The Wimborne Town Crier - Self Directed Project

A very warm hello to my friends, followers and blog observers...This blog is to record, showcase, and share my work and learning processes throughout my 'Self Directed Project'. For this project I have been asked by Chris Brown the Wimborne Town Crier if I can realise an 18th Century design which will become his new crying costume as of June 2010. I will be sharing all my triumphs and challenges a long the way and self reflecting/evaluating as I go. Please view my attached learning agreement for more information on the project and what it is I aspire to achieve.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

1st Fitting

This morning Chris came in to the studio to have the first fitting and I'm so relieved to know that it was highly successful with very few changes/alterations to be made.

Breeches

The breeches were a really good fit, I've not made them before so I was really pleased with what I'd produced as a first attempt. Chris said they felt nice and spacious and he was comfortable in them whilst sitting and standing.
A small list of alterations below now show what I need to apply to my patterns before cutting out in top fabric.

  • Waistband is currently 4cms, make this bigger by a further 2.5cms (6.5cms).
  • Heighten the CB by a further 5cms.
  • Take the waistband in by 7cms but leave breeches as they are and gather into the waistband.
  • Attach a pair of elastic braces via the waistband.
  • Use a 5cm knee band to fasten breeches just below the knee




Waistcoat

After fitting the breeches I got Chris into the waistcoat, my first thought was that I would have to snip into my allowance around the armhole, I was correct. I'd taken the waistcoat pattern straight from the coat pattern so I knew I would have to design the new armhole while the waistcoat was on Chris. In order to be historically accurate the armhole needed to be a lot bigger in order to make room for a wide sleeved loose fitting shirt and also for comfort/movement purposes. I cut the new armhole and Chris was pleased with how it looked and felt. Another slight adjustment was at the back of the waistcoat, again in order to be historically correct the CB should be slightly shorter than the front. Again I made a list of what I'd need to apply to my patterns but all in all the waistcoat fitted very nicely.

  • See toile for new armhole - apply to other side and pattern
  • Keep waistcoat completely straight at CF from waist to hem for fastening
  • Raise hem at CB by 8cms



Next was to fit the coat and again I was very pleased to see how well it was fitting. I was intrigued to see how the pleats were going to look once on the body and how well they would fall in the length. What with the toile being made out of calico it wasn't an ideal representation of how they will look as the fabric was nowhere near heavy enough but it gave me a general idea and Chris was very pleased with how the costume was looking as an ensemble.
When I put the sleeves together I knew they were going to be narrow even though I allowed extra allowance. Chris not only wants the sleeves to be nice and wide for historial purposes but also because he often has to use crutches and would like them to side inside the sleeves comfortably. I removed the sleeves from the toile and fitted them with the crutches which made me feel a lot more confident about making them to exactly how Chris needs them.

  • The CF will fasten to just above the waist (approx) and then fall open to reveal waistcoat underneath
  • Let out CF by 2.5cms to allow a little more room
  • Drop all pleats by approx 2.5cms (see toile for markings)
  • Drop this measurement in the length
  • At CB pleat move seam 3cms (see toile)
  • Widen sleeve by 5cms from head to wrist to allow for extra wideness for design purposes and to accommodate for crutches
  • See toile for new sleeve length - shortened at wrist - historical purposes for frill on shirt


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