Padding the Stand and Underwear

The first thing to do was to pad out the stand to the size I want to work with for the rest of the poject. I have chosen to make it a similar body shape to mine as then in future if I wish to make anything for myself using the patterns they will not need to be changed too muc, also my manniquin at home is larger so I should hopefully be able to cut some pieces at home also.

Padding the stand before putting a corst on it gave the manniquin a far realer and curvier shape that I thing will be intresting to work on. It is also a bigger size than I've worked on before with a large bust so I shall have to scale the Janet Arnold and Norah Waugh patterns up quite a bit as well as mannipulate them and change them to make them fit a larger body shape.

I hit the costume store this week also as to collect all the different underwear and under structures I will need for the dresses I am to make. I will have access to the costume store throughtout this project also if I need to try different undergarments or need to change the shilohette. It is very important to get the undergarments right, esp. in 19th century clothing, as, depending on what you use, they will form the basic shape of the dress/bodice/skirt and therefore, in most cases, they will create the whole look of a dress and will create the different styles throught the period. I know from past experience to use the actual undergarments you will use under the finale dress when cutting ( in this case it doesn't matter as they won't end up becoming dresses) as, again, changing the undergarments, even if it is of the same style, can dramatically change the shape and fit of the top garment.

The padded up stand below with the corset I used for all the toiles on -

Tutorial with Dexter

I had a tutorial with Dexter to make the final decision about what 19th Century pieces I will be making for SDP. It is important to have a variety of pieces to make that span over the whole of the 19th century so I can gain a full understanding of how the female style and shape changed over the period. It is also important to have a variety of garments that will challenge me and ensure I learn new skills that I havent done before. In the end I have decided to do: - 

Janet Arnold 1830-6 Dinner Dress (half bodice and 1 sleeve).
Norah Waugh 1850s Summer Dress (half bodice and skirt plus 1 sleeve).
Mix between Norah Waugh 1878 Afternoon Dress and 1883 Afternoon Dress (full dress).
Janet Arnold 1887-9 Day Dress (full dress finished).

Candide Costume (Almost Finished)

Hampshire County Museum Services Costume Collection

10th March -

We went to the Hampshire County Museum today to see some of the collection of 19th century dresses, corsets and bodices. It was an incredibly intresting and insightful day which has helped me understand the period much better as well as the way the cloths were put together. We were not allowed to touch the pieces however were shown all aspects of them and it surprised me that tecniques we still use today were being used then. We could ask any question we wanted and were in most cases given a compleate and facinating answer that will, I'm sure, help with cutting on the stand during this project.
Here are some example images from the museum that I will use for historical reserch throughtout this project : -

What I Will Research

My first point of reserch will be the two primary reseach sessions uni has organised for us so we can look at 19th century cloths up close. This will give us the oppitunity to photograph, sketch and measure the outfits as well as ask specific questions. It will be intresting to see how the clothing hangs and fits together.
Books will be the main source of research for images of the period as well as pattern templates. I will be using Janet Arnold and Norah Waugh mostly as they have clear pattern drafting instructions as well a good reserch images.
Reading material :-

• Janet Arnold
• Norah Waugh
• 19th Century Fashion in Detail (Johnston)
• Period Costume for Stage and Screen (Hunnisett)

I shall also watch films and theatre based in the time to get an idea of how the period has been interpreted today.

MODIP Research

The first bit of reserch I was able to do was when MODIP let us have a look at some of the clothing from the 19th century they had in their archieve. It was intresting as we were allowed to look at all the pieces and also touch them and move them around therefore it was possible to see how they moved, what they were made of, how they were put together and also how they were finished. It really helped me put the period into perspective and has started me off with my research. I was also really nice to look at them with the other girls doing a similar project because we were all really excited and intrested about the cloths and therefore were able to discus what we thought about tis and what we were planning to do in our SDP, etc. Its nice to be working with other people as enthusatic about period costume as I am.