85th Academy Awards... The Oscars!

As awards season comes to a close; the big one we've all been waiting for has finally occurred, it is of course; The 85th Academy Awards, aka The OSCARS!! 

In terms of Fashion the Oscars never fails to draw attention; with stars making the most important decision of what to wear, possibly the most important event of the year in showbiz (well at least within the film industry). 

As there were so many celebrities and so many outfits to be seen; I couldn't possibly blog about them all!

Soo... Here is a very small selection of my favorite dresses that were on display at the awards.

Zoe Saldana

Catherine Zeta Jones

And my Favourite dress of the night goes to....

Jennifer Lawrence 

Wearing a stunning Dior Couture gown. The strapless style beautifully suited the actress, as did the fitted bodice, and full skirt with flowing train (which had actually had 6 inches took off it just before the show!). 

Even a small trip (which everyone seems to be talking about!) on her way to accept the Best Actress award for her leading role in Silver Linings Playbook, couldn't deny the gracefulness of the young actress.

Lets see what the future holds for the ever stylish Academy Awards in the years to come...

Little Black Dress... Embellished Cape.

The Toile Stage: Continued...

After finding a lighter weight fabric to toile my cape with I was able to continue the process.
 As the calico is quite a heavy and stiff fabric I couldn’t get a realistic toile whilst using it, therefore I created a new toile using a lighter weight fabric, more similar to the georgette I would be using. I cut out my pattern pieces in this lighter fabric. 

 I then sewed the toile together using two side seams an then tried it on the mannequin. This lightweight fabric toile was much better to work with as I could get a more realistic view to how it would look like in my final fabric. The shape looks alright but needed taking in slightly down the sides, but this was just a tiny bit to shave off to take it in slightly to create a better fit.

 Front

Back

The shape of the shoulder didn’t seem to be sitting correctly; with the advice of a tutor, I added tucks or little pleats to lift the sides of the shoulders up slightly. This seemed to work and the shape did look a lot better once the tucks lifted the cape a bit. With the shape and silhouette of the cape sorted it was now time to think about how the embellishment would be placed onto the shoulders.

 Before Tucks

With Tucks

It was suggested to me to embellish directly onto the shoulder pads and then attach the shoulder pads on top of the cape. I wasn’t really happy with this idea as I thought it would simply look like I had just placed something on top of my cape rather than the embellishment being part of my cape. 

To get a better idea of how this suggest technique would look like; I was given an embellished shoulder pad that someone had previously created, I then placed this onto my cape.

 As I had imagined it looks like it has just been place on top rather than it being part of the garment. This process made me even more sure of how I wanted to embellish my final cape; I would place the shoulder pads underneath the cape and then embellish directly onto the cape fabric.

The Manufacturing Stage:

I was happy with the shape of my cape and now knew how I was going to embellish it and therefore it was time to cut out my pattern pieces in the final fabric – georgette. I had to use a lot of pins and a weight to hold the fabric in place because it is so light and moves so much when trying to work with it.

Using a baby overlocker I sewed the side seams of my cape; I used this method rather than a normal or French seam as the fabric is so light and sheer that this is the best possible way to sew the sides with the least impact on the garment visually. I then tried the cape on a mannequin; the shoulder again doesn’t look right and needs to be lifted – as I did with the toile.

  To get a better idea of  how the cape would look on a person – because the mannequin has no arms and therefore the cape would hang differently, I tried it on a real life model. 

After fitting the cape on a model I still believed the shoulders needed lifting slightly; and with countless failed attempts at putting in tucks to do so; I eventually come up with a solution.

  Putting tucks in was much easier with the last toile but for some reason the tuck wouldn’t lie correctly with the georgette fabric – they would either look correct at the front but horrible from the back or vice versa. 

 The solution I came to was to put in a two-point centre back tuck; this lifted and brought in the shoulder really nicely. I also believe that this kind of tuck creates a nice detail to the back of my design. 

With the shoulders and back of the cape all sorted it was time to work out what to do with the front. 

 As I wanted the design of the cape to just sit on the shoulders and hang; I didn’t want or need to create any fastening, instead I decided to tuck the centre fronts underneath the shoulder pads and create a doubled over centre front detail. 

  This solution would create the dramatic look that just sits on the shoulder whilst adding a nice extra touch to the front.

To finish the edges of my cape I used the baby overlocker around the centre fronts and all the way around the neckline, I then measured a length of black satin bias tape to fit around the entire cape edge.

  Before attaching the satin tape, I pressed the whole length in half; once pressed I then carefully placed the edges of the cape into the centre of the folded tape and the edge stitched the tape in place. 

  This process was quite difficult because the fabric moves so easily with it being so light, but after two attempts and very careful sewing I eventually managed to successfully attach the satin binding to create my satin bound edges. 
  
