Classical Ballet Update

After having a very busy few weeks its finally Easter and I can catch up on something's.  we had our fitting for our ballet tutu's on Tuesday which went really well everything fit really well. I have some pictures of the fitting and the tutu construction.

It is a very technical way in which these tutus are put together and kind of a trade secret, very few seem to know the real way in which they are made and those who do may not want to share.  We have however a very good tutor who has worked in prestigious places prior, so forgive me but I will not be handing over these secrets. 

There are many layers of net pleated together to create the tutu shape.  Its involves maths and a lot of Patience to get it right.  Below is the final tutu with all the layers sewn onto it.

It goes through a stage of stringing which holds the layers together and the most surprising is that there is a metal hoop nestled within the many layers.  It also goes under the bed to flatten it, I was quite apprehensive about this thinking that it may move and crease in the wrong way however when it came out it looked like a proper tutu opposed to the startled swan previous!

Here are some pictures of it.

All the layers all pleated

After being put under the bed!

Argentine Tango Ideas

After my first attempt at designing I have continued to look closely at all types of Latin dresses for ideas.  As it is for a university project I think it is important to keep the tango feel with it rather than go off track by designing a dress that to some may not radiate tango.   I have designed a few dresses which the client has looked at and suggested improvements, what she likes doesn't like, so they are working designs. 


It was established that she really like the one sleeve idea and wishes that to be in the design, before o knew this a drew the design below.  The yellow dress in the previous post and this one were the first 2 I showed her to get ideas of what she liked as she was open to anything.  We sat down and narrowed down what she liked, as said she wanted the one sleeve, she also liked the colour of the dress and the shape of it.  What she didn't like so much was the V of the hem being in the centre of the legs, I suggested it move to the outside of the legs more at a V.  She liked the cut out effect at the waist and the flowers on the hip.

 

My next few designs were influenced by the Argentinean Show Tango Fire which I went to go and see at the Peacock Theatre London.  The costumes were fantastic, there was a mix of traditional and Show dresses with long, chiffon skirts and gathers and sparkles.  My favourite one was a floor length ( not sure how she could dance in it without standing on it) chiffon one with White lace and exposed stomach.  It was  beautiful and moved beautifully on the stage.    I was lucky enough after emailing to go and have a look at some of the costumes including that one to get an idea of construction.  They were constructed in a different way to how I thought, each was done like a dress then Lycra knickers were inserted into in. The trip did give me a lot of inspiration.

I also spoke with Chrisannes in London who allowed me to come and look at their dance dresses that they make.  I went up with my client to look.  They were incredible helpful and got out some Latin dresses for us to look at and gave me last years fabric swatch folder to take away so I can chose my fabrics at home.  We also got shown around the workroom as well which was brilliant, to see where they work was so helpful as you could see the dresses at different stages.  They were made the way I thought dance dresses were with the Lycra body suit and the dress built over the top.  We did get some inspiration for the dress from there, there was this pink dress with a corset style top and chiffon skirt with a split at the side.  It had on the knicker part of it all crystals and beads were covering it, so when danced in just flashes were shown.   I will try to get that into my design.  We also like a purple one very similar to what I had drawn so I will be drawing on that for inspiration.

After both these trips I came to the design below, it is still a work in progress but is a rough idea of what we aer aiming for.  We chose a few fabrics, Velvet being a favourite with the reverse being different pink colour.  It has a lace, stretch net black sleeve with elements of the lace being transferred down the dress.  Crystals will cover in and the knickers so that it is very sparkly.

I do like this design, I am not too sure on the layout of the net.  I am going to start to making the toile soon so will update then.

Argentine Tango Dress

Along side my ballet project I have decided for the other half of my uni project I have decided to design and make a Argentine tango dress for my dance teacher.  At the moment it is just in the researching, doodling stages.  I am yet to know the type she wants as the dance both traditional and show tango so the dress will need to reflect which ever she has decided to dance.  At the moment I have done a few drawings with the show element in mind.  I have got inspiration  from a few dresses especially the yellow Latin dress.  I really like the one sleeve as did my dance teacher and the S shaping on the bodice.  I have taken this idea into the design below.

( the drawing isn't  brilliant, its not my strong suite but I have tried)

As said I used the one sleeve and neckline similar to Latin dress but given it more of a tango skirt.  Its a shimmery black stretch fabric with black and yellow hot stones and beading on it.  There will be chiffon or Georgette yellow godet in the skirt with a dip hem and split up one side. On the side with out the sleeve with be a bra cup covered it the same colour fabric as the godets and strap with go across the back to hold it in place.

I do like this design and have sent it to my dance teacher for her opinion.  I feel this may look more like a ballroom tango dress however I think it could work for Argentine, it may need to be made a bit shorter in the hem so nothing gets caught with the heels. This is just a first design so it will most probably be adapted. 

