looking like a jacket.

Pinning the trousers onto the mannequin helped me to envision my design better, especially with the fabric patterns contrasting the waistcoat sample making it easier to imagine what the final will be. 

I was wondering if the jacket should be slightly tapered outwards to add angles to the garment and I think that this could work well as it would also reveal some of the bodice and the colour beneath it which will help differentiate the the bodice and sleeves from the waistcoat.

I will leave the waistcoat open and not add fixings to close it as I want the underneath bodice to be slightly visible and not completley covered so you can see that the sleeves link to this and not the jacket. 

Bodice patterns and toile and making panniers.

Bodice Patterns and Toile 

For the bodice of the dresses I will use the same patterns for the bodices for each of my garments, making the adjusts in the techniques and finishes used to make them. This will help cut down my time on pattern cutting and allow me to spend more time focusing on the construction of my outfits and the techniques I will use to make them, for example beading or cyanotypes. This will also help my collection have cohesion, especially as the characters I have chosen are sister who have a similar style but with changes to suit their personalities. 

I started with using the dart position on the front and back women bodice blocks and creating princess seams to create the patterns. After this I lowered the neckline at the front and the back, using the mannequin to measure how low I should make the neckline without being too revealing. I made the two side panels stop at the waist as this is a common theme I have seen in Rococo style garments. I decided to make the back panel able to be cut on the fold or cut twice by folding over the seam allowance to cut back on the amount of pattern pieces I need to use.

I originally made the front panel, sometimes called a stays, to be cut out flatas one piece, even though this would be cut on the fold as this was easier to visualise the patterns shape and how it would sit on the body. I made sure to add notches to my patterns to allow them to easily match up when constructing the seams. I extending this front panel beyond the waist line to make that traditional Rococo shape. 

I found sewing the toile bodice together was okay to sew, but I wasn’t happy with the look of it when I tried it on my model, I first resewd the seam between the front and front side to taper more inwards to remove some gaping around the bust area. This made it sit tighter on my model which was good. I then realised that it was too high on her aswell at the front so I made the neck line lower, keeping in mind the seam allowance for when I sew the lining in to not remove to much fabric, I also want to keep these modest enough for the characters of the Little Women. 

I had previously made patterns for a circle cuff, so I used this for this project but amended them to be neater, making the circle more even and making the wrist bigger to fit to a better average and for my model. I also used this pattern to then create a bigger cuff, adding an even measurement around the whole circumference. This worked well as I knew the shape was successful already. I sewd this into the sleeve RST so that the seam allowance would be hidden inside the sleeve which would then be lined. I testing both sleeves to see which I would prefer.

Panniers

I felt confident going into the process of making the Panniers as I had done this before for my individual architecture project making once the same size and one smaller. As I was confident and familiar in the steps in making these panniers, I wanted to focus further on my sewing and making it precise. I made sure to spend time lining my fabric pieces up so that both panniers look symmetrical. I made sure that every raw edge was hidden, and double turn hemmed pieces that were more likely to be seen as well as overlcoking them. I feel that this has worked successfully as when tested they hold the fabric weight and provide the volume that I wanted. I decided to use lighter colours for these panniers so that they wouldn't show up under the fabric, like a darker colour would, if the skirt fabric was thin enough for this to be seen.