The reason I chose satin to bind the edges of the cape was to help tie the two garments together to look like they were made to be worn together. The satin edges work well with the duchess satin fabric of the dress

With the satin binding attached to the edges of the cape; it was almost time to add the embellishment details, but before that I had to tuck the centre fronts under and tack the shoulder pads in place.

  I was then ready to start embellishing; starting slightly below the shoulder pad I sewed a row of sequins anchored with a black seed bead – this way there would be as little threads visible as possible. Using the shape of the shoulder pads as a guide I sewed the shape I wished to achieve.

  Once I had sewed a few rows; I notice that while I was embellishing the shoulders were lifting even more (which luckily I had anticipated and therefore there would be no problems with the final fit). With the shoulder lifting I thought it would be best to stop and place back on a mannequin; and then by eye I drew a line as to where the embellishment should be on the other shoulder and then started to embellish that side.

   I then decided it would be best to work by sewing a few rows and then alternating to sew another few on the other shoulder rather than finish an entire shoulder then move onto the next. This method worked well for me as I was using 3 different coloured sequins which would create an ombré effect of colours graduating into black. 


 After many long hours of sewing tiny beads onto the cape; I was finally finished embellishing the shoulders! 

I am particularly pleased with the graduating effect of the different coloured sequins, and also the fact that the amount of visible thread was kept to an absolute minimum.  It looks its best when the light hits it; it sparkles and creates a striking dramatic effect which is exactly what I wanted to create.

 All that was left to do now was to finish off the hem; to do so I simply level the hem off by measuring from the ground up to the hem where I wanted it to end, I then placed pins where I wanted the hem line to be and the once I took the cape off the stand I cut along the line created with the pins. 

 With the new hem line levelled and cut; I then simply baby overlocked the entire hem line to create a very small neat looking hem. I wanted a small and simple hem as I didn’t want to take any focus away from the embellished shoulders of the cape and with the fabric being so light and sheer personally I think this is the best way I could have finished the dress.

Throughout this module I feel that I have coped well with the challenges I come across and I am happy with the result of my final garments. I think the dress is nicely fitted and shaped to create a sleek look ; and I think the simplicity of the dress works well with dramatic looking cape. The heavily embellished shoulders of the cape rightfully take focus and look best when the light hits them. I also light the contrast of the soft flowing fabric of the cape with the bold embellishment; I think this creates a lot of interest. I also like how the satin bound edges sometimes can be seen when there is movement, I do think that this helps tie the outfit together nicely. 

  Overall I am happy with the results as the final garments have worked well and look like I had originally designed them.

Little Black Dress: Embellished Cape.

As part of my Little Black Dress project I designed an embellished cape which would be worn with the dress that I had made (See posts below). To make this cape I had to go through the usual stages that include: Pattern Cutting, Toile Making, and finally Manufacture of the Garment.

The Pattern Stage:

To create a pattern for my cape from scratch, I dressed the mannequin in my finished dress and added the shoulder pads onto the stand. I then took measurements and marked them on paper; the measurements I took were the centre back, centre front, shoulders and back neck. I then drew lines to make a very basic pattern which I then cut out. Using the slash and spread method to add  fullness; I slashed the pattern at 4cm and 8cm and spread them 10cm each – taping the pieces in place, I then added 5cm -0cm to the side of the centre back (from bottom to top). I then added a 1cm seam allowance and cut it out. I then cut it out in calico to sew my first toile.

 Pattern Drafting

 Slash & Spread Technique

Cut out in Calico

The Toile Stage:

Sewing my first toile was simple and easy; shoulder seam first then press to the back, and then the side seams and press to back, taking a 1cm seam allowance. I then fitted the toile on a mannequin and as you can see in the images the toile is very basic and needed a lot of alterations; starting with the shape of the shoulder. 

1st Toile 

To create the desired shape I used pins to shape a curve that would taper off the shoulder to the side seams. I then took the toile back off the mannequin and using the pins as a guide I drew a curved line using a pencil, I then took out the pins and sewed along the line and eventually cutting off the excess before trying it back on a mannequin to check the fit of the new shape.

 Shaping the shoulder

New Shoulder

After changing the shape of the shoulder of the cape to a much more curved and softer shape; I had another fitting on the mannequin. I was happy with the shape of the shoulder but decided to add more fullness to the side seam as it was lying a bit flat against the sides. To add the fullness I simply added 5cm – 0cm, from bottom to top, to each side seam. I made these changes to the pattern pieces before cutting out again in calico and sewing up another toile.

 Adding fullness to pattern pieces

New Pattern Pieces

2nd Toile

After sewing my 2nd toile it became more clear that because my design was intended to be made with a Georgette fabric; the calico was a hard fabric to work with in terms of working out how the cape will drape and hang, therefore a further toile had to be made using a lighter weight fabric with similar properties of the intended fabric (georgette) that would be used for the final cape.  

