Catch up and jacobean sleeves

Long time no blog...

Since I last checked in, I have spent 2 weeks doing work experience in Wardrobe at the South Australian State Theatre in Adelaide which was great, even if I did do an awful lot of unpicking. They are working on the costumes for Checkhov's 3 sisters. It was great to see the staff working on the first stages of the process from getting the designs from the costume designer, ordering materials, pulling costumes from the store, and watching the cutters start to draft patterns etc. I wish I had been able to stay for the whole time to see how it all comes together.

Now I am back at the course and working on my outfit for costume showcase. I have completed most of the jewellery and most of the bodice and am working on the sleeves. So far I have made 3 toile versions of the top part of the sleeve. Tomorrow I think I should make the definitive version :-) Basically the top of the sleeve is like a puffed sleeve except that it has  'panes' (like strips of ribbon) and tucks in between with fabric showing through. The sleeve is very tight under the armhole and shaped differently to modern sleeves. There is also a hanging sleeve and tabs (not sure what they are called) at the top of the shoulder seam. All that, plus I have to get the patterns in line with each other - wonder whether I can just screenprint the design in the right place on the fabric. I will explore that tomorrow.

Yesterday I spent the day doing work experience making costumes for a burlesque show which was great fun and today I  had a 2 hour lacemaking lesson - quite a contrast...