i know what you've been thinking: "she's gone and she's never coming back." but i'm alive and ready to catch you up, so let's jump right in, i will now describe the process by which i designed, and drafted the costume for the character of dinah.
for this costume i used wild ginger's patternmaster boutique program, so all the information here will refer specifically to PMB, but the pattern adjustments can be accomplished by any means that you are comfortable using. also, please note that you may click on all the images in this post to see them in enlarged view.
my inspiration came in the form of an ad that i have had pinned to the wall above my ironing board at home for at least 3 years:
yes, that's right, it's lucy. or more specifically, an ad for a lucy doll (franklin mint, collector's edition--the good stuff). i even found a photo of lucy in this dress, it's from the "sales resistance" episode of "i love lucy", this photo gave me the information i needed about the sleeve cuff details, the length of the skirt, and whether or not she always wore the dress with the apron:
based on this photo and the ad for the doll, i designed a dress for dinah that would have the main features of the lucy dress (fitted bodice, circle skirt, contrasting collar and cuffs, short sleeves), but with the adjustments we needed for the stage (removable collar so we could get the dress over the singer's head without getting make-up on the collar, separate skirt so we could dress her in stages).
the basic draft for the bodice in patternmaster boutique was as follows (NOTE: all identifying information referring to the performer has been removed from all documentation in this post):
- classic blouse
- front zipper closure
- shawl front neckline, jewel back neckline
- waist darts
- fitted side seam
- front neckline depth 4", back and side 0.25"
- finished length 24"
- set-in sleeve, length 9"
- tapered underarm seam, straight hem
- sleeve cap ease 1.31
- sleeve length 14"
- sleeve hem circumference 12.5"
- stand out sleeve cuff
- shawl collar, wing
- bust ease 2", waist ease 0.5", hip ease 2"
- seam allowances 0.25
- hem allowance 3"
all other options were at the default settings. i opened the torso patterns in the pattern editor section of the program and proceeded as follows:
i first rotated the collar one inch, using the shoulder point as the pivot point, in order to give the collar a sharper angle on the neck (you can see the gap this opened at the front). i know one inch doesn't seem like much, but with the rest of the adjustments it makes a big difference:
i then raised the front neckline a few inches (i did this by eye, i think it was about 2 inches)--i shortened the collar and straightened the outer edge--i rounded the join between the center front and the collar--and i deleted the dart since i wouldn't be sewing it:
i then copied the entire front opening, including the collar, so as to make a new facing:
i shortened the front of the facing to 2 inches below the intended neck opening--drew a cutting line from front to shoulder--added a grain marking:
to make the removable collar, i copied the facing, deleted the excess lines, then i made the angle on the front neckline more acute so that i could hide it when it was attached to the undercollar:
the entire adjusted bodice includes the sleeve and the removable stand-up cuff:
when i assembled the bodice, i left one dart on each side of center front and back unsewn, so that i could adjust the fit directly on the singer. please note that there is NO zipper or other closure on this blouse and yet it slipped easily over the dress form (and later the singer also was able to put it on without benefit of a closure--testament to the amount of room that is actually available in a garment that fits this close).
the skirt is just a basic circle skirt which i also drafted in PMB but i didn't print out the pattern, i just measured it and drew directly on the fabric.
the costume in the basted state, with purchased belt, on my personal dress form which is NOT the same shape as the singer (and for that matter, is not the same shape as ME right now either--thank you breastfeeding!):
surprise! it's RED. does it remind you of anything? :) i bought this fabric for $1.00 per yard at WAL-MART of all places, and it is 1st quality--just the sort of reason people like me bother to go to wal-mart, we find something crazy like this. i bought the entire bolt.
at this point, there are no decorative buttons, and the removable collar and cuffs are tacked on with rescue tape.
i will come back and edit this post when i get pictures of the singer in the completed costume.
