Glue!

I've mentioned glue in a lot of my posts.  I don't think I could make costumes without it.  Here's a run-down of my favorites:

• Tacky Glue - this is great for positioning things that you want to secure before you sew them down; things like zippers, perfectly straight ribbons on Columbia's shorts, and the white flower buttons on Janet's pink dress.  This glue dries clear and is water soluble so you can wash it out later if you like.  When working with ribbons, a thin smear is all you need.
• Spray Glue - there are several varieties, all good.  I use this when I want to spray-mount one fabric onto another - like a satin on top of a heavy twill to make corsets.  A light spray will make it easy to work with and reposition your layer as needed.  I also use this to mount the sequin fabric onto Columbia's bustier.
• Jewel-it - ideal for rhinestones and sequins onto fabric (i.e. Floorshow corsets).  It's not as stringy as other glues, so you can get a neat 'dot' of glue exactly where you want it.
• Fabric Fusion - this is like liquid sewing.  Unlike Tacky glue, this is meant to be permanent on fabrics.  I use this to put Columbia's bow on her hat and other small projects.  It's nice to have, but not as necessary as the other glues listed here.
• Amazing Goop /or/ e6000 - This is more of a "prop" than "costume" glue.  I use it to put rhinestones on tap shoes, patches on Frank's jacket and any other permanent project.  I've also used it in place of the Jewel-It and Fabric Fusion glues in a pinch.  

Frank's Floorshow Corset (Research)

Frank's flooshow corset is red satin, and presumably lined in white.  In fact, it's very similar to his corset from the Belasco (pictured on the Anal Retentive Costume site) that you can't go wrong using it as a reference.

It's satin and laces up the front about 2/3 the way through 8 holes on each side with black lacing.

There is a ruffle across the top front, but it diminishes to nothing on the sides.  There is boning on either side of the eyelets, then the boning channels become slanted.  Again, I would use Ruth's Belasco corset for reference - it's probably the same.  The bottom has ruffling all the way around, in addition to some black (tattered?) lace trim.

There are swags of red beads across the top front (be sure to secure each swag individually).    The sequins are clustered more heavily around the center top and bottom, but continue to be dispersed over the rest of the corset.

Like the other's floorshow corsets, it probably closes up the back with hook & eyes, though a zipper would be better for quick-changing.

He has 4 red crinkled garter straps, and the satin on them seems to be similar to the trim used in the ruffles along the top and bottom.

My personal conspiracy theory?   I think the Belasco corset could be the same corset from the film with minor modifications. It seems silly to me that after wearing it on set in December of 1974 Sue would make an identical one for the same actor to wear on Broadway 12 weeks later.  Pay special attention to the beaded swag and boning channels.  Identical.  Besides, we already know Sue has recycled pieces from other productions (re: The Maids).  Or is the film corset otherwise accounted for?

Columbia's Top Hat Ribbon

This is a supplemental post to making Columbia's Top Hat.  Click here to view my Top Hat construction entry.

Columbia's ribbon band on her hat makes it easy to disguise where the fabric from the brim and the topmeet.  I use 1" wide black grosgrain (ribbed) ribbon.  Pre-measure a piece to go around the base with a 1" overlap, spray adhesive on one side of the ribbon and apply the ribbon to the hat (figure 1).  The spray adhesive is forgiving if you need to reposition as you work your way around.  You'll want the ribbon to be fairly snug to prevent any gapping that the hat's shape or layers of fabric may create.  Your overlap should be in middle of the left side (wearer's perspective) and the bow will cover the overlap.

The bow is a 10" piece of ribbon folded over and 'pinched' in the middle.  Stitch a 1" line near the edge of the pinch to keep the overlapped ends together and create the bow shape (figure 3).  

Take another strip of ribbon about 2-1/2" long, fold in half and sew 7/8" from the folded edge.  This will be bow's "knot".  Slide the pinched ribbon through the loop you just made with the knots seam to the back (figure 4).  You'll probably need to press your bow a little.

Position your bow over the hand band's overlap on the left side and glue or sew in place.  

Proposal Suit (research)

For being such a short scene, you actually get a lot of good views of her jacket.  The fabric looks to me like polyester Gabardine, but any mid-weight, wrinkle-resistant fabric would work fine.  The jacket has princess seams (front and back) and 6 fabric-covered buttons (I use 1-1/8").  The buttons can be faked with snaps  hidden under the row nearest the edge.  Which by the way, those buttons are very near the edge. The  middle row of buttons should be at or above the fullest part of the bust line or it might look droopy and sad.

