Stretching a bit: learning how to make custom leotards, unitards and things with stretch fabrics

I took the plunge, I am stretching to new ground. Like many people who sew and costumers initially we shy away from stretch fabrics. They look great but require a different type of sewing and the fabrics behave differently than other types of fabric: they stretch.
I had made a few things with stretch fabrics before and it had not been a success. This was mostly because I used the wrong needles, did not play with the stitch length and tension and hadn't done my home work.
There are some basic things you need to know about working with stretch fabrics:
1) use the right needles on your sewing machine. Use at least a ball point needle but ideally a stretch needle.
2) play around with some scraps to set the stitch length and thread tension correctly.
3) when laying out your fabric do a single layer lay-out, making sure you flip the pattern pieces to get mirror images.

Single layer fabric layout

4) use really sharp scissors or a rotary cutter to cut neatly. Lycras often do not ravel so if you cut neatly you will have nice finished edges.
5) use fine pins (I like to use the glass headed pins) and pin only in the seam allowances to avoid marking your fabric.
6) mark the fabric carefully with outward facing clips, a disappearing fabric marker or pattern tracing paper. It makes things so much easier to match up well and saves a lot of time.

Carefully marking where seams go saves time

7) use a walking foot or even feed foot to prevent "tunelling" when stitching down fabrics.
You can stitch stretch fabrics using a wide zigzag stitch and then straight stitch just inside along the seam allowance. There are several good tutorials on Youtube (here is one that is great for the "basics" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEOjwcI5M9U or this one from Jalie, less explanation but great if you are a visual learner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTZReQxc9r8). I purchased a class from Craftsy:Sewing fashion Knits beyond the basics because it dealt with some more "advanced" techniques and I can watch it whenever I want and as many times as I want so I felt it was money well spent.

baste 1/4 seams

Seam allowances for leotards are narrow,  usually 1/4", so it is important to sew them carefully. You can serge the edges but it is a good idea to "baste" sew them first. Once the seams are sewn, you can serge them. Elastics can be sewn into the arm and legs.

Front view of the leotard

Use a zigzag stitch to sew the elastics in and then turn under. Using a dual needle you can stitch down the edges, to create a finished edge.

Back view of the leotard

After posting this I went back and found that a great web-site I had found that explained a lot about making leotards and also how to draw a sloper has been taken down. The web-site called : patternschool.com still comes up in searches, and many of the pictures of the basic leotard slopers appear on Pinterest but the actual site is no longer there. I hope that it will return but otherwise I may have to try to come up with something myself.

Wedding splendor

My brother was recently married to a lovely young lady. To celebrate this happy occasion I pulled out all the stops to create some lovely clothing for myself, my mother and my sister-in-law. My brother's fiance now wife loves the "Roaring Twenties", so I offered to make her a 1920's inspired veil out of silk and some vintage lace I had.
When it comes to historical clothing, I try to be as authentic as possible. There is a lot of "flapper style" and 1920's  style clothing out there that no self respecting women of the time would have worn to a party, let alone to her wedding.

not 1920's style

Dresses in the 1920's had dropped waists (i.e. were not body hugging or tight fitting) came at least to the knee, and did not feature midriff baring cut-outs, plunging necklines or no backs. They tended to be very "demure". Wedding veils were a a type of mob cap with flowers on both sides of the head or large cloche hats.

A bride in 192o's on her wedding day

Not everyone looks good with a lace cap and some big bunches of flowers over their ears (let's face it it is a "different" look). Since I had some authentic 1920's lace I was able to simulate something that was closer to the period. My sister-in-law loves lotus flowers so I made one large lotus flower out of silk organza, with Swarovski crystals and pearls for the centers. I also added some authentic 1920's style ribbon work flowers in pale blue and ivory. The lace was no longer white but a lovely creamy ivory and I made a silk covered head band as the base. My sister-in-law did not want a long veil.

laces loosely pinned to head form

Not long ago I purchased an e-book from Prudence millinery  explaining how to make couture fabric flowers and headbands, and I used these instructions to construct the veil's base. 

Front view of completed veil

Side view of completed veil

 

 

 

 

After making the veil I made myself a dress and made matching hats for myself and my mother. My dress was made of a very pretty polyester chiffon and my mother's dress was a grey Duponi silk.