Inspiration for Ballet Decoration

The red faerie is meant to represent passion.  This is something that is hard to represent in decoration.  It needs to not look like fire which could be tricky as things like using reds could look like a fire, but then using reds and blacks could make it look Spanish.  I think its important for me to represent Passion subtly into the costume.  It needs to look very organic as the designer wants them to look like they have emerged from the ground and out the woods.  There is a briar rose vine on the power net arm that we are all interpreting them we will decide on the best way and use it on all of ours, this is too look as though it is growing from them. 

Those who are not familiar with the story of The Sleeping Beauty, it is a tale that dates way back the the 1400's, before the myths and legends, before Tchaikovsky ballet,  before the Grimm's brothers and way, way before Disney.  They all follow a similar story in which the princess pricks her finger on a spinning needle and is put to sleep for 100 years.  The faeries come into play by casting a spell on the whole land so that all sleep for 100 years.  To protect the land rose vines cover the kingdom walls creating a barrier to the outside world.  This is quite a dark part,  the rose isn't pretty, its thorny and twisted and dark, this is what we need to focus on when doing the vine work. 

For my actual decoration I have decided to use the passion flower as a motif.  This picture below really inspired me, I think it has the organic feel to it, along with the sense of passion and dark twisted feel of the briar rose but also looks pretty and feminine which also has to be represented as they are not evil faeries. 

I am going to experiment with different techniques in interpreting the passion flower using beads, feathers, netting, ribbons, sequins etc. We are aiming to achieve something professional that could be seen on stage not something over textured that it is not a performance piece, it needs to be able to be used!

Classical Ballet Tutu

Hello, once again university has taken up a lot of my time.  I have really hi the ground running this term with a 4000 word dissertation in and  the start of a new project.  This is the start of my very last term and its all very exciting.  After previously making a romantic ballet tutu I am now expanding my expertise into the Classical Ballet tutu making.  This is very exciting as there are very few people out there who are still teaching the traditional method.  We have some amazing designs designed by fellow student Melissa Burton, from the ballet Sleeping Beauty.  The designs are of the 6 faeries I have chosen the red faerie picture below.

The have been based on Pre Raphaelite era on a painting by Edward Burns Jones called The Briar Rose based in Buscott Manor in Oxfordshire.  As this is not for an actual production we can really interpret it how we like as a group.  They still need to work together as one but as styling goes it doesn't have to be tradition.

As with most ballets there is a signature which will goes across all the designs. They are:

• 18 panel bodice.
• vine work on the sleeves.
• Power net sleeves.
• cream tutu.
• Metallic gold layer of organza on the tutu.

My design characteristics have been passion, lust, strength, I need to try and convey this within my chosen colour and decoration.

My design has an extra layer of metallic gold on the tutu.
The designer whats gold and cream beads on the decoration with not a lot of sparkle I like the idea but do think that we need some sparkle otherwise we will all end up with costumes looking beautiful close up but indistinguishable from a distance.  I plan to incorporate some shimmer into my designs.

We have been lucky in that our tutor has managed to get us models from a ballet school so they will be modelled on proper dancers which will be nice and we are now palling a big photo shoot for our portfolio.
We have all decided to buy pointe shoes and tights in order to paint into them to create the full effect of the costume however this is something we shall get after the fitting just in case the dancers has a preference.

Janet Arnold Award

Its has been an extremely long time since my last post however i have been very busy at university.  This term i decided to complete an 1866-7 Day dress from the Janet Arnold Books for the competition.  This involves recreating the costume to the exact measurements in the book and near as possible to the original. 

Bath Fashion Museum (n.d) 1866-7 Day Dress, Object number: BATMC 1.09.1089,

The dress i chose is a day dress from the mid Victorian era at the end of the Civil War, Scarlet O Hara style dress as it has more puffiness at the back and flatter at the front.  i made the crinoline for this as well. 

Bath Fashion Museum (n.d) 1866-7 Day Dress, Object number: BATMC 1.09.1089,

To start i went to look at the original which is in Bath Museum of Fashion.   Its made out of stone colour silk satin with cotton back and silk satin cornflower blue double piping and fringing.  It had a false hem out of cotton twill and blue velvet ribbon binding the hem. 

It is such a lovely dress the colour drew me to it so that was the important part for me to get the colour an exact match. 

The fabric was the hardest to work out as i wanted it to look perfect and the contrast needed to be right in order for the dress to be that striking.  I started my search on the Internet with James Hare and found a few however they were not quite the right colour however they did have cotton back silk satin which would have worked well.  i then went to London to look and found the perfect silk satin in a gold/ stone colour which has lovely.  I compromised on the piping fabric as i couldn't find the right colour in satin so got silk dupion instead but it was a good choice as it looks brilliant.

