Final Outfit One

Jo's Costume

Final Trousers

The construction of these were successful as I had already gotten the faults out and things that I struggled without on my toile, like the waistband so these overall look neat. I made sure to overall the raw edges and press these firmly as these trousers are not lined, to allow the flowy movement. I made sure to mark the pleats to keep them accurate. 

It was very challenging to get the elastic around the waistband as of the small size. When overlapping the waistband I did it to a too long of a length as once the elastic had gone trough the whole way I couldn't get it back out as of the overlap.This meant that after several tires to get it out, I had to unpick this portion of the waistband to get the elastic out, trim the overlap and sew it back up. This allowed me to pull the elastic out and sew it together before manoeuvring it to be back in the waist. This was time consuming as I was trying to get the elastic out for a while before deciding to unpick it.

I then hemmed the trousers by double turning it to make sure the raw edge would not be shown and pressed this to make it look crisper.

Final Bodice

This was majority constructed on a Thursdays lesson where I was very productive. I cut out the bodice pieces and sewd them together, under-pressing each seam as I went. I decided the topstitched the seams on the front to help with the structure on the front panel and to add a small feature for close up looking. I added the sleeves into the bodice making sure to ease the sleeves evenly creating pleats at the top of the arm, working my way from the bottom of the arm holes to the top so the excess fabric would be at the top. 

When creating the straps for the sleeves the stitches where grinning once they had been bagged out so I topstitched around them to make sure the stitches would stay in place and not come undone. 

Next I constructed the lining which was identical to the outer layer of the bodice. When sewing this I accidentally sewd two panels the in the wrong direction so I unpicked this and re-angled it to be the right way. This could have been prevented if I slowed down slightly to check the seams before sewing them. After this I sewd the bodice RST around the edges and turned this over to then topstitch the lining and outer-layer

At this point I had got an overlocker at home so I spent some time learning how to thread this up. I managed to do this within a tutorial as the directions on the machine and arrows I could follow.

Now that my model has tried it on and I could mark where the bodice sits and overlapped, I cut off some of the back panels then folded the fabric in and topstitched it. I put the bodice of and marked where I wanted the sleeve ties, pining it in multiple pleaces to see where the best position is where it looks natural and like my design. I then pinned this in the final spot and sewd it down, hemming the sleeve first. Now that it was easier to get the elastic out of the waistband in the trousers, I also tightened these to fit on my models waist better as these sat lower than I wanted to.

Waistcoat

I left the waistcoat to last as I needed sunny weather with a higher uv for the print to come out as the quality I would want it to and this week was very hot. To make sure I had enough of the solution I marked out my patterns pieces and painted these instead of a large block of fabric. Whilst this was drying I got the materials out that I would use, flowers, symbolic objects, like the key from the book and film and marks from my mark making experiments. 

Once this was done I laid out the fabric in my garden and quickly put down the objects so that the sun would expose the fabric around them. This was slightly stressful as I needed to do this very quickly as when I was putting the objects down I could already see the fabric changing colour, as of the high UV of eight. I made sure to fill the front and back piece firstas these would be the fabric most seen and then to focus on the collars. As this was a higher UV than I had ever done it in I wanted to make sure I left this out for an approarite time so I googled it, and it said leave it for two to five minutes! I checked on an object and could tell that it was developing very quickly, but I decided to leave it outside for ten minutes, to create a greater contrast and because of how some objects had been slightly moved as the wind brushing them so I wanted the developed images to be clear all around.

To try and stop the wind I wanted to create a slight barrier in the direction of the wind, so I moved a table on its side to act as a wind break which was successful. I didn’t think that the wind would be a problem as it was a very light breeze but it could have been the height, as the fabric was on the floor and the lack of obstacles in the way. When putting the table break down I made sure that it did not project any shadows to jeopardise the print from the sun.

I took the fabric inside after I took the objects in, working quickly so the harsh sun didn’t expose the parts where the objects had been taken off from, and washed the fabric until the water ran clear, with cold water, to stop the process and to get the excess chemicals off the fabric.

I constructed the main bodice of the waistcoat without struggle until I got to the collar. I made sure to evenly distributed it across the neck marking where the middle is and transferring the notches, but it became clear once I had sewn it that this hasn't worked well at all. It was distorting the look of the coat and would not press over flat to lay as it should. I tried multiple things to fit this, like understitching, pressing, resewing, cutting the angles but this did not help it. As I had used all of my exposed solution for this I decided to see what the collar would like if I ssewdnthe seam past the revere sttached on the front panel to see if this would help it lay flat but it didn't. As I couldn’t spend much longer on this to stay within my time plan to make sure that I would have everything finished for my hand in I had to move on, I decided to completely take off the collar. I feel like this has worked well as it looks alot smoother and now does lay flat agaisnt the body. 

It's a shame that I couldn't go with my original design, but this was something that I could not wrap my head around, especially as we are working completely independently this whole week during half term. I added a red ribbon to the back to cinch the waistcoat in, I think this worked well to link to the colours of the outfits, with the velvet working well to make it look more structured rather than a cheaper looking synthetic ribbon.

I decided to bias bind the edges of this waistcoat as I didn't want to line it, so you can see the underside of the cyanotype which feels symbolic to me as there is more that what you can see on the surface which I feel work's well to relate to this costume character Jo. This bias binding kept the edges neat and I made sure to securely pin the tape down and stitch it making sure that both sides are sewn thrown and caught in the stitches. As I didn't line this the fabric is flimsier than most of my garments and the bodices are lined, but I feel like this is okay as the bodice below is thicker so I don't have two thin garments but only the one on top which is more like a thinner jacket for appropriate weather.

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.