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.