Extended Major Project: Ready, set.....GO!

 A Good Place to Start

So, I am finally here, at the pinnacle of my degree education. Everything I have done over the last three and a half years has been about getting to this place. My last practical unit, will cover from now, all the way up until the end of May and it is all about taking all my experiences over this time and amalgamating them into my most technically advanced, and creative pieces of work yet.

For me this will be two pieces of work, that draw on my previous knowledge and strength.

The first will be the interpretation and construction of a given ballet design- a plate tutu, which will lead on from last years SDP unit where I made a romantic tutu. I can also harness the knowledge and skills I picked up during the two weeks I spent in the women's workroom at the Royal Opera House, making costume for the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera.

The second will be the design and construction of an advanced corset dress. This will be a representation of all I have come to learn about corsetry and its construction, since making my fist corset in my first year. It has been a huge passion of mine and an avenue I intend on pursuing once I have graduated. I have spent some time developing an aesthetic, that represents my 'brand', and this corset will be an embodiment of that. I have created previous pieces that have inspired my idea for this piece, and whilst I have a good idea in my head about how this piece will look; its colours, silhouette and materials, I will be fully engaging with the design process (something from which my portfolio will benefit) to make sure this piece is at a standard with what AUCB costume expects.



There are lots of things that I would like to muse over, on both of these projects, but that will come in time. Although I have not yet completed my learning agreement or work plan, I know that the corsetry will not really begin until the second half of this unit, as for now I will be concentrating on the ballet costume. So I am going to hold off on that for a while and as such wont be talking about it in my blog yet. So I will kick off with the ballet...

Work Experience at The Royal Opera House

On the back of making the romantic tutu last term, I applied to go and work in the women s ballet and opera workroom at the Royal Opera House (ROH). I was very lucky to be accepted and spent two weeks there just before Christmas just gone.

It was an amazing experience, and a chance for me to see how industry works for such a large organisation within the arts. I also got to help make costumes for new ballets and operas and even got to see famous prima ballerinas dance in costumes that I had a part in making- no matter how small.

It was also interesting to discover that in fact I really did not enjoy commuting, and I found London hard- even just for those short weeks.

Nevertheless, I learnt a lot about the construction of the costumes that will, without a doubt enhance how I make the upcoming tutu. Here are a few photos of my time there and some of the costumes I helped out on (with the exception of the white and red chemise and the three sets of knickers, which I constructed for first fitting):

(I think I should make it quite clear here that I had permission to take these photos and that my part in their construction was fairly minimal; tacking, sewing down decoration, swing catches on ballets skirts etc.)



I have also been trying to finish the green romantic tutu that I started during the Summer, directly after finishing the white tutu. This was to solidify what I had learnt and a chance to try out different fabrics and techniques. After a bit of a lapse, I am determined to see it finished, before I get too stuck into this next project as, namely I need the photos for my portfolio; I have a model and intent to have it shot professionally, in the woods.

Coming back to the decoration after my work experience has proven to be a good thing. It means I can apply, ideas and techniques I saw in action at the ROH and produce a better piece of work.

So now that I have caught up with myself I will write a separate post about the ballet costume I am going to be creating for EMP, where I can look at the design and what my thoughts are so far.

Candyesque

So I went to see the burlesque show featuring the corset I had made for Once Upon A Tease.

 The show was good and the girls look super sleek and sexy in the corsets. I was dissapointed to hear that apparently some of the girls were slipping out of their corsets (I'm talking pasties on view here) during their routine. I was suprised to be honest and assured the troupe leader Sam that I would help to rectify the problem, but I later noticed that none of the girls had been cinched and tied properly into their corsets at all.

This of course is the reason for it, yet I'm still going to have a look at all the corsets on in a weeks time, just in case. But obviously as the corsets were made to fit the girls once tied properly into the corsets, then no wonder they are not fitting properly loose. I am aware they need to remove them, but this is why I built a split zip into the side of the full body corset in the first place. Oh well, we will see what happens.

Unfortunately I am also still waiting for access to/ copies of the professional photographs, which despite chasing, have not shown up yet. Without putting a downer on the whole experience, this was a job the girls(from my course) and myself took on without a monetary fee during the busiest and most demanding time during our degree this year- because we were assured that we would get portfolio quality photos and to be accredited to the website- neither of which has happened yet.
I'm starting to become very aware that in this business there is a fine line as what you take on, when you are not actually getting *paid* for it. I'm very happy to work without pay when both myself and the client have a mutual understanding of gain, but without wanting to be rude, I dont just give away my specialist skills for free, because to be frank, it's taking the jimmy riddle.


Rant over, i did manage to get some photos, so I will share these with you and will in the mean time, ask again where the photos are.

Tease me, tease me, tease me baby...

Okay I'm going to wear out that  word long before I have finised talking about the Once Upon A Tease corsets.

We are actually finished. I have been so busy with the end of the academic year and this project for the last few weeks that I have neglected to post.

After a lot of hard work and some last minute changes to design decorations, the corsets were fnally finished and handed over for the professional shoot.

I didn't quite finish all the beading on mine and so one of the girls kindly completed it for me. It was hard to let go as I can be overly precious of my work(a perfectionist even) and so battled with my inner self by letting someone finish off my work. But this is a live project and as such there are deadlines to meet. Which means you do what you need to get done.

Overall the corsets looked really good and I'm so proud of the dedication and tenacity we showed as a group, through all the stages from the designing to the construction, budgeting, accessories and decoration and supervising of the project.

We have been accredited by the group and will recieve free tickets to the show as well as recieving copies of the professional photos for our portfolios.

I was really pleased that I was responsible for the patterns and supervising the adjustments that the girls made for them taking them through any problems. I certainly feel that I have come such a long way in this area in a year and my own challenging pattern worked very well- I have some photos of it being modelled by Melissa, who is not the intended body for the corset, but it fitted her well nonetheless.

Here are some more photos and I will post the professional shots once we recieve them.


The first few are photos from the fitting, I was not actually present, so one of the girls marked the alterations for me.

Melissa kindly modelling, it is not quite finished here, missing the back leg ruffles, gartes and additional beading, also the is some binding to finish off at he back by the laces.

(needs an iron!)

As I mentioned, I handed over to Kim to complete the beading, here is a picture she took of the corset tied onto a pillow. It gives some idea of the final piece, but hopefully there will be a better portfolio shot from the professional photos.

Just A Little Tease

Okay, so the Once Upon A Tease corset has been sewn together and tacked, leaving the side seam open for the zip insertion.

Fittings are this coming Friday so before then I need to put in a zip, sew in the boning channels at the seams(fell seams) and add in bone casing for the extra support at the side busk. A pair of false back lacing bones need to be sewn into the CB as a temporary closure/lacing and temporary bones need to be put in.

Here are the photos so far and I will update/edit the page with the a photo before the fitting once I have done all of the above to it.