Brad's Bow Tie

Prince Edward Stuart tartan!  Yup, Russ D. brought this to my attention, and I concur with his evidence. The bow tie has blue and green in it. And it's not even that hard to find!

Like all tartans, there seem to be variations with the same name - look for the kind with one yellow stripe (some have a double yellow stripe or even a white stripe instead). 

View the correct tartan on the Clan website. 

Brad's Kimono

The red kimono has arrived! By all evidence, it seems to be identical to the blue kimono that Brad wears - it has all of the same embroidered butterflies and flowers in the same places.

I'll be digitizing these designs (creating embroidery files) - though it's a taxing process going back and forth from the computer to the embroidery machine - testing, editing, testing, editing, etc.

I'll also be measuring and patterning the kimono itself, as well as creating a file to mark the placements of all the designs.

In the meantime I'm going to drop some of my photos here for reference:

Brad's Robe

I went looking for photos of Brad's robe and realized I've never posted about it! 
So here's some screen caps - it's a basic kimono-style robe. Open armpits and such. No shortage of patterns out there, though it's probably easier to find a robe and just add the embroidery.

Pride Costumes...

Here's some of the stuff I've made for Pride month - I started most of these weeks (months?) ago but had to wrap them up quickly. Don't be fooled, I'm still spending most of my days working on Space Suit commissions. Most of these will appear on stage in Austin and Houston, TX.

Floorshow Boa Research

There are two known, extant boas:
1. The King's Road Boa owned by Ruth (and possibly used by Rocky in the film)
2. Columbia's Boa owned by Larry

They have a lot in common and appear to be made from the same materials, however the order of their layers is different. They both begin with a length of black twill tape (grosgrain will work well, too). Both boas also begin with pleated chiffon on the ends - it's a little droopier and gives the boa a more tapered appearance. Both boas have multiple layers of pleated (most likely) Organza, but the lengths and positions of the Red and Yellow are reversed. The tassels appear to be the same.

Floorshow Garter Belts

My best guess is the metallic red ribbon is attached with a zig-zag stitch to some elastic while it's being stretched.  This will make the entire garter strap curl up on itself, but you might be able to flatten it with an iron. Definitely test your ribbon/method with some scrap pieces first. 

Columbia's photo shows that the middle/side strap is attached on top of the garter belt (the other straps are likely sewn into the designated seam).

Rocky's garter belt gives some insight on the fabric - definitely stretchy (not a plain satin). 

Brad's Shoes

Brad wears black loafers with an elasticated gusset in the wedding scene, and then brown loafers with a higher tongue/vamp. 

He wears white socks throughout, which makes the quick change after "Dammit Janet" even easier. Brad (and Janet) have a little over 90 seconds for their quick change during the Criminologist's speech.

Brad's Underwear (Research)

Brad's Jockey underwear is referred to as a "Y-front" and features a "full rise", which was most popular in the 50's and 60's and already waning out of style in the early 70's.  While the Y-front is still manufactured it's hard to find anything beyond a mid-rise today.

As with all knit-wear there is a bit of distortion in the garments dimensions while being worn; places where it's intended to stretch more than others.  With that consideration, the leg of the inverted Y is nearly equal, but perhaps slightly shorter than the side seam.

Barry Bostwick is nearly 6'4", so the waistband would probably come all the way up to the naval on most men of average height.

The length of the center front (when worn) from the center of the waist down to the bottom of his *ahem*, is roughly the same span as the width of his waist.... creating a very "square" effect.

Quick 'n Dirty Denton Patch

Click to enlarge

Need a Denton High patch ASAP?  You can make an iron-on!  You'll need a package of Dark Fabric Transfers (I recommend Avery brand, #3279).  Follow the directions in the package to print this image on your transfer.  The patch image should be 3.65" across.  It will look great on stage and in photos.  If you decide you want to add the real thing later you can stitch it right on top of your iron-on.

Avery Dark Fabric Transfers on Amazon.com 

Custom Printed Fabric

I've been tinkering with this for a good while now. I will have swatches at the 40th Anniversary Convention.  If you're comfortable with Photoshop, the process is fairly easy. When you upload your design you have the option to set the repeat how you prefer.

Columbia's Pajama Stripe - This was printed by Spoonflower. I have experimented with the colors a bit, and though I think my final result is a bit dark, it lends itself well to natural fading for a truly "worn" look (you can accelerate the process with sun exposure and many washings). Spoonflower will also let you modify the colors before ordering, however I strongly recommend getting a swatch before purchasing yardage.

Brad's Bow Tie Plaid - I tried this on Spoonflower originally and I wasn't happy with any of the results. Every effort looked dull and faded - as if getting a saturated red was impossible.  I tried using their color-picker, and talking with customer support on the phone. Always the same dull results. I had much greater success with FabricOnDemand.com - the only complaint I have about them is that they do not have a store feature to let other people buy my designs directly.

Brad's Cummerbund Plaid - Pretty much the same exact experience as the bow tie plaid. My final results were from FabricOnDemand.com.

Janet's 1/2" Pink Gingham - Gingham is technically a woven plaid, but I've done my best to simulate the effect with printing. I got great results from Spoonflower.com so it's available in my shop there. I also have a lighter version of the same print for Janet's that are working with a lighter pink dress fabric and still want a good match.

Brad's Cummerbund (Pleating)

Is Brad's cummerbund pleated?  Well, judging by visual evidence alone it's very hard to tell.  But I will say that I've never met a cummerbund that wasn't pleated.  They may absolutely exist, but they would be a very rare specimen.  I'd be inclined to write them off as homemade unless they had their original label intact.  So abiding by the laws of fashion and "how things are generally done" - you can actually still pleat a plaid to look the same as it's original, un-pleated layout just by folding it carefully.

Also, the pleats on a cummerbund should always go up.  That is, imagine them as a crumb-catcher.  I've also heard that men could keep their valet tickets and such inside the folds - though that seems silly to me since I've never seen a men's tuxedo lacking in pockets inside and out.

So here I've used a piece of paper.  My printer was running out of red ink, but I think the fading actually helps delineate the pleats for this purpose.  The light areas have 9 squares in them - pleated or not.

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.

Brad's Khaki Jacket (Research)

Most thrift store finds are going to have the knit ribbing on the cuffs and/or all the way around the hem (the familiar Members Only jackets of the 80s).  Center zipper up the front, large pointy 70s collars, and a western style yoke.

The burgundy patch says Denton High School 1963 around some sort of tree (apple?)

The yoke has a western style in front, but goes straight across in back.  You could easily fake this with two parallel lines of stitching or even a light brown fabric pen.  He has two double welt pockets  in the front, and just a short piece of rib knitting on the lower sides (hem).  The rib-knit is a darker khaki/brown than the jacket.  This could easily be inserted into any straight-hem style jacket, and when making this jacket I actually add it last.

The cuffs are the same twill fabric as the jacket, and are unbuttoned.  I can't actually see the button, but Jenny assures me they are a light tortoise-shell (like what you typically find on mens khaki pants).

I've had decent look finding workable vintage 70s jacket patterns on eBay.  You probably won't find the yoke or rib-knit feature, but you can find a straight-cut mens jacket with those butterfuly collars easily enough.