Costume Construction Final Project

Finally! Exams are over, Christmas is complete, as well as the New Year. This post is to show what I presented as my final project for Costume Construction.

The original plan was to make a warm jacket that was long enough for my gangly arms and also long enough to reach about my knees. I wanted one side of the jacket to pull across further. I ran out of time to create the "skirt" part of the jacket, but the rest is pretty good so far.

So- here was my process!

I used a bodice sloper that we made in class as a basis for the bodice part of my jacket. I used a sleeve sloper for the sleeves... Pretty straight forward. I draped the skirt part of the jacket. I used some maroon colored fabric that we had in the costume shop since we don't have muslin.

Not very representative of the final project, but it's a pretty funny picture.

I went to Hancock Fabrics and bought 5 yards of my outside fabric and 5 yards of my lining. I was going to wait on interfacing to see how thick I would want it. 5 yards ended up being a ridiculous amount too much, but better safe than sorry!

I originally wanted a chocolate brown for the lining, but they only had 2 yards. Oh well.

The purple fabric was originally a white polyester cotton mix (85/15 I think) that I dyed in the shop. I used a combination of dark brown, tan, and green Rit dyes and got purple. I also dyed it by hand instead of in the washing machine, so there are little dots and splotches colors like red, yellow, and green. Technically, that's what you DON'T want your fabric to look like, but the pink coat fabric had dots of white and green so I loved the way the purple turned out.

I ended up getting a padding for the jacket instead of normal interfacing. Part of my wish for my project was that I could wear it when I go to New York in March, and I wanted it to be warm!

I spent about 5 hours in the shop the Friday before it was due so I could cut out and surge all of the pieces, as well as do the darts, so I could sew at home non-stop. I also ended up having to write a horribly difficult paper at the same time, so I ended up in a time crunch.

I stayed up all night the night before it was due to finish it. I cheated. A lot. I should have hand sewn in the lining, but I blew through it on the machine. I have also never done sleeves before, so I don't even know how I made them work. I have also never done padding thicker than regular interfacing, so I had a hell of a time trying to fit all of the pieces together.

Let me add- I had no instructions for any of this project as a whole. There were instructions on completing the slopers (which I altered as well), but there were no instructions on how to put all of the pieces together. It was SO FREAKING HARD.

So... Here are some pictures of the semi-final project. I still want to get the "skirt" part on later.

Candid shots, compliments of Nick... hahah. 

The purple flower is a temporary piece. Once I get the rest of it all together, I want to use the rest of the purple fabric to make big flower petals on the side, one of them to reach across the front and act as a securing piece. I'll probably add whopper poppers later.

My first time doing lining was for a vest. This was completely different, especially with the padding.

I will hopefully take it apart and redo the lining by hand, fix some snags in the back, and make the shoulders a little less poofey. I have big shoulders and a large armscye and the jacket is a little tight there. I will add the skirt and the decorative petals...
Hopefully all of this will be done in time for my trip to New York City over Spring Break!

Keep an eye out for another post concerning the fashion faux pas that should DIE with the end of 2010, with special comments and editing by Nick Bury.

Curtis OUT!