Beginnings of dress and hats

My hat was a large flower, while the two hats I made for my mother were a similar flower in grey and black silk and a large horse hair bow with netting on a silk base.

Black and grey Duponi silk hat

Chiffon and silk cocktail hat with veiling

Horsehair, black silk and Russian veiling hat

The wedding was lovely: my sister-in-law looked very beautiful and my brother was radiantly happy.

Swans and flowers and tutus oh my

 I haven't posted for a while due to the large amount of work I have had on recently.
After finishing the Civil war ball gowns I had to hustle to full fill an order for Swan lake bodice overlays and plates for a customer, make a dress, veil and hats for my brother's wedding, sew 20+ costumes for a local dance recital, work on a gold metallic tutu for a customer and work on an enormous number of alterations.
First things first. A customer contacted me about Swan lake tutu decorations. I began by drawing a number of sketches for the customer so that she could choose what she liked and could afford.

Sketches of bodice overlays.

After that I ordered the rhinestones (Rhinestone guy's premium hot-fix crystals which are awesome), selected trims, cut the bodice overlay shapes, cut out 164 fabric "feathers" and the wing shapes.

fabric "feathers" for San lake plates

To make the bodice overlays, I pinned then sewed a false nude panel and silver rim onto netting, then glued hackle feathers and applied hot-fix rhinestones.

Swan lake bodice decoration overlays

To make the swan wing shaped decorations, I pinned and appliqued the feathers to heavy duty interfacing shapes, sewed this onto netting plates and applied the hot-fix crystals.

One swan lake tutu plate.

The basic technique and patterns for these tutu decorations are described in Claudia Folts book: "Finishing touches".
Next I worked on several items including a 1920's inspired wedding veil for my brother's wedding. I will write a separate post on that.
Next I worked on a large project of 20+ costumes for a dance recital. The theme of the performance was the parable of the sower and the seeds. The smallest children in the recital were to represent seeds being planted in the earth and then sprouting into beautiful flowers. My idea for the costumes were earth toned t-shirt, tights and tutus with petals that would drop down to "reveal" tulips, roses, sunflowers, daisies, clover and morning glories. The middle group of students were to be dancing princesses and the oldest dancers were to represent a gardener tending flowers (hyacinth and lavender).

fabric petals for 9 children's sprouting flower costumes

For the little children's costumes I ruffled large amounts of earth toned tulle, which I sewed to elastic waists, over which two rows of brown and colored petals were stitched. Ribbon loops were attached to the brown side of the petals, and when they were tied up with ribbon, the children looked like little brown seeds. Once the ribbons were untied, the petals dropped down to reveal their "true" colors.
For each of the dancing princesses I made flowered circlets with hand-made ribbon flowers on them, and tulle and ribbon streamers (the technique for this is also described in Claudia Folts' book, "Finishing touches").

Flowered "princess" headpiece with ribbon work flowers

For the dresses I drew out a new pattern combining elements from an old "Gunny Sachs" and "Daisy Kingdom" pattern. The dresses were made of pink, lavender and cornflower blue crepe with wide chiffon "princess" sleeves.

The beginnings of six "princess" dresses

Finished princess dress with headpiece

Lavender dress

Cornflower blue

For the oldest group of dancers, I made two Romantic length "petaled" tutus, with green tights, and top and for the gardener a yellow cotton and chiffon dress. The dancers representing the flowers had green velvet and ribbon work headbands, while the gardener wore a purchased straw hat. To reduce the fullness of the petaled tutus, I quilted the tulle along the hip line.

"Hyacinth" petaled tutu

"Lavender" petaled tutu

Green velvet and "lavender" ribbon work flowers

Finally I received an order for a custom made, gold metallic tutu. I loosely based the coloring and design on the Gold Fairy tutu I had made for a performance of Sleeping Beauty.  Key difference were that this tutu did not have as many layers of double hand pleating in it (three layers instead of 6), used some gold metallic mesh, a different type of enhanced sparkle net (purchased from Tutu.com) and a black basque instead of a gold basque. 

Gold mesh and gold enhanced sparkle nets

Original design + notes for the "Gold" fairy from Sleeping beauty

As for the original tutu, I did dye some of the tutu net and the pants a rich gold. I also, spray painted plastic tacks with gold metallic paint to hide them during tacking.

