I know that I've lapsed a little in the past couple of weeks in my posting rate. I've not forgotten you all, I promise! :)

I've just had a really stressful time recently. A lot of family drama and health issues have come up that have piled on the stress, and getting my University work done has been my driving factor through all this.

So far for the musical, I've done most of the dog costume and the peripheral bits and pieces that have come my way. The fur layer for the dog is done, and the lining is mostly sewn together now, so I just need to combine the two. The ears (which need to flap up and down) were made with wire, and while I'm not entirely happy with the construction (I'm worried the headband will slip off with the downward pull) they work, they just need refining. The tail is done and just needs attaching, and I need to buy a zip, too.

Most of my free time has been devoted to my dissertation lately, so I've not had the chance to do any commissions. It's annoying, but it's nice to have a break from them too for a year.

Tags:

So, for this term our tutors have chosen 'Our House' to be the musical we'll be working on this term. I don't personally think much of it as a play, but that's beside the point. The costumes on the other project ('Lost') were all fairly plain unfortunately, and 'Our House' has the redeeming feature of having some interesting costume opportunities. I managed to get assigned the dog costume, which is a fun design. I didn't really fancy spending a term honing up my dressmaking skills, I wanted to do something striking that would stand out enough to be a good portfolio piece. So the dog costume seemed like a perfect opportunity!

Unfortunately, at the beginning of the project we didn't have the actress' measurements for the piece, so I spent a week or so doing odd jobs around the wardrobe department. I helped out making some sparkly hotpants and sourced bits and bobs here and there. I wasn't feeling too good last week, so it's probably best that there wasn't much that needed doing just then.

This Tuesday we managed to get the actress' measurements, so since then I've been working on the pattern & toile. First off I created a basic block of the torso, sleeve and trousers from the measurements. After this I moved the bust dart down to the armhole, widened all three basic pieces, and made the trousers & torso attach at a dropped waistline.

By this point, the toile is mostly sewn up. The sleeve attachment is only tacked in at the moment, but other than that it's looking pretty good. The collar needs to be widened a lot (the one that emerged on the basic block looked like it belongs on a doll's dress..! I mean, the actress is still in school, but I don't think she's that small.). So there are still bits that need tweaking here and there, but I suspect most of them will happen during the fitting, rather than before.

Tags: theatre design | costume | animal costume | mascots | basic block | toile

After many months, my website is finally up and running. It took a fair amount of time and effort, not least in learning Dreamweaver in the first place. We had a series of lectures on it, but in my usual learning attitude I skipped 90% of them, and instead spent the first 2 weeks of the term studying the program intensively through tutorials and online guides until I got the gist independantly. It's not the most efficient way of working, and it often puts me in an awkward situation in terms of interacting with tutors, but it seems to be the way that I work for better or worse.

At the moment it's primarily commission orientated, which isn't brilliant. I need to spend some time over the next few months gradually shifting the focus from commissions to potential employers of the more traditional sort. But I think it's a very good start.

www.needlemage.com

Check it out! :) Feedback is much appreciated.

Tags: website design | online presence | jobseeking | portfolio

Ah, the dawn of a new term is upon us, spring (well, winter) is in the air.. And so, it's only right that I actually wrap up what happened at the end of last term before the new project shuffles out of the starting block.

The last week of term was an absolute nightmare for me. I thought I was fairly well prepared in terms of how much I'd done, but I'd overemphasised some parts of the process that didn't necessarily need it. I'd spent ages lining the corset for instance, which wouldn't be seen by anyone! I'm like that sometimes.. I focus on the details while forgetting the bigger picture. But the piece as a whole was ready in time for the photoshoot, and in a better state construction-wise than many people's. I was disappointed with how some of the details turned out, but overall I feel it gave the right effect, and the costume and make-up gave the model a very powerful, regal air.

There will be prettier pictures once they're done copying over to my computer. The files are huge, and my dvd drive is currently trying to digest them with some difficulty. It sounds like a printer trying to chew up a raw steak..

For now, here is one of my own, taken with my humble little digital camera at the time.

Tags: Photoshoot | Corsets | theatre design | corsetry | costume design

Hey, remember those scraps of fabric and bits of paper? They turned into something!

Follow the Read More link for more pictures!

Tags: theatre design | corsetry | costume design

So as you can probably guess from the title, this week I've mostly been ploughing ahead with my corset. I've done a fair bit of work on the skirt too, though mostly that has been halted by the fact that the second batch of ping-pong balls I ordered were an ever-so-slightly different colour. Ack! Both sets are white-ish, but one is a pearly, gloss white, whereas the others are a matte, greenish shade. I like the former ones more, but the seller stopped selling them. :(

My plan is to make it up as usual, then spraypaint the whole skirt matte-white and decorate it with glue gun glue, in the long, pretty spider-web strings it's so good at making. Then I need to think about the net part, and ohh.. so much to do!

