To the Fashion House!

This was another piece for The Women, when Sylvia accompanies Mary to the couture fashion house. This was such a fun piece to make because it was challenging and I felt like I was making something out of a Dior collection with the bow on this! While shopping in NY, Jaime fell in love with a purple striped fabric and decided to have me incorporate it into the back of the standing collar. With a little persuasion, he let me add a hint of it onto the bow, hat (which I also worked on) and the little shoe bows. Enjoy!

Jaime Samson's design:

A note on the collar: Jaime's inspiration on this was not only couture, but also dinosaur related - I was to mimic the dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park when making this.

Some mock-up images:

This is what the bodice looks like before the collar goes on. You can also see the fitted sleeves with the slightly exaggerated sleeve caps.



The underside of the collar, showing the layer of fusible tailor's canvas I put in before stitching on the boning channels. I found this added a lot of the stability I needed to make this thing stand up right.



The black lines are drawn onto this photo to show the placement lines for the boning. The boning channels have to continue part-way into the dress to maintain the upright position while wearing.


 The finished dress:

The crispness of the purple silk holds the bow shape beautifully. :)



A nice simple back with a wow factor on top.



A close-up of the sunburst collar. Has a very Art Deco feel in this pattern, doesn't it?



Here you can see some of the seam placement I did to create the sunburst design.



This altered square shape is what I used to create this bow. Each corner is pulled to the center and then "pinched" to the inside. You end up with little poufs which can then be arranged and tacked in place. The striped "knot" is just a strip that is tacked to the back of the bow and then looped and tacked to the inside of the pouf, where the square points are.



And of course, the complete ensemble on stage: 

Sylvia with Mary at the Fashion House. She does steal the stage, doesn't she?



Sylvia's Entrance

During the spring of 2010, I draped and constructed three ensembles for Sylvia in The Women. Our designer, Jaime Samson, placed it in the 1950s, with Sylvia being at the height of haute couture fashion. For this suit, I draped a basic A-line skirt with a left side closure. The asymmetrical bodice is a kimono-sleeved wrap style, the closures being on the left hand side from bust to waist. For a more close-fitting silhouette, the additional overskirt piece is seamed on at the waist.

Here is Jaime's design:

 Here are a few shots from it's mock-up form:

Bodice close-up showing the French darts and the underarm guesset of the kimono sleeve. The idea of adding the gusset came from reviewing vintage 50s patterns.

This is the collar pattern, showing how the grainlines are working to create the proper lapels. Note the extreme size differential between the two.

A close-up of the collar back. The center seaming allows for easier adjustements and ease of working with the asymmetrical collar pieces. This also gives a nice view of the stand-up collar that quickly turns into the roll-line for the lapels. Here the collar is hand-basted on - always do this for mock-ups! The collar line is notorious for needing fitting adjustments.

And the best part of all, the completed garment:



Full front view - my camera did not give the fabrics justice in this one.

The completed collar. The fabric has a snakeskin-like texture to it, so working with the grain was crucial.  



Detail shot of the left side closure. The overskirt is lined to match the contrast, with the "snakeskin" being only on the part that laps over. The buttons are purely decoration on the overskirt. We did later swtich out the overskirt buttons to match the dress fabric, since the bodice buttons were contrasting.



Back view, showing the continuation of the asymmetrical overskirt, back darts and the stand portion of the collar. 

 And of course, a complete shot of Ms. Sylvia from the show:


Nicole Hamilton as Sylvia.



Beginnings...

I finally decided to break down and start a blog. The purpose of this blog is to follow my sewing creations and various vintage finds, including fabric, patterns and garments (to include photos for research, etc). I often have people ask me "How did you do that?" so I'm hoping that next time, I can send them here and it will be a better answer than me just tring to verbalize it. This blog will not be just for my vintage/retro loves, but also for my cosplay creations since they are often the more tasking of my creations. :)