Bottom of tutu with hand-pleated god mesh and dyed to match panties.

The finished tutu looks very even and will be going out to the customer in the next day or two.

 

Completed gold tutu with black powernet basque

My plans for this summer are to work on custom leotards (I will post about this soon as I have started on the first 4 samples), go to Tutu.com's tutu school again (this time to learn men's costuming) and finally work on building some rental costumes for the fall.

How much??? charging what your time and work is worth

In this post I am going to talk about a touchy subject. What should one charge for custom work and what are reasonable expectations that customers can and should have when working with a costumer?
Due to the internet and cheap imports of clothing from China, many of us have the expectation of being able to buy a dress, skirt or even ballet costume for $20.

 There is a huge difference though in quality and fit between something mass produced and an item made, by hand, by a costumer. "Internet" tutus are often made with inferior materials such as hexagonal "craft" net, or stiffened cotton fabric. "Real" tutu netting can cost any where from $1.25 p/y to $25.00 p/y (this depends on color, glitter, sparkles, and stiffness) and a proper, professional quality, tutu has about 10 yds of pleated netting in it. Professional tutus are "built" not just sewn on fabric panties. This fabric can cost between $10-$40 p/yd.
Like all beginning costumers, I know I do not charge enough for my work. I recently made some bodice overlays and tutu plates which ended up being just above cost.  For each step, I sat with a timer, timing how long it took me to cut out, pin, glue, sew etc.etc. I now know have a much more accurate idea of how much time it takes to make things and can charge accordingly. Minimum wage in NY is $7.50 p/h, I have always calculated $10.00 p/h as my work is more "skilled" labor but honestly, that is dirt, dirt cheap. My 14 year old daughter was hired to do a house cleaning job and got paid $15.00 p/h ?! so I think it is only right and proper that I will be charging more in the future.
How much time does it take to make a professional tutu? I recently created a tutu and it took me 8 hrs of cutting, pleating, sewing, steaming, tacking and finishing.  I have made over 100 tutus in the last few years so it takes me a lot less time than a novice to sew a tutu, but at $10 p/h that is still $80.00 just for the labor. To hand-pleat a (top) layer, it now takes me, about 20 minutes but if I am pleating tulle, it takes longer.
This tutu was also a "plain" tutu, without a bodice, hoop, hand tacking and no additional decorations.
Making a tutu plate, with lace, appliques, crystals, feathers or other decorations can take a few hours and the materials (lace, trims etc.) are not inexpensive. Rhinestones range in price from $20-$45.00 per gross (144 pieces) depending on color, size and brand.
What about headpieces? Again, when you buy something from a costumer, you are getting hand work. If the tiara is made on a wire frame, these frames are bent to shape and then the crystals are wired on, one by one, and by hand. Something as "simple" as a Swan headpiece, which consists of feathers on a felt shape, still has to be hand-sewn and glued. The shapes are cut by hand and have individual loops sewn to them so that the headpiece can be pinned to the dancer's hair. The "right" types of feathers are also expensive and are seasonal. At one point, my wholesaler had the hackle pads on back order for 3 months due to the bird flu scare in the Far East.
As with everything in life: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. A professional tutu (with a bodice, decorations etc.) will cost around $500 and up, headpieces $25.00 (super simple, with few, inexpensive decorations) and up.  Can you find something cheaper online? Probably, but will it really be worth it? probably not.

Belles of the Ball part 2: the completed dresses

As promised I am posting the completed Civil war ball gowns, with headpieces.
The duck-egg blue dress has three tiers of ruffles, with hand-cut gold lace. The skirt is pleated and cartridge pleated to get the 8 yards of fabric sewn to the tiny basque. The headpiece is a ruffled lace, light gold lace, pink velvet ribbon confection that is pinned to the hair. For an authentic touch, the pale pink rose and leaf decoration is made with French wired ombre ribbon.

The duck-egg blue dress, with headpiece

A close up of the headpiece:

The dress's bodice was based on a Tutu's the dance (Suzanne Dieckmann) bodice. The skirt (based on a Simplicity patern and Janet Arnold Pattern's of Fashion) is worn over an elliptical cage crinoline (Laughing Moon pattern):

My daughter's deep plum colored dress had a new bodice (made from Travis Halsey's "Regal" bodice pattern). The skirt is a five-gored skirt worn over an elliptical cage crinoline.