Tags: corsetry | theatre design | costume design | Corsets | sewing

Well, I finally finished covering the cage crinoline in calico, and as the boning still hasn't arrived for this project (I do wonder why they don't order them in before the project starts, but none of us are perfect, and I know the wardrobe supervisor is rushed off her feet), a lot of us are kicking our heels around the second toile stage ("once more with boning").

Because of this, I've made a start on covering the crinoline with the vital ping-pong balls. 150 are already glued on, covering a nice and neat half of the piece, and 125 more are on their way. I was a bit tired when I made that second order, so it's a little out. But I'll persevere, and if it comes to it, order in 25-50 more to patch up the bits that need it. So far I've been cutting them in twain (usually 50/50 halves, but increasingly going for 70/30 or 60/40 because they add variety to the surface), and sticking them on with a glue gun in 2-3 deliberately random layers. The effect is surprisingly convincing, and so long as no calico can be seen in the visible parts by the end, I'll be happy. The tiny skirt decoration around the corset will help with that.

You can see the second toile at it's current invertibrate stage, and also the (squee, final fabric!) cape, which still needs padding, lining and collaring in these shots.

Tags: capes | corsetry | Corsets | theatre design | Crinolines

Heya guys,

sorry I've not posted much this week. I worked my socks off from Monday to Wednesday, then I got a little sick and have been recovering since. I'm feeling pretty okay now, though. :)

This week I covered the cage crinoline. I used a medium-weave calico (it's free at University, strong enough to hold glue, and close to white (beige)). I pinned it loosely around the crinoline while it was on the stand, making sure that the widest point was snugly fitted, and there was a good inch above the waistband for excess. Then I drew in the fabric in a series of (increasingly complex... :S) darts. I've never made a + shaped dart join before. But I needed one for it to fit properly, and the fact that I've been doing origami since I was a kid made it a *lot* easier. I'm actually kinda surprised that one worked..

Tags: Corsets | corsetry | theatre design | darts | calico | capes

Okay, so I promised myself that I'd get this done by the end of the week, and lo, here it is. :)

The Spider Queen design started off with this initial sketch, which most of you have probably already seen.

See below the cut for more pictures and information.

Tags: costume design | corsetry | theatre design | drawing | illustration | design

Originally, I planned to scan my sketchbook designs, and then lead into the practical photos next post. Alas, it was not to be. I forgot, and left my sketchbook at Uni. So you get the practical work early! You lucky things.

The practical work's gone surprisingly well so far. I drew up the pattern and cut the toile on Monday, and stayed in the house in the morning to get the sewing done. Then I came in at 11:30, did a couple of hours work, then went off to a doctor's appointment. I got back at around 3, and did another hour and three quarters of work. By the end of that, my first toile (apparently we have to make two for this. Don't ask me why..) was finished, and the crinoline is well on it's way.

Click "Read More" for pictures!

Tags: Crinolines | Corsets | theatre design | corsetry

The design for the Spider Queen is finally finished. Thanks to the feedback I got on the forums, I focused more on going for a grey/white corset. I went through a good few variations on this (and got utterly sick of drawing the costume by the end of it!), but I finally found one that I think fits. That'll have to be a teaser for now, as it's midnight and I haven't scanned any of the recent work just yet.

Currently I'm making the toile for the corset itself. It's based on a yellow-flossed black one from the Symington collection, (though I found the corset and pattern in Corsets: Historical Patterns and Techniques by Jill Salen. Scaling up the pattern took an age, and I'd have been utterly lost without inch-square marked pattern paper. That stuff is a godsend. Half of the toile is done now, since I've been getting progressively more and more tired, and thus have stitched wrong sides together countless times now. That'll teach me to sew when I'm tired.. :P Well, you know it never will, but there we go.

In other news, my dissertation research is going okay. I've chosen a question based around the use of animals as a metaphor for human behavior. It's got a lot of meat to it, and as a bonus I get to watch a tonne of old Don Bluth films and Looney Tunes, and call it research. Muahahahaha. Currently reading The Annotated Alice, for info on the background of the White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, and other animal characters that featured prominently in Caroll's work. I'll have to read at least a chapter of Gulliver's Travels fairly soon, and *sigh* Animal Farm. It's an alright book, but I had to read it in school, and that sours any text for life.

Tags: corsetry | costume design | Corsets | toiles | drawing | theatre design | design

Whee! Tuesday was fun. Well, tiring, but fun.

We had a visit to Snibston, to look at the Symington Corset collection that's held there. We had to make our own way (despite the Uni's multiple minibuses.. *grumble*) but most of us managed to get from Nottingham to Coalville for about 10:30ish. I stayed over with my boyfriend on Monday night, making the trip a little easier from his place.

The collection is immense, so the guide (a really lovely guy who was full of knowledge) brought out a small sample of them into the teaching room at the back of the museum. It was amazing to finally see all the corsets I'd seen in books actually there in real life, and the thing that took us all aback was when he said we're allowed to touch them! Which was amazing. It was really great to see examples of the Pretty Housemaid, and of the hoop crinolines and dresses, in reality, to inspect the technique and design.

Pictures below!

