Tailoring

8/10/13

Alongside my new Millinery class, I am also attempting my first bit of Tailoring! The hardest bit about the brief was the fact that I had to choose my own jacket to make.

As I am making a selection of Military hats in Millinery, I have decided to construct a jacket to go with one of them......here are some of my ideas so far.........

The Australian Army tunic;

The red Irish Guard tunic;

Javert's tunic from Les Mis;

and finally the red tunic worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police!

Well.....my tailoring module was hard work and very hectic (hence the delay in results!) but I'm glad to say that I was awarded with a distinction!! (or a First in degree terms!)

To start, I had to learn a few tailoring techniques....

My own hand-made shoulder pads using calico fabric and wadding!

Using iron-on interfacing to create the fusible method of tailoring. Showing darts and collar inside jacket........

..........and outside jacket.

Here's the custom or bespoke method! i used goats hair interfacing on the inside of the jacket front and used different types of stitching to hold everything together so that you couldn't see any thread from the other side!

I finally decided to make the RCMP jacket so here are a few images that I found on the internet which I'm going to use as a guide when making my jacket.....

Here's my construction log and final results.........

Found a basic block for a pattern that i could adjust myself.

The main thing that needed adjusting was the shoulder dart on the front bodice piece......

Next came the sleeves. I've never done tailored 2-piece sleeves before so here goes.....

Pattern pieces for sleeves!

Next stage is the toile making. I measure up my model, Jess and start cutting out pattern pieces......

Front bodice with dart adjustment

Back of jacket with seam adjustment

Wasn't too sure about this but decided to add vents into the back of the jacket....

To make the mandarin style collar I used a pattern from my Winifred Aldrich metric pattern cutting book.
Thanks Winnie!!!

Looks alright!!! :)

Well, the sleeve goes in OK but is a bit short.......adjustment needed!!
I blame the pattern block!! :)

Next to start cutting from the real fabric.....

For this I used a scarlet twill for the main body and a navy twill for the collar pieces. I also used a red satin for the partial lining and red sating bias binding for the seams.

Final layout

I had to make sure that certain areas of the jacket were interfaced. Our tutors decided to go for the iron-on fusible method rather than the bespoke method as it was quicker!!! Thank God!! lol

Shoulder areas need extra interfacing!

Keep forgetting to cut AROUND the darts!! Wondered why they were getting in the way!

Adding the facing to the front of the jacket.

Bodice all sewn together and interfaced.......

.........ready to try on Jess!

Woo Hoo! It fits!!!

Satin lining goes in!!

Sleeves are then added and four pockets. Two on the breast.....

......and two on the hip.

Use my toile pattern for the collar but this time add a couple of inches!

Attach the navy twill.....

.....and done!!

Once finished, I give the jacket a good pressing, add the buttons and badges and hand it in for marking (along with a mountain of research!!!)

I'll add pictures of the finished jacket later!!!!! :)

Millinery

8/10/13

Well, Uni has started up again and my first brief in my Millinery class was to choose my own theme and create a collection of 5 - 6 hats! After about 2 seconds thought (!) I decided to go with a Military theme for my hats and include a variety of caps, berets and bonnets from all over the world.

Here are a few of my ideas so far.........

An Irish Guards bearskin cap (made with synthetic fur!);

A french bicorne (as modeled by Russell Crowe in Les Mis);

A stetson style hat worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;

A Victorian Royal Artillery pillbox hat;

An Australian slouch hat;

A sky-blue beret worn by the UN forces;

A Native American war bonnet;

A Royal Navy Seaman's cap.

My final decision on the hat collection was the RCMP campaign hat, the 18th C bicorne, the Native American War Bonnet, the Victorian Royal Artillery Pillbox, the Australian Slouch hat and the U.N blue beret!!! Here goes................

I started with the U.N beret!

I took a pale blue wool felt hast base/hood and blocked it over a wooded hat block. the way to do this is to take a bowl of very hot water (be careful!!) and dunk the hood into it for around 10-15 seconds. Next, lift the wet hood out ant quickly place over the wooden hat block. Make sure the block is cover in a layer of cling film first though as this will be much easier when taking the dried hat off!

Next I stretched a hoop around the hood and pinned it as tightly as I could to the block. This was then left for 24 hours!

Once the hood has been taken off the block. I trim the edges to the size I want. I then added felt stiffener and left to dry for another 24 hours!!!

Once the beret shape had dried, I attached leather binding to the brim leaving the inside open while I attach the lining. 

i made my own pattern for the lining which was a simple circle measured to fit and a long strip for the edges. 

Once the ling was added, I simply finished off the bias binding on the inside, moulded the beret to fit and added a U.N badge! (To mould the beret I reverted back to my past life in the RAF and wet the beret whilst I was in the shower, shaped it and stood with it on my head for a while!!!!!)

My finished beret modeled by my son, Alex! Thanks Alex!!!!!!



Next came the Australian Slouch hat..........