The collar has that 70s look to it and you'll notice the buttons don't line up perfectly under it.   The collar is probably on straight, it's the overlap that doesn't go far enough over.

The jacket has a cropped, boxy look to it.  When her hands go up you can see an undershirt (probably for warmth on the cold day of shooting).  The "long" sleeves end before her wrists - though if you'll be wearing your pink dress underneath, you may choose to add enough length to hide the gingham cuffs.

There is a tuck at the top of each sleeve cap.  Normally when sleeves are set, they are eased into the armscye.  This actually makes the whole process easier and you can just make a pleat with the 'leftover' fabric that is always so hard to ease.

The skirt is a 6-panel A-line.  The zipper goes on the left side, but there are times when her skirt gets twisted  and looks like it's in the back.  The waistband is between 1" - 2".  If you're going to wear your pink dress under this do not wear the belt - it will show.

Columbia's Bow Tie (Research)

Bright pink sequin bow tie - sequins seem to be on the front only.  It's pretty easy to find a matching satin for the backside.  Black band - looks like a scrunchy band of satin to me, but I've seen a lot of Columbia's use a black elastic sequin band for this and it looks fabulous.  The added benefit of a satin band is that it won't get hung up on your tail coat's collar.

I'm not certain the top photo is actually from the film - but I think it was taken during filming (probably a Mick Rock photo?)  The band definitely looks satin here to me - but if it's not from the film it could have changed (as other things did).

The second photo is a screen grab and does lend itself to the sequin band theory a bit more.  This photo also shows the underside of her tail coat lapel is gold (not black).

And the last shot is a screen grab just to show the size and shape from a straight-on view.  Don't make it too small - that thing goes ear to ear!

Digitizing An Image

After posting Chris's amazing tutorial for hand embroidered patches, I thought I'd share a bit about the process of machine embroidery - specifically digitizing a design.  If you've ever looked into having a design custom made you may have been shocked at what they charge just to digitize your design.  To keep things simple, I'm just going to work with a black & white design.  More colors = more difficult.

You want to reduce your color depth to the number of colors you're using.  The fabric can be one of those colors (i.e. white stitching on a black fabric).  After desaturating (removing the color) from my image, I turn the contrast to 100% so that there are no shades of grey left.  Just two colors: black and white.

But the problem is a lot of tiny speckles that my software would make a horrendous mess out of.  It can do a running stitch for an outline, but it can't manage a lot of dots - there would be a thread connecting them all in one giant mess.  So you need to clean up your design.  Connect areas of like color when possible (unless you know you'll need them stitched differently, i.e. separate directions).

After you import your design into the embroidery software it will automatically assign direction and stitch values that you'll probably want to modify.  It doesn't understand what the image is of, it's only evaluating the efficiency of the elements.  You will need to address each segment individually.  Sometimes an element may not translate from the image at all and you'll need to go back to the previous step and modify your design.

Above are two screenshots of how my software "sees" the image - the first is before editing.  Notice the crazy stitching around the left eye and some of the bizarre direction changes in his hair.  Changes in stitch direction will reflect light differently and be very apparent.  When in doubt, it's probably best to make everything go the same direction.

Then finally you're ready to export your design to the machine and test it out.  You may realize you need to make revisions, but the goal is to have most of those worked out before you waste time and materials.

Rocky Horror T-shirt Quilt

I started this project last year after being asked to create a similar project for Dana.  I had hoped to finish it in time for The Celluloid Jam 2 con, but that didn't happen.  I've pecked away at it for a year, but most people could probably make one in a couple weekends.

Some of the shirts were from conventions I attended (and didn't get to).  Some were from other casts I've visited (and plan to visit).  And some were from Stage Productions.  One was actually my own creation.

T-shirt quilts are as simple as any other quilt, with one extra step.  You'll need to stabilize the back of the t-shirt pieces before cutting them out.  This will prevent them from stretching into wonky shapes when you work with them.  You can use any light-weight fusible interfacing of your choice - it comes in black or white, and you can also buy it with grid lines (not really necessary).

Hand Embroidered Frank Patches (Tutorial)

This tutorial was submitted by Chris Froehler.  I think his results are amazing and it's a very affordable way to make your Frank costume stand out!

