Finished costume and props with short evaluation

I tried the costume on my model and was really pleased with the results I really like how large it all looks. I like how cuddly and non threatening it makes her look but she's got her father's rather over sized hunting knife to protect herself just like the story. Cute but deadly.

Here are some images that focus on all the details of the costume put together. As the first costume I've made on this course I'm really pleased with the results and although I've struggled with the lack of access to the tutors and my complete lack of costume making/sewing/pattern making knowledge I feel like I have learned some valuable skills which was my main focus for this project. The only issue was that this limited my making time as I was waiting for advice and guidance from tutors who obviously had all the other students to help out as well so I've really had to power on whenever I've managed to get one on one time with the tutors.

The challenges that have appeared through out this project have been slightly inconvenient and time consuming but on the positive side I have learnt a lot of useful techniques and processes that should come in handy for future projects and I hope to continue learning new techniques to help me find the best ways to solve problems ad get things done the most effectively. Documenting my costume processes has been hard as it's incredibly progressive and requires a lot of concentration so it has meant that it set me behind on my blog work which just means forcing myself to do my blog as soon as I get free time at the end of the day.  

Mongolian Hat and Trim

Just realized that I had bought this really nice patterned trim which should have been sewn on right at the start before i'd even sewn the red to the purple. To resolve this problem I had to surface stitch on the trim being sure not to catch the lining inside. 

My second attempt at the hat went a lot better than the first as I curved the pattern piece so it was more like an arch which fit the head much better. My model's head was 22 inches around so i divided it by 4 and that was how wide my pieces had to be plus 1cm seam allowance.

I cut out patterns for the front and back parts of the hat which are like flaps. I made larger patterns for the fur pieces as I wanted a border around the pieces exactly like my coat so it made things a lot easier.

When sewing the larger piece to the smaller piece you still sew the edges together so it creates the border look when it's turned inside out.

I pinned the pieces in place and sewed them in. Once they were in i used a zig zag stitch on the machine to neaten up and strengthen my raw edges. 

The side flaps flopped down quite a lot and created these massive ears so I think I'll have to tack the sides in to my desired position.

Here is the finished hat it was considerably easier to construct after making my coat.

Lining

I drafted and cut out my lining so it's easier to put on my garment and not abrasive on my model's skin.  

Putting in my lining was a slight challenge but I managed. I had to pin everything inside out and after I'd pinned and sewn the sides I had to work though the neck hole to sew the bottom of the lining in. It was incredibly satisfying to get all of my lining in.

Here's a progress shot minus the collar.

Beads and Fur

The final touches for my sheath were some hand made beads that hung from the leather lacing. I took a piece of wood and drilled several holes in them using the pillar drill. I then used a band saw to cut around the holes to make basic bead shapes. Finally I used a sanding wheel to get the desired worn look (be careful sanding small objects on the sanding wheel as it can lead to distressing fingers). To go with my coat and the general 'red' theme I used a sponge to paint the beads red. To distress them I lightly sanded the edges and applied wood stain to darken the beads and make them look dirty.

This is the final prop I think it turned out really well and I learned a lot of new techniques as I'd never made anything like this before.

Here I've started to sew in my fur lining/border. I'm afraid I don't know any technical terms for what I've done costume wise as this is my first time making any kind of sewn costume for a person.

This is the end result of the slightly larger fur piece. It's a fairly straight forward process and it looks professional and effective I'm starting to enjoy making costume more.

Prop Distressing and Pattern Pieces

Seeing as in my reference story the hunting knife originally belonged to Red Riding Hood's father I imagined that the sheath would be heavily worn and used. To solve this problem I  took some medium grade sand paper and continuously sanded in all directions to give it and even distressing. I also darkened the sanded leather with wood stain and sanded it some more til I was pleased with the results. 

Here's the front piece of my fur lining I originally cut it out wrong so I had to hand stick the fur back together and start again.

These are my modified pattern pieces for the fur linings. I had to add 5cm to the area where I wanted a border.

