Quilting

Our second project was a class made quilt. There were seven of us in class and we each chose a fabric color. From this point, we were asked to cut out eight pieces from each fabric as the quilt we were making was an 8x8. The colors ended up being blue, yellow, pink, grey, green, purple and another shade of blue. In theory, beautiful together. In reality, full of different textures and shades- some shiny, some embellished, some textured. In a way representative of the class, our quilt came out awkward but confident, with many mistakes. Through this project we learned to work together and how to hide our mistakes in a way that still looks pleasing to the eye. Once we had all cut out our eight squares, we then lined them all up on the table in a pattern that we all agreed upon. The squares moved one row over every line down, creating a diagonal pattern.

At this point we had eight long strips of material, with each square pinned to the next. We all broke off and sewed our strip together. The next part was what I think was the hardest. We had to figure out what order the strips went in to recreate our diagonal pattern. Peter had labelled them with numbers, but in the sewing process some numbers had come off and so we had to put it together based on looks. This was hard. We took a long time doing this, and it was a little frustrating.
Finally we got them all lined up, and then we had to pin it all together and take turns sewing the strips together. We had made the top of our quilt. 

not our quilt but an example of diagonal quilting

For the bottom we picked four of the eight colors and cut four large squares to equal the same area as the top of the quilt. These too got sewn together, and then came the frustrating part. Peter had got batting(which is what is usually inside quilts) and we laid the full quilt down like a sandwich. The bottom went down with the right side facing the table, then the batting, and then the top with the right side facing up. For this part we didn't need to do right sides together because we would be edging it all later. After the hard task of safety pinning the quilt sandwich in strategic places, we began the even harder task of hand sewing small dots in those places. They were pinned at the junction of the squares so that the dots would disappear into the material. This was done so that the batting and material was always connected and couldn't bunch up. Our final step of the time consuming quilt was to cover the edges with a separate material so that you didn't see the rough edges. We did this by cutting a strip of purple material and then pinning one edge right side down on the top of the quilt, then flipping the strip so it went over the edge and pinning it again on the bottom side of the quilt. If we were professional quilters we would have done this flawlessly, but ours turned out a little uneven and lumpy. After sewing it on, and finagling the corners into something that looked okay, we were done with our quilt.
This project took a good chunk of time to make, and brought us all together as a class to collaborate.

Puppets

For our first official sewing project, we created our own puppets. They were simple projects that involved sewing seams and understanding how to hide seams, but fun. The pattern we used to make these puppets was provided to us, and came on printer paper. We cut out the shapes from the printer paper and used these to trace and cut our fabric. The puppet consisted of two parts- a top and a bottom, and we could choose to alter it in any way we wished. I chose to make a female doll wearing a pink shirt and floral skirt. I also altered the pattern so that she had a waist line to look more feminine. The hardest part of this project was pushing the arms right-side out, as you sew everything inside out. This is done so that all of the seams are hidden when you have your final project. My arms were a tad skinny because I left a large seam allowance by accident and so I struggled to push them right-side out.

Learning to Sew

For the first week, we focused on learning the different techniques in the world of sewing. We learned a few different hand sewing techniques, like the invisible stitch and the cross stitch. These were difficult to learn for it is very easy to make these messy and one of the main goals of sewing is to make items look nice. My favorite sewing exercise was when we worked on sewing buttons and snaps on.  With most buttons and snaps, you sew out over the edge- kind of like the needle and thread are jumping off a jumping board over the edge of the snap and then swimming under back up to the jumping

Whopper Popper snap on right, Hook and Eye on left

board. Do this three times for each hole, and make sure the needle swims underwater (on the bottom side of the cloth) when switching holes. 

Machine Gathered fabric sample

During this time we also worked on sewing with the machines. We learned how to sew a straight seam (just sewing straight down the piece of fabric with backwards stitching at each end to secure the thread) and more complicated sewing such as darts and gathering. When gathering a fabric, all you have to do is sew two straight lines down the fabric- about an inch apart- without backstitching. This allows the fabric to gather at a later point. The physical act of gathering is simple as well. Holding tightly to one set of threads (two top or two bottom) pull the fabric towards the middle gently so it scrunches together. This is the act of gathering.

The first week was helpful to me, because I learned many things that I did not know, and was given the essential knowledge needed to complete later tasks.

Welcome!

This is a blog composed of journal responses to my Costume Lab course with Peter Harrigan. Many of the journal entries were scribbled down right after a class ended, and without dates (oops). So in order for this to make sense, I have grouped them together in terms of project and created a more cohesive and flowing document. Over the semester I worked on a variety of projects, starting with simpler creations such as a puppet. By the end, I had made a puppet, a quilt, costumes based on the Angry Bird game, the apple logo, aprons, a light up shirt, and African dance pants. I also worked within the costume shop and costume storage unit to clean, organize and paint. This was a light semester for costumes in the main stage show, so we spent a lot of time organizing and cleaning the costume lab. The journals on these days are very short and and some are as simple as  "I cleaned", so they are not included in this compilation. I hope this gives you a look into the world of the Costume Shop and what it is like to create show pieces.

Enjoy!