Finished Tableau

Trims and Finishing

Never until the end of a costume are you told about the many different finishing and trimming techniques you need to use to get a costume ready before it can be shown to the public or even comfortably worn.

So with this in mind we used many different finishing and trimmings such as:
-Over locking
-Bias binding
-Rolled hem
-Zig Zag stitch
-Hook and eyes (A fastening I know but part of the finishing)
-Hemming
-Box pleated ribbon
-Herringbone stitch

We had Mrs Bennet's costume on her stand and we got to work

Over Locking
Over locking was used mainly on the inside seams. It was used on the inside seam of the bodice

It was also used on the inside seams of the chemise, and the inside seams of the sleeve and sleeves ruffle.

For this type of thick fabric that we used it was best to over lock, as other finishes would not have looked as neat and would not laid as flat as over locking did.

Bias Binding

We also used Bias Binding to finish of edges. This was use on all edges on the chemise, making a drawn string for the top and bottom and finishing of the arm holes.

Bias binding was also used on the collar of the bodice, and bottom of the bodice to neaten off the raw edges.

We also used bias binding on the side of the sleeve to neaten up the raw edge where the cuff and the ruffle joined.

Ribbon and Herringbone Stitch

We originally had a bright orange ribbon, that we would have attached to the collar, however out designer did not like this colour and so settled with a cooler gold colour.

The gold was box pleated and then was sewn together on a sewing machine on a long teaching stitch to hold the pleats together to make attaching it to the collar easier.

The ribbon was then attached to the collar by a herringbone stitch.

We also herringbone stitched down the centre front of the the bodice, to hold back the parts that would have the fastenings attached to them.

Rolled Hem

The rolled hem was only used on the edges of the ruffle on the sleeves. And in this case the rolled hems, although can be done on the machine, had to be done by hand.

Sewing the rolled hem was incredibly therapeutic, but also extremely time consuming. The trick with a rolled hem is that the small it is the better it is.

To help get a good rolled hem, the first fold can be pressed over, but the second cannot, other whys you don't get the rolled hem effect.

The rolled hem is certainly my favorite finish, despite being the most time consuming.

Reinforced Zig Zig

This finished is used when there are lots of layers of fabric. Despite an over locker being great, sometimes it just can't get through lots of layers, and so something simpler need to be done.

This was used on the arm hole, where the sleeves head and arm hole were attached.

There was a second row if stright stitching down around the arm hole, to reinforce first line, then a zig zag stitch was sewn around. Then the fabric was cut down to next to the zig zag stitch. The zig zag stitch whilst strong, also helps to prevent the fabric from fraying too much.

This stitch was also used on the join of the skirt to the bodice.

The Hem

 Unfortunately I have no pictures of the work and effort that went in to the sewing of the hem.

This finish was only done on the bottom of the skirt. Here you can see me measuring the bottom of the skirt. It needed to be cut down before the hem could be sewn up.

The hem was cut, and pressed over on the iron, then ladder stitch was used to sewn the hem down, catch only a small amount of the top fabric, to prevent the stitching from being see on the out side.

Hook and Eye (Fastening, but done at the same time as these finishings)

The hook and eyes were only used at the centre front of the costume.

We used three large hook and eyes and two small hook and eyes

The small hook and eyes ended up taking the weight of the costume, rather than the large one, which was unexpected but it still worked and helped hold the front of the garment closed.

And so the costume was finished. The bum pad, the chemise and the dress all made, constructed and finished; with exceptional attention paid to detail

With one final pressing we would take photos and have our dress look presentable and ready for the next day where it would be tried out in the tech rehearsal, on set.

Black Female Character shoes from the costume store for Mrs Bennet

We stored Mrs Bennet's costume ready for the next day on hangers to keep the skirt from getting creased.

We were ready for the tableau.

Sleeves

We have had various stages of sleeve toiles and pattern editing for the sleeve. Due to the complexity if the dress the sleeves always became an after thought so in these last stages we have a concentration on the sleeves, making sure they get done, fitting it correctly to the actress.

Second Pattern Edit

Third Pattern Edit

Above shows the various versions of pattern editing, with lots of copying and drawing over sleeves pattern to create the new version.

The final pattern edit

This was done to lift the sleeve seam under the arm closer to the arm hole, and made the size of the pattern slight wider, this will make it easier for the actress to fit their arms inside the sleeves.

With these many edits over the weeks of construction we had our final pattern.

With our sleeve pattern finalised we could begin cutting out pattern out of fabric, a lining fabric and the final striped fabric.

The striped and lining fabric flat tacked together to keep them in shape.

The lining of the sleeve fabric

The outside of the sleeves

The next step was to begin constructing the sleeves, sewing up the dart that was on the sleeve and them sewing the side seam together.

An inside and outside view of the constructed sleeve.

During the pattern editing stages for the sleeve pattern we added lots of ease, and so this will need to be gathered in to the correct size before it can be inserted in to the sleeve.

Gathering on the head of the sleeves

Before it would be sewn to the bodice, we had to add a frill to the bottom of the sleeve.

This called for another pattern to be drafted.

This is the original frill pattern, copied from Janet Arnold's patterns of fashion, Volume 1.

Then like any good pattern that we have see on this process it is edited out, we wanted to make it a large frill, and so to get the same volume as seen on Mrs Bennet, we cut through the pattern and stretched it out to double the circumference of the sleeve cuff.

This is the slashed and stretched out pattern, nearly all 80 cm of it.

Then like all great pattern it was tested in calico to see how it would look on the bottom of the sleeves and make sure the seam on the frill and the sleeve matched up.

With the calico finalised and the seams matching up it was on to cutting the sleeve ruff out of the striped fabric and a white underneath fabric, it was a different material to the one used for lining the sleeve, as this new fabric was good for gathering and a lot lighter, so would give the ruffles on the sleeve a floating look.

Then we sewed the seam on the ruffles, and with a long loose stitch gather up the ruffles, separate of each other to give more flounce to the sleeves ruffle.

 These beautiful ruffles were then sewn to the sleeves cuffs, right side to right side, 4 layers of fabric on top of each other. I was really worried about pushing the ruffles out, but all seamed to go well.

The gathering on the ruffles still in place, having sewn them in to the cuff 

I surprised myself at how well I managed to keep to the seam allowance line, that all of the stitched seemed to be exactly along that line 

A view of the cuff against the gathering of the ruffles 

The Sleeve, so very proud of it.

Then the final step with the sleeve constructed and the ruffle attached, the sleeve needed to be inserted in to the bodice.

 Here you can see the pins used to hold the sleeve in place before it is stitched

Here you can see the detail of the gathering inside the sleeve

With that the sleeves were made and in the bodice, ready for the next stage.