Little Black Dress... Manufacturing Process

After being told everything was correct and told to begin making my final dress; the first thing to do was cut out my pattern pieces in my chosen fabric: Duchess Satin. Folding the fabric in half; selvedge to selvedge, I placed my pattern pieces carefully onto the duchess satin; placing the centre front piece on the fold and measuring from the selvedge to the grain line of each piece; to place the remaining pieces as accurately on the grain line as possible. Once placed accurately onto the fabric; I then cut all of the pieces out ready to begin manufacture.

I was then told that I would need a lining for my dress and that pattern would be different to that of the dress. Therefore a pattern for the lining was needed; to create the lining pattern I traced off each of the pattern pieces for the dress and took the depth of the facing (4cm) off the top of each piece and then adding a 1cm seam allowance back onto the top. This pattern is needed because the lining will be attached to the facing rather than the top of the dress, therefor the alterations are needed to adapt to the shape of the pattern to fit the lining in correctly.  Checking that the lining pattern pieces were correct, I then pinned them to lining fabric before cutting the pieces out ready for manufacture.

 Pattern Drafting

 Pattern Pieces

 Lining Fabric

Pieces cut out in Lining Fabric

Before starting to sew the dress together; the sides of each panel needed to be overlocked to ensure they don’t fray. Using a 3-thread overlocker, I carefully overlocked the edges of each piece, taking my time whilst overlocking round the curved edges to make sure I didn’t trim off any excess fabric.

 Overlocked Edges

With all the edges overlocked it was time to start sewing. First I pinned the edges I was going to sew together, matching the notches together to ensure I sew the pieces together accurately; starting with the side front pieces to the centre front panel. To ensure my seam allowance stays the correct size I used a guide, measuring with a tape measure 1cm and placing the guide on the machine to ensure my seam stays 1cm all the way down.

 Setting guide to 1cm

Pinned Fabric ready to sew

Taking a 1cm seam allowance; I sewed the side fronts to the centre front and then pressed the seams open, I then sewed the side backs to the side fronts and pressed the seams open, finally I attached the side backs to the centre backs and pressed the seams open. 

 I also attached the back pieces of the facing to the centre front piece, but first I attached interfacing to it; by cutting pieces of inter facing using my pattern pieces, then ironing them onto the duchess satin pieces before placing them in a heat press to fix them in place.

It was now time to sew my lining; using the same method of sewing the side front panels to the centre front, then the side back panels to the side fronts, etc. I attached the lining panels together, however instead of overlocking each edge and then joining the panels, this time I used a 5thread overlocker to join each panel to one another; overlocking the edges and joining them together in one quick process. Although I found it a bit difficult at first, because the fabric is so slippery, this process was very effective and saved time.

Once all of the lining panels were sewn together; the facing for the top of the dress was attached to the lining. Taking a 1cm seam allowance, I carefully stitched around the curved top of the lining, ensuring that the centre front goes nicely into a point at the centre front. I then overlocked the centre back edges of the lining; ready to attach to the lining to the dress. 

The lining is then attached to the dress by lockstitch joining the facing- which is attached to the lining, to the dress, taking a 1cm seam allowance and sewing with fabrics right sides together. Again I had to ensure the point goes down at the centre point correctly, a notch is made to help with this once turned out. I then trimmed the excess seam allowance, and pressed the seam. I then turned it out and edge stitched along turning the seam under towards the facing.  

It was now time to close up the back of the dress; first the zip needed to be inserted into the centre back. I changed the foot on the machine and edge stitched down form the top to the zip, as far as it would let me sew. I then turned out the top of the dress, making sure the corners pointed. I then joined the remaining back seams – the dress and the lining, and pressed open. 

 Inside Zip: Open

Inside Zip: Closed

I then turned out the entire dress and overlocked the hem. Measuring the 4cm hem allowance, press the hem before sewing a blind hem using blind hemmer machine.

 Blind Hem: Inside

 Blind Hem: Outside

Once the blind hem is sewn in; turn out the dress and lay on a table. The lining should be longer than the dress; therefore it can be trimmed to the correct size at this stage. Using tailors chalk I drew across the lining along the edge of the duchess satin dress hem. Then moving the dress out of the way, I cut off the excess lining, and then double over 1cm and sewing a hem on the lining before pressing that flat. The dress is now complete.

My finished dress; fully lined, pressed and ready for marking. I tried it on a mannequin to finish and take photographs for documentation and evidence, as you can see the dress doesn’t quite fasten all the way up; this is because the final fitting of the toile was fitted to a model and not the mannequin therefore once on a person/the model it will fit better. I am happy with the result, although previously concerned about the small fit, and I think it will work well with the embellished cape I designed.