The dress is lined with glazed cotton which i could not find in the correct thickness so i used Swedish silk cotton, and cotton lawn to line the sleeves which was in the original.

 The construction went together surprisingly well only a few alterations needed on the toile like the shoulder and hem line but everything else fitted well considering the she got the pattern off a garment already together.

When constructing the dress on top fabric the initial dress went together ok.  I had huge issues with the piping however as it needed to look authentic so cotton twisted piping showed through the dupion so i had to wrap it in Iced Wool (used inside jackets) this took time as each piping cord had to be tacked into place before being machined.  It did also twist sometimes which i couldn't use so many hours and days getting that alright.

The fringing was just the dupion frayed which was fun and then sewn on by had.  All the piping was sewn on by hand along with the sleeves and collar.

I wanted it to be historically correct so i constructed the sleeves using the authentic method of cresting the elbow,  Authentic Victorian dress making techniques book helped a lot with this.

I also used cotton and silk thread where possible but on the initial construction i used polyester just for strength as cotton just tend to snap.  I also over stitched each seam to neaten it.

It had two pockets as well one in the seam of the skirt and a watch pocket in the waist band.

The hem i used white twill cotton  and dyed in brown for the false hem and bound it in the blue dupion.  I may change this s time for the competition in April but only if i find the appropriate colour velvet ribbon.

i feel that this may have been added a while after the dress was originally made as a repair for a worn hem as the colour is quite a way of the piping colour suggesting that they either couldn't match it or want to use the blue fabric or it was added later.

The button and belt is all done by hand as well the belt will have some ribbon down it however i have been unable to find one appropriate so am still looking.    i am very pleased with the buttons, i used the same dupoin cut in a circle with tailors chest felt stuck onto just the top of the button with the shank cut off and stitched the fabric round it pulling tight.

 i am very happy with the dress and feel it will be an asset to my portfolio,  I'm not too sure about its ability to go far in the competition purely because i think they may feel it might be quite simple as it doesn't look like a lot of work has gone into it however there was in fact a lot of work which i feel they may not see.  i am incredible proud of my creation and you never know what might happen with the competition.

My crinoline was harder than i thought it took a long time too.  The pattern was taken from Jean Hunniestts period costume for stage and screen with adaptions made to make it an elliptical crinoline. Each hoop is sewn on by hand with two layers of box pleats at the bottom.

 Its been all handed in now so i am hopefully going to get my frock coat finished for my boyfriend for Christmas. 

My next uni project is Ballet again but this time we are creating the plate tutu for designs for sleeping beauty i am very excited as the designs are amazing, they are quite earthy with frills and feathers and sparkles all over so i can't wait!

xx

 

Frock Coat, cutting out in top fabric

Its been a while since my last post i have been busy sorting out a few things for when i go back to university in October.  i have finally got onto cutting out the coat in the top fabric. Also i ordered the structural fabrics as well with drab coloured French canvas, collar melton, hair cloth and chest felt from this brilliant website MacCulloch and Wallis Ltd.  Having got myself a bit confused over where this canvas all goes as the book is good for the pattern but lacks a bit of construction information in some areas, i emailed my tutor at uni.  My question was that the wool fabric was rather thin and floppy so i wanted to know whether i put the canvas on the back to structure it a bit more.  The answer was to use cotton to line the wool and treat it as one fabric.  A bit annoyingly i had already cut out and mark tacked my pieces therefore i had to try and match the cotton to the top fabric as i will be following the inside lines oppose to the ones on the top fabric.  This took up quite a bit of time.  I decided to do this on every piece except the front as i think with the canvas and felt it would have structure and be too bulky with the cotton as well.  I made sure i basted all the lines and balance points and marked the roll line on the lapels.
I basted all my lines in as well and balance points. 

I have learnt a few interesting points whilst doing this as in not to pin the pattern to the wool but use weights otherwise it distorts the pattern, i didn't think it did but after pinning a bit it really does and for tailoring which has to be accurate that little extra few cms could throw it all off a bit.

Next you have to do some shaping and stretching the pieces. When i first read this i thought  it sounded quite strange and thought that it can't be that accurate but you only stretch certain areas 6mm max.  On the front the shoulder, gorge and skye are stretched and the middle of the shoulder seam is shrunk by basting down the centre and pulling shorter and place a steam iron on it shrinking out the crinkles.   This did shape it very well.

Next step is sewing the sides to the front.  My chest line didn't match up which was annoying but i match the armhole and the hemline and stretched out the middle. This is as far as you go with sewing it.

Next is the pocket