Merry Wives costumes

 I've got costumes on my mind today, because that's what I've been doing...making costumes for The Underground Restaurant at Bestival next month. I haven't taken any good pics yet so here's some oldies....

These are costumes that I made about 7 years ago for a production of the Merry Wives of Windsor, in Ireland.

I had a tiny budget (what's new) so raided the charity shop, and my own fabric stash/dressing up box, and fiddled and stitched and came up with these...

Dodgy geezers.

Falstaff and Mistress Ford having a good ol' flirt

 

Mistress Quickly trying hard to look innocent. 

That's me. As well as doing the costumes, I was learning her rambley lines.

 Full on work but massive fun, despite the moments of weeping in foetal position at the back of the costume cupboard.

Master Ford and Falstaff

I made most of the men's costumes from suits. 

Pimped

 Amazing what you can do with a couple of old curtains

 

These were taken during dress rehearsal, hence Falstaff's dodgy shorts .....the final trousers were much better, and went with his jacket. I still wear them. Also the ties tying his sleeves on kept snapping. The last costume to be finished at the last minute.

Merry Wives was the 1st production on the open air stage at the College of Further Ed in Kinsale, co.Cork. It was directed by the utterly wonderful Belinda Wild, who runs the Drama and Theatre Arts Course. The theatre was built by the permaculture students, and I found this old article from Permaculture magazine about the building process

Tansy...the long distance bride

I've known Tansy since she was a very small girl in Wales. She'd moved to New York in 2001 and met a lovely man from Pennsylvania.

When she asked me to make her wedding dress I was delighted....but how was I going to do fittings between here and the States? Luckily, the style of dress she wanted meant that it was all perfectly possible (never say die)......so I asked her to send me her measurements and a perfectly fitting, nude bra.

She wanted lace. At the time I was living in rural Ireland. There was only one shop within 100 miles where I thought I could get some bridal lace, but knew it would be hideously expensive. Nowadays I'd turn to the web, but then, with steam-powered dial-up internet, buying things online was out of the question. 

So I took a trip to the city, and went to that one shop, and there was the perfect piece of lace...a 2.5 metre remnant at a totally bargain price. Can't remember how much it was, but definitely WAY cheaper than I had hoped. With a couple of metres of ivory habutai silk to line the dress, I was ready to start.

I didn't need a pattern or a toile for this one. I just built it onto the bra. 

Simples.

 The bodice half done. I pinned it all carefully onto the bra base, while it was on the dummy, then hand-stitched it all into place. Fiddly but satisfying.
I think the only bit of machine sewing was the long seams in the skirt lining. Otherwise the whole dress was hand sewn.

 

Finished bodice. I had to cut separate leaves from the scrap pieces of lace to then hand sew back around the edges of the bodice and along the straps.

Finished dress. A bit blurry, hanging in the (messy) workshop. The dangly bits at the side of the bodice are drapey little sleeve things.

 

Maybe not the best pic of the dress but my favourite of Tansy and Mike

The bridesmaids. Tansy missed the Welsh bluebell woods.

 I found this 2-tone blue-purple fabric....the exact colour of a bluebell.

 My lovely daughter Cass on the left, with Naomi and Lorelei.

 And yes, they are twins.

Tansy, Mike, and the dude that married them. 

Spring in the Pennsylvanian woods.

And the dress was a perfect fit, no fittings.

Result.

Fleur's1950's wedding dress

Fleur was getting married on the beach near her parent's home in Holland. She loved 1950's style, and wanted glamourous but comfortable. No underpinnings for this lady! So this is the dress I came up with for her.

Washed Ivory Dupion silk, with a massive tulle petticoat.  I put the silk through the washing machine before cutting. That gets all the dressing out, and makes it lovely and soft. I wouldn't do this if I was making something that needed the stiffness, like a tailored jacket, but lovely for this type of garment.

   

I made a toile first, and then cut from that. I usually drape my patterns, though I can and do draft flat patterns. Just depends on the project.

   Putting it together was easy, apart from the flippin' straps.....it took me ages to get them right. They were cut in one piece, and even though I used iron on stabilizer, they still managed to change shape, and it took me three goes to perfect them. (Grrr. Wasting fabric!)

 The only part where I used iron-on stabilizer was the underside of the straps. The rest of the bodice is underlined with silk organza, and lined with silk/cotton lawn. It had to be sturdy enough to support and not be see-through, but soft and comfortable at the same time. Who needs restrictive corsetry when they're on the beach?!

 

showing the petticoat  

 The skirt is cut as a full circle (I do love circle skirts) over a layered tulle petticoat. 

Don't forget .... always hang the finished garment up (preferably on a dummy) for 24 hours before hemming. Especially if the skirt is cut on the cross.

I love this picture.......

I l

 And Fleur loved her dress. Twirly skirt!

 

 Awwww. Another happy bride.

The dress was a pleasure to make and Fleur was a pleasure to work with. We had 3 fittings and she always came on time and brought her heels when I needed her to. (Take note ladies)

I didn't go to the wedding but I did get an extra in the form of a  big bottle of fizz to celebrate with.

Yay!

  

Intro and some frocks

I should be sewing, not drinking tea and writing this, but hey, it's lunchtime. My flat is covered in bits of stuff, and I'm still in my 'jamas, but that's normal. Why get dressed to get covered in thread and fluff.  But I do like to work in comfort...house slut.

Today I'm making some costumes.  But as yet they're a secret.

Here are some other things I've been doing recently:

The first is Rachael's wedding dress. I should find another picture of the front (which is fairly plain). Layers of silk and tulle. She was so happy with it. A sweet dress for a sweet gal.

 

Next are 2 of the dresses I've been making for Kerstin aka Ms Marmite Lover out of  food themed fabric. The first is a cute tea-cup print with broiderie anglaise edges, the second is all over gorgeous green globe artichokes.

I made a basic pattern, then each dress was a variation on the theme.

This is a head I made for my friend Marcus Reeves' stage show. It had to look EXACTLY like him, but 5+ ft high. Fitting the head into the tiny car that I had at the time was a challenge. I'd already cut it in half for 'ease of transport' (haha) and squeezing the 2 halves into a Ford Fiesta, for taking to London, took a sweaty, sweary hour.

 

And here's Mr Teds and Imo wearing the costumes I made for Ted's show in Spain 

 

More about all these projects, (and the rest), to follow