The last month has flown by! Hard to believe we’re already in August and I’ve been back in London for over a month now. While we’ve had a lot of rain, I’m enjoying the temperate summer that England is best for.
It’s been a slow process sifting through the many days worth of time lapses and documentation of my time at the college. Tonight I had a little window of time and decided to compile the making of my menswear project. For anyone who has ever been interested to find out what goes into the making of a jacket, this is for you! In short it’s a lot of precision cutting and hand sewing. I gotta admit I love me some pad stitching! Tailoring was definitely my most challenging of the course and I am grateful to my teacher Sil Devilly for teaching me the many tricks of the trade with this one. I feel that much more confident around a suit having completed this. A big thanks to my wonderful boyfriend for modeling this creation.
Oh how time flies! I’m officially back in London and my 15 week intensive costume course is complete. I feel like I learned a lot of new techniques and am proud of the body of work I’ve produced. I would say the most challenging (and also rewarding) part of the course was the tailoring.
I can often be quoted as saying “sewing doesn’t lie”. If something is stitched poorly you’ll see it; there is no hiding ill construction. With that in mind, tailoring requires that every step is done to perfection in order for the next step to go smoothly. Making welt pockets? You’d better snip it open to precision or it literally will not sit flat or be made weak at the joints. Every hand stitch must be done delicately; pulling too tightly will warp the garment and sewing too loosely could leave the garment to come undone. There is a reason it takes years and years to be regarded as a master tailor. While I may not be a master yet, I am very content with the work I’ve produced and have no doubt that this will beget many more interesting projects.
Without any further ado I would like to present my final project showcase in the video below. If you aren’t already following, please follow me on instagram @madewithjjoy for more content. I will be doing my best to post more timelapse videos documenting the creative process of the costumes featured in this video.
Here we are at the end of quarter one, twenty twenty one. I am writing from the comfort of my sofa in a new room in a new city. It’s a grey and windy day in York and I am happily tucked away in a thick jumper behind closed windows. The city is teaming with colour slowly emerging from the ground up; tulips, daffodils and cherry blossoms are growing bigger by the day. I love a UK spring!
I am about to start week 3 of my historical costume making course and am enjoying it immensely. The college itself is bright and beautiful, located in the center of town just steps away from the Shambles market (the inspo for Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley). In my short time I have already completed a set of drawers, a chemise, a corset circa 1844 and a corded petticoat. Next week I will start on my second petticoat and afterwards my gown. All in all I feel like I am learning new techniques and have a new appreciation for embellishment; more is MORE. To think only a couple hundred years ago women were wearing multiple petticoats and being held together with steel boning…
Here are some photos of York, my work at the college and some shots from Cat & the Queen’s new video. I will do my best to keep showing off my progress as the weeks move foward.
