Treassure island 2019 Work book

Costume design

First page of picture I was given to make my design and costume

Second picture to make my design and costume

Third picture I was given to make my costume

My take on a design for my costume based on the pictures I was given. I wanted to give the design a gathered-up skirt in front that shows the underskirt. The design is consisting of a petticoat, underskirt, top skirt, bodice and two fichus.

Technical drawings

Front of bodice, back of bodice, skirt, underskirt and petticoat is the same.

Synopsis and character breakdown

Heartless May is known for its great story on how she became a pirate. She is well known for being a ruthless and tough woman that no one dares to cross. She became a pirate when she snuck onboard one of the ships at the bay in her hometown to get away from a wedding where she was the bride. She didn’t want to get married to the noble man that her parents had promise her to. She dressed up as a man and set off with the ship. She was quickly discovered as a woman and then later climbed her way up the ranks on the ship and ended up as the Captain of the Black Bird, one of the most feared ships off the seven seas!

Name: Heartless May

Age: Unknown (no one dears to ask)

From: England – Bristol

Ethnicity: British

Relationship status: runaway bride

She is a tough- and thick-skinned lady that knows how to take care of herself. She is confident and independent and don’t feel like she needs a man in her life to tell her what to do. Even if this is the normal standards currently.

Measurements of actor

Research

18th century piracy

The early 18th century is also known as the “Golden age of Piracy”, a age that has fascinated us. Piracy had a massive growth in the 1716 after the War of Spanish succession. A lot of American and British sailors was without work after the war and instead of going to work for the navy or as an merchants they turned to piracy where they could work on their own jurisdiction.

Throughout history there have been people willing to rob others transporting goods on the water. These people, known as pirates, mainly targeted ships, though some also launched attacks on coastal towns.

(Simon, n.d.)

There is a difference between pirates. We say that there is the glamorous pirates and the abject pirates. Johnsons (1724) pirates are glamorous and normative, due to their position as English "rebel" privateers who ribbed French and Spanish enemy ships. Smart uniforms, fashionable clothes, rich decoration. This isn’t the stereotypical looks we think of when we say pirates. We think of the abject once with cut of limbs, hooks, missing and eye and etc. (Cross, 2019)

Fig. An abject pirate that is missing a leg

18th century women’s fashion

In formal setting a woman would wear a mantua. A mantua was an open fronted gown made out of fine silk or wool, with a train that was worn looped over the hips to reveal the petticoat. The bodice has elbow length, loose sleeves that is finished off with wide turned back cuffs. Underneath the outer petticoat a hooped petticoat and several under petticoats wore worn. There was also worn a corset underneath the bodice to give of the right shape. The corset was boned with whaleboning and was usually made from linen. It was also laced up in the back and sometimes they had a busk in the front as well.

Fig. A mantua from 1740-45 (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2011, p. 6)

In the 1730’s the sack back dress increased in popularity; a dress worn over a hoop petticoat. This was popular until the 1780’s. The sack back dress is made from 6-7 panels of silk pleated into two boxed pleats at the neck and flowed down and was incorporated into the fullness of the skirt.

Fig. Sack back dress 1750-75

The sack back dresses was at their widest during the 1740s and 1750s. Some of the dresses could be over 1.5meters across. This was most likely to have a hidden meaning of showing off how rich and wealthy you were.

As with many fashions, it is hard to say why such a cumbersome outfit was popular. One reason might have been that it displayed the richly embroidered cloth of the skirt that indicated the wearer's wealth.

(Victoria and Albert Museum, 2011)

When we moved over to the 1780s and up till the 1800s the silhouette changed drastically. The hoop skirts where discarded, the skirts was reduced in width, the waistline became higher until it reached the bust, hoops and petticoats were only used at court and the width of the dresses was reduced. Instead of petticoats and hoops, crescent-shaped pads were worn around the hips to help fill out the gathers in the back.

Embroidery in the 18th century

In the 18th century embroidery was a popular way to decorate the big gowns and the beautiful coats and waistcoats. Machines wasn’t invented yet so all the embroidery where done by hand. Being and embroider was a professional occupation don by men, but also women were embroiderers if embroidery was the main source of decoration for all cloths.

There were different types of embroidery that was used in the 18th century including tambour embroidery, metal thread and spangles embroidery, silk embroidery, quilting and more.