Tags: Fashion History | Corsets

I had a tutorial with the current head of this project on Tuesday. She seemed to like my work a lot so far, which was a big relief! I'm never sure if I've done enough or not. I'm fretting a bit over presenting a nice, written out workbook by the end of term.. I type up all my notes because my handwriting is a) appallingly slow and b) horribly messy. And typed up writing stuck into a sketchbook always looks a bit half-hearted. But, ah well. It's a long way off, and she didn't bring it up, so I'm just fretting.

I've uploaded a few more of the pictures I've done recently for my design. I've improved on it in places, and tried out variations on some of the detail.

Tags: corsetry | costume design | theatre design

This is my initial design sketch for the Corsets and Structures course. The concept came to me after I became interested in the use of animals as metaphorical devices for human behavior. Spiders are often connected in this sense with tricksters and deceptive behavior, and in female characters in particular with the use of sensuality and sex to decieve males (in no small part due to the Black Widow's infamy). I wanted to subvert this by presenting an openly powerful female character who doesn't have to rely on tricks and guile. Many spiders, as opposed to the trickster trope, are strong and agile predators, the big cats of their ecosystem, and the females are no exception. I wanted to try and put this across in my Spider Queen design.

I think overall this is the direction I'm going to progress with. I'm going to lose the fishtail though, and instead make the net skirt more opaque. I really don't need the extra workload that would come with making a fitted fishtail skirt. Our Autumn term is quite short, so I wanted to make sure that I design a piece I can complete within the time we've been set. We have some of the third term set aside for finishing these pieces, but ideally I'd like that to be used for neatening up and perfecting bits before the exhibition, as opposed to a mad rush. Also, I know the initial sketch corset was delightfully vague, but upon further research I'm thinking that a late 19th Century shape would be best, or possibly 1900s. Going with the wasp-waisted shape was tempting due to the subject matter, but I felt it wouldn't really suit the overall design.

Tell me what you think! :)

Tags: corsetry | costume design | theatre design

Okay, so I've managed to lose this message twice now, so I'll do it all in one lump this time!

Tuesday went.. well, it didn't really go anywhere. The tech support in our Uni building forgot that our tutor requested a slide carousel, so after announcements and going through the brief, there wasn't a whole lot left to do. So she arranged that we have 10 minute one-to-one sessions, except that the head of 3rd Year had forgotten to send out the letter requesting that we bring along preliminary work and research. Oh dear. Still, we got on as best we could in the 1-to-1 sessions, and she seemed to approve of my idea a lot (which I'll detail in a seperate post).

She'd initially planned a catchup lecture on Wednesday for us to see the lecture she'd originally planned, but for whatever reason it turned out that that couldn't happen. So I spent a while drawing out more makeup/facepaint designs for my concept, and doing some research on the influences and origins.

Nothing happened on Thursday either, so I spent the afternoon in the University Library, digging out the books I could find on corsetry, photocopying them with wanton enthusiasm (I'm not sure what I'm going to do with so many photocopies in my workbook, but having them to hand is endlessly useful) and loaning out the ones I thought would be helpful. I did another sketch of my costume design, tweaked it slightly and finished the alternative facepaint design.

Tags: university | costume design | lectures

And we're started! (..finally)

I have no idea why my University decided to start off the year a few weeks later than everyone else, but there we go. The day started off at 10am with everyone meeting in the Theatre. Not much was settled though, mainly just the tutors telling us about how their holidays went. Then the power cut out, and the fire alarm went off, and we all had to hang around the local Arboretum for 20 minutes or so until it was turned off. Then we split off for yeargroup tutorials, and were told (in vague terms, unfortunately..) where our next lessons are tomorrow. I think mine is somewhere in the Yorke Building.. I'll have to check online. I think the head Admin on our course updated it.

Overall.. A sketchy day. But ah well, the first week is always a bit like this. So far no paperwork to upload, but I'll keep you posted.

Whisper

Tags: first week

So, I thought I should set up a first post to introduce myself to you all, and set out the basics of what I'm studying and what you'll be subjected to here over the next year or so! My course doesn't start until early October, so I won't have much to post until then, but I'll try to keep everyone's interest until then.

I'm currently studying Theatre Design (Bsc Hons) at Nottingham Trent University. I've been at this for two years now, and so far it's gone well. Within the course people tend to specialise in three broad categories; Costume, Workshop and Speculative Design. There's also the default academic side which we all have to complete, but the essays are usually mercifully short, and there's no written exam. We're marked entirely on our third year coursework, which is brilliant, since I have an absolutely dire writing speed..

So, this year is going to be by far the most pressured yet. The first term module I've chosen is Corsetry, then working on costumes for the department's Musical production for that year in the second term, and the third term will be devoted to neatening up our first and second term coursework for presentation, and doing our dissertations (16,000 words).

So, stay tuned. I'll try to post as many of my notes, tutorials, etc, as I can. But until then, it's back to finishing up my own website, doing a couple of commissions, and generally preparing for the new term (read; vegetating).

Amy

Tags: introduction