Materials:
   Felt
   Patience
   A Pen
   Fusible Interfacing
   Regular Thread
   Sulky Holoshimmer Thread
   Patience
   An Embroidey Hoop
   Sewing Needles
   And Patience..

Begin by finding, or taking a picture of the patch you would like to reproduce.. I'll be making a Hell's Angels patch. You'll need to resize it, and create a mirror image of it to trace onto your iron on interfacing.  (Be sure to trace the image before applying the interfacing to the felt.)

After you have applied the interfacing, place the material in the embroidery hoop. Being sure to get all of the slack out of the material.

Now we come to the part some of you might find intimidating.. But don't! :) It's a lot easier than you might think. You'll want to begin working with the interfacing facing you, so you have the traced image to use as a reference. Start by passing the needle through the felt on one of the lines of your sketch, and bring it back through on another. It's as easy as working with a coloring book! Make several parallel passes keeping your stitches about 1/8" apart until you have the body of the image finished, and turn the hoop over. 
You should now have a rough image to use as a guide. 

Using the same technique, but now using your stitches, and a photo of the patch as a reference, begin to add stitches between the ones from the first pass.  Once that is done, repeat the process until you have finished working with that color thread and move onto the next one! 
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!  Be sure to find me on Facebook and share your projects with me. :)

Tips on working with the Sulky metallic, and Holoshimmer thread...

This "thread" is actually a very thin, ribbon-like strip of polyester film.  When threading a needle (I like to double up when using this thread) be sure to keep the film flat. If it gets twisted, it doesn't reflect the light very well. After passing the thread through the eye of the needle, hold the needle in one hand. With your thumb and fore-finger, pinch the thread and slide down the length to remove any twists and turns that might have occurred while drawing the thread off of the spool.. Tie the thread 2 or 3 times to make a knot large enough to prevent it from being pulled straight through the fabric. Pass the needle through the fabric. When you pass the needle back through, keep your finger or thumb under the stitch, so you can be sure the thread lays flat against the fabric for optimal reflection. 

Patterns are coming!

The original plan was to take some pattern and fashion CAD classes at the local college this Spring. Well, everything filled up in early registration before I got a chance to register and I'm not really keen on waiting another 8 months to try again next Fall.

So the new plan is to use the money I would have spent on the classes to just buy the software and equipment and get to learning on my own.

Right now I have a lot of patterns drafted in a lot of sizes. My end goal is to get those patterns on the computer and graded (sized). I'll work out the instructions and illustrations, and I'll create an online support resource for my patterns. Questions can be posted/answered to create a FAQs for each pattern so that I don't have to repeatedly answer the same questions, and also that I'll know where I need to update my pattern instructions in future printings. Writing out the instructions seems way more daunting to me than designing the patterns!

I'm hoping to have my most popular designs patterned in time for the RI con in August, 2013. Sometime later in Spring I'll be asking for pattern testers.

Floorshow Corsets (Research)

This is shared with permission by Stefan from the RockyHorror.org forums.  He debunks a long-held myth that the floorshow corsets were worn upside-down and backwards to get their unusual style.  Stefan did a mock-up of what he believed were the hook and eyes up the back (not a busk), which would imply they were custom-made for the film (not bought off-the-rack) and his image lines up beautifully with screen-shots of Columbia's corset; see for yourself-

Okay, this is the mock up I made.

It's not exactly the same hook and eye tape as I mentioned before, but it is very close. And it's black with chrome square eyes.
I sewed the tape onto the fabric pieces in the most simple straightforward way. I added some multicolor sequins to the mock up for size comparison to the original. These are the standard sized 6mm flat sequins.

I closed the two pieces together with the hook and eye tape and pinned it on a doll, making sure to put a little bit of tension on the mock up, simulating the tension of a bustier/corset. While I took the picture I slightly moved my camera a bit to recreate the tiny unsharpness of the motion blur we see in the original photograph

Using photoshop I posted the picture next to the columbia picture. All I did with altering the picture, was brightness, contrast and some color changes, cause the fabric came out a bit redder on the picture than colombia's did. I then scaled the picture (while maintaining the original dimensions (no stretching the image) and then rotated it slightly to mimic the diagonal of the original.

I personally think it is a very good match. Both in look, proportions, and spacing. But see what you think.