Plum colored taffeta dress

Finally the lilac taffeta dress, has the same basic bodice as the duck egg blue dress, but different accents. The dress has ribbon work appliques on the shoulder and a pleated front drape. The front drape was inspired by a dress described in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion.

Detail of bodice with a front pleated drape and ribbon work appliques

The skirt is pleated and cartridge pleated and worn over a full petticoat.

Lilac purple taffeta Civil war style ball gown

This dress has a net and ribbon headpiece to go with it in various shades if lilac, periwinkle, royal blue and greens. I do not have a photo of that headpiece yet but I also made a second headpiece in shades of purple as a gift for another girl. Here is it:

Belles of the ball

Every year our local home school group has a civil war ball as an alternative to the standard prom. The kids love it because it removes a lot of the pressure to find a date, boys and girls dancing together etc. but they can have a great time getting all dressed up and just having fun.
What the dance does require is an authentic looking dress. This year I am making two to serve as rentals (for this but they could also be for the party scene in the Nutcracker) and my daughter needed a new bodice as she had grown. It is a good idea (and authentic) to make a bodice and a skirt rather than a dress. This allows alterations to be made more easily, and you can switch bodices for a fresh look.

My daughter in last year's  plum colored dress

I drafted new bodice patterns for all three girls and cut out toiles out of an old sheet, then went back made adjustments and cut out the lining fabric (a heavy 100% cotton twill).
My daughter's new bodice was inspired by Janet Arnold's "patterns of fashion" illustrations, Travis Halsey's "Regal" bodice and my own reworking. I changed the neck line and added sleeves.

My daughter's bodice in plum colored taffeta

The bodices for the other two dresses were a reworking of a Tutus that dance pattern (#2102) with a different neckline and sleeves. One will be in a pretty lilac taffeta, the other in a duck-egg blue.

Lilac plaid taffeta for dress 1

The lilac taffeta will have a draped front neck, as shown in the Janet Arnold illustration, while the blue dress is going to have ruffles, ribbons and flowers. These dresses will also have some lovely headpieces: one a simple hair band of ribbon rose, the other a lace and flowered "bonnet".

Beginning of the duck egg blue faux silk dress.

I worked on my daughter's bodice first as I had her to try things on. I have also been taking an online class called the "Couture dress" with Susan Khalje on Craftsy and learned some new basting and ironing techniques to get the underlining piece nice and flat.

One issue with taffeta (and other fabrics such as silk satin) is that you have to be very careful not to make mistakes, or when pinning, as it can mar the fabric. I made such a mistake on the purple bodice with the right panel so that it is is not 100% smooth. Also, to get the bottom cording into a nice sharp point, it is important to clip seams, carefully (hand) baste down seam allowance etc. so that everything will lie flat.
I spent what seemed like forever ironing the fabric, pinning, repinning etc. but the end result was well worth it. With taffeta's, satin's etc. it helps not to actually place the iron on the fabric but hold the steam iron above the fabric to "relax" it and then gently smooth and pull. Again a too hot iron can mar that type of fabric.

my daughter's purple taffeta bodice

My daughter's bodice looks good but the second bodice I made looked better.

Bodice 2 in duck egg blue

The sleeves on the duck-egg blue dress are lined and gathered. Once I've done another fitting I will begin to add lace, ruffles and other decorations to this bodice. The third bodice is a plaid taffeta and I tried hard to match the plaid but due to the shape and the bias cut panels it just was not possible to match everything perfectly.

Bodice 3 in lilac, plaid taffeta

This third bodice will had a pleated front as decoration. Both skirts will be cartridge pleated unto a basque style waist.
It is hard to photograph cartridge pleating. It is a technique which allows a large amount of fabric to be neatly gathered into a very small space.

Cartridge pleated skirt

"Bertha" and some ruffles for dress

The duck egg blue dress will have several layers of ruffles and a ruffles "bertha" in soft pink and gold lace.

completed duck egg blue bodice

Most of the pieces for the dresses are now assembled and once I have sewn them up I'll post some photographs.

Dress skirt ruffled and pinned.

The dresses will also have complimenting headpieces made with ribbon embroidery and I'll include a little write up of that. Enjoy!