Prop and Costume

Finishing of the sheath by making the lace up sleeve that will connect the knife to the belt. I cut a wide rectangle out of leather with fabric sheers (easier than paper scissors) and proceeded to punch the biggest hole on the leather punch down the two front edges of my 'sleeve'.

I cut my own leather cording and laced up the front. Cutting the cord was a fiddly job and I had to repeat this process several times due to the previous laces being too weak and snapping.

I used the exact same method to attach the belt strap. Leather is particularly effective as it holds to itself really well. 

I finished lacing it up and tried to get it as tight as possible which was a tad hard as the leather was very hard to move through the holes nearer the top.

After receiving some guidance from a tutor I cut out pattern pieces in fur to act as a partial lining/border. This meant that the fur pieces had to be slightly bigger than the original pattern pieces to achieve a border.

Costume progress

Moving back to my costume I tried dyeing a piece of my wool as in my design the coat is constructed out of two different colours, being black and red, so I used a pattern piece I had cut out previously and using black dye I attempted to get the red wool as dark as possible. The dark purple is what I got as a result and it went really well with the red even though I was initially aiming for pure black but seeing as Nomadic tribes would dye by hand I thought it more fitting to stick with the purple. Sadly the wool did shrink considerably so I need to cut my pattern pieces larger to account for shrinkage. 

I constructed my tester coat to make sure my pattern pieces were right and make any alterations to it if necessary. Fortunately it all fit together perfectly and fit my model so I can go ahead and start constructing my actual garment. 

I also had a go at making a hat tester which I made by cutting out six identical triangles. What I ended up with was a cone (shown above) which perched on the back of my model's head so i think i need to go and think of a different shape for my hat pieces.

After my unsuccessful attempt with the hat I proceeded to cut out the pattern pieces for my coat so they were ready to be sewn together.

Yet more designs

Here are some designs I made of possible ways to join the sheath to the belt using the research images I had found.

Out of the designs I came up with I definitely preferred the last as it looked more visually interesting and 'traditional' with lacing and beads. I liked how busier it was compared to the others and thought it would add more aesthetic to the piece as a whole.  

prop sheath continued

I marked out where I needed to make holes so it will be easier to sew the two pieces together with a pattern wheel and proceeded to make the holes with an awl which was painfully time consuming only to be stuck with how to transfer the holes identically onto the other piece. I thought I would try by laying one on top of the other and once again spending ages with the awl.

Sewing turned out to be more difficult than I had imagined especially after taking all the time to make holes but because the leather was flexible it made it increasingly difficult to get through both of the holes so one side was perfect but the other was more messy as shown but I don't have enough leather or time to make another one so I think I can make it work.

Here it is sewn together and partially sanded. I will probably sand it a bit more to make it slightly thinner so the seam doesn't open. Sewing leather the way I did was incredibly time consuming and finger numbing, punching the holes first would probably have been more effective but I was worried that my thread would have been too thin. 

Leather Working

Originally I was planning on constructing my own belt for Little Red Riding Hood but upon browsing through a charity chop I came across this incredibly short back support belt that was the perfect thickness.

The belt was covered in a black paint that was really shiny and didn't fit in with my fairly earthy colour range so I used the sanding belt to take off as much of the black as possible whilst trying not to catch the metal pieces for safety reasons. I think I will have to go round the small parts with a dremmel to remove all of the paint. 

Using the band saw in the workshop I trimmed the belt down so it was all the same thickness. After sanding, the leather came out a really pale shade so I experimented by applying dark wood stain (the same I used on my knife handle) to darken the leather and I coated it several times to make it darker. I may have to find a more effective method to darkening leather.

Moving on to construct the leather sheath I drew around the blade on to card to make a template which I then transferred on to leather to be cut out. I struggled slightly with how big to make the template to account for sewing the thick leather so the knife would fit easily.

Using fabric shears I roughly cut out two pieces for the sheath and neatened them up a bit more. after I sew the two pieces together I will sand the edges down so everything is much neater and smaller.