Looking at the coat bellow (see picture) you can see an example of silk embroidery. The art of silk embroidery was said by Saint – Aubin to be a technique that “requires much taste and skill to produce” (Marsh, 2012). Shaded embroidery that consist of long and short stitches, was the most popular when it came to silk embroidery. You can se on the coat that this is used here to create a gradient shade on the pattern that is embroidered on the cuffs, front and bottom of the coat.

Other stitches that was used was chain and stem stitches for single lines of worked close together as filling. French and bullion knots were used to create dots of texture to the embroidery. Herringbone, straight, fly and Cretan were worked as borders or also filling variations. (Marsh, 2012)

For my costume I used a herringbone stitch to sew down a trim at the end of the placket on the bodice for a nice gold touch. Gold metal thread was used to do this an was one of the techniques used in the 18th century.

Example of embroidery stitches used for silk embroidery.

Embroidery on sleeve and sides of a jacket. From Bath museum trip

Colour theory

For my costume I have chosen to go with the colour red in different tones trough out the entire costume. There is also gold in the brocade fabric for the bodice.

The colour red stands for a lot of things including blood, love, passion, desire, heat, longing, lust, sexuality, sensitivity, romance, joy, strength, leadership, courage, willpower, rage, anger, danger, malice, wrath, stress, action, vibrance, radiance, and determination. Many of these meanings represent my character and reflects onto the costume and why I chose red as the main colour.

The colour red is full of emotions and an intense colour. The meanings range from love and passion to anger and violence. It also represents both cupid and the devil. The colour is strong, hot and a simulating colour that represents energy and excitement. It is also a colour that is visible and able to get attention quickly which is just what my pirate needs.

Too much red can also cause loss of temper, anger, demanding and oppressive behaviours, which also reflects back at my pirate’s back story with the anger against her parents for setting her up and marrying her away to someone she don’t love. (Bourn, 2011)

Gold is also represented in my costumes through the brocade and a trim on the placket of the bodice. Gold represent extravagance, wealth, riches and excess which shows through my pirate’s success as a pirate. She is rich from all the ships they have robbed, and she is wealthy in success.

Gold is the extra touch I needed for my pirate to fully come to life and even tough its just in the details it still reflects back on my pirate’s backstory and present.

The black details with the lace represent the meaning of power and authority.

The colour black is associated with power, mystery, fear, strength, elegance, death, evil, authority, aggression, rebellion and sophistication. Black is a mysterious colour and typically associated with the negative or the unknown. Black is powerful and authoritative and can evoke strong emotions, too much black can also be overwhelming. (Bourn, 2010)

In the way that black can be overwhelming I have just used it for the sleeves and as a detail around the neck on the bodice.

Trip to bath

Me and some other student went for a trip up to the fashion museum in Bath. Here we had an appointment to see some of the 18th century garments they had in the collection up close. We were presented with a few different garments which included stomachers, mantua’s, sack back dress, polonies dress, men’s jackets, breaches, petticoats, hats, shoes and more.

Most of the garments were relevant to my vision of how I wanted the costume to be when it came to decorations like frills, embroidery and buttons.

The museum was founded in 1963 by Doris Langely Moore, who was a designer, collector, writer and scholar. She gave away her famous private costume collection to the city of Bath. The fashion museum was first called The museum of costume before it changed it’s name in 2007.

The museum consist of almost 100,000 different items, which are mostly given or donated to the museum by generous individuals or organizations. (The Fashion museum, 2014)

We learned a lot from seeing the costumes up close and not just through images and through the glass at the museum. Feeling the weight of the fabric and looking closely at the techniques that was used during the time period.

Construction notes

Bodice

1. First you start off by using a mannequin in with the same measurements as your model.

2. Start draping the front panel CF and det back panel CB

3. When finished draping sketch out the pattern and take it of the mannequin to transfer it to paper.

4. Transfer the pattern and trace it a second time to cut out.

5. Cut out two layers of backing, straight of grain

6. Cut out one layer of top fabric, straight if grain.

7. Sew boning channels onto the two layers of backing.

8. Tac all pieces together and overlock

9. Sew all pieces together and trim down seam allowance and overlock

10. Scale up sleeve piece from selected patter, in this case from Period costume for stage and scene

11. Cut out sleeve in backing and top fabric. Tack together

12. Herringbone stitch all seam allowance down except from armhole, top and bottom part of the bodice

13. Insert eyelets on both CB

14. Add all bones

15. Sew sleeves to bodice

16. Make piping out of top fabric

17. Sew piping onto bodice top and bottom, with piping facing down right sides together

18. Cut down seam allowance from bodice

19. Fold piping over and under its selves and slip stitch down on the inside.

20. Cut away seam allowance from sleeve an bodice and sew down binding.

21. Fold binding inwards and slipstitch down

22. Hem sleeves to desired length and slipstitch down.

23. Add details like lace with hand sewing

24. Remember to press everything as you go.

Skirt

1. Use measurement sheet do decide how long your skirt needs to be.

2. I used 130cm to be sure of length.

3. Cut out 3-4 drops of fabric.

4. Overlock edges if needed

5. Sew together leaving 25cm on one of the seams for placket

6. Cut out placket and waistband, and stayflex for more stability.

7. Iron stayflex to fabric

8. Press down

9. Sew one side of placket to the 25cm opening and slipstitch the other side down.

10. Sew a straight line 3-5mm up from the fold of the placket to make it lay flat on top of its selves

11. Sew down waist band right sides together with skirt, and then slip stitch the inside down.

12. Add hock and bar to top waistband at the opening and three snap fastenings to the placket for extra fastening.

13. Hem skirt to desired lengt and stitch down with a blind stitch

14. Cut out frills 3x the width if the skirt, straight of grain, and sew the pieces together

15. Pleat or ruffle to the right width

16. Sew onto the bottom of the skirt long enough up so that the frills are supported by the skirt, but the skirt edge don’t show anymore

Fichu

1. Find out how long you need your fichu to be.

2. Cut the fichu out like a triangle making the shortest edges a 45degres angle

3. Hem edges with rolled hem

4. Add embroidery or decorative seam at the edge for a final touch

Pattern and pattern adaption

Bodice pattern draped on the stand

Sleeve pattern copied and scaled up from Period costume for stage and screen.

Both is cut straight of grain

Skirt and ruffle pattern. Skirt concist of three drops of fabric

Fichu pattern.

None of my patterns needed adjustment except for the skirt which needed to be adjusted in length on a stand.

Fitting notes and photography

First fitting

After

Before

Second fitting

My after photos from the secon fitting was among the photos that was missing because of the corupted SD card, but I took a couple of photos of the costumes on a stand. The first picture is the most simelar to the once from after the secon fitting and the secon picture is with trims, ruffels on sleeves and tassel sewn on. The gathering of the skirt upwards the waist is also moved to the other side because I missread a photo my model sent me from the fitting.

Fitting notes

Budget sheet

Reflective evaluation

For this project I’m generally very happy with the outcome and the final design of my costume. There is always things I would like to go over again or redo if I had time and resources to do this.

My time management during the period has been good and I was finished three days before hand in excluding some final touches the day before hand in.

There are some tiny bits like the piping that I would have redone if I had time and materials. I wasn’t happy with how it turned out on the inside. I felt like it looked bad because of the top fabric fraying a lot. I should probably have overlocked it or made the seam allowance on the piping bigger so I could fold it under itself easier.

I would also have redon the binding of the armhole if I had time. I was a bit confused about how we were supposed to finish of the arm holes and it was my fault that I didn’t ask in time and had to do it at the end with no time to redo it and make it perfect considering the bulkiness of the thick fabric layers.

Other than that, I’m quite happy with the result and how much I have learnt doing this project. It was a big step from the barbie project and a lot of new techniques that I hadn’t used before.

Appendix

More on 18th century embroidery

The frames consisted of two rollers, made from strong oak, of any length and proportional thickness depending on the piece that was embroidered. There were slots at each end to accommodate the laths. A strip of leather was also nailed along the length of each roll, and this is where the fabric was sewn to. The laths had holes arrange in alternative rows at each end. The laths were fitted into the rollers and the rollers where hold apart with four pegs that fitted into the holes in the laths.

Circular frames where used for tambour embroidery and where usually clamped to a table or had their own legs.

Embroidery was the highest-paid trade for women in the 18th century, although men in the Guild were paid more. The daily wage was in the proportion to the amount of thread or gold that had been stitched and the skill or the worker. The workdays started at 6am and ended 8pm, but embroiderer where expected to stay longer to complete orders in time.

Flowers

The Hydrangea or better know as the Hortensia is a flower that can symbolize heartlessness. This is a flower that fits well with my pirate design and backstory in the form of her leaving her fiancé at the alter and ran away. Her family would look at her as heartless, but this has helped her get the reputation she has as a pirate and the reason they call her Heartless May. (Lineberger, n.d.)

Fig. Burgundy hydrangea (hortensia)

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