construction tips for costumers

construction tips for costumers

The following are tips and tricks that I've picked up over the years as a largely self-taught sewer and costumer. They are particularly useful for nineteenth-century costuming, but I'm sure many will apply to other eras. If you've got any great suggestions to add to this list, please email me!

underlining & interlining

Underlining: underlining is the layer that goes between your fashion fabric and your lining. It will give shape and support to your garment. Two words: use it! And no, I don't mean sew-in or (worse) iron-in interfacing. Using a good interlining can make or break a structured garment such as a fitted bodice, and can add weight and drape to light fabrics.

You'll want to choose an underlining based on the qualities of your fashion fabric and how much support you need -- if you're using a lightweight fabric (eg crepe-back satin), and you want it to have the weight and drape of a heavier fabric (eg duchesse satin), use a heavier underlining. Experiment with different fabrics to find what works for different weights. My best advice is, for a fitted bodice, use 100% silk organza. I can't describe the immense difference silk organza will make until you see it yourself, but it's incredibly worth it. You can get silk organza at REALLY good prices from Thai Silks, and even cheaper prices if you live near the LA garment district.

Lining: lining should be the third layer of your fabric, worn closest to your skin. The only strong advice I have here is NOT to use evil polyster "lining" fabric -- it's wonky, sometimes it melts under your iron, and (most importantly) it doesn't breathe so it's HOT. I always use 100% cotton muslin -- it's very comfortable next to the skin.

Sewing together your layers (fashion fabric, underlining, and lining): if you're one of those gifted people who can actually make your lining the exact same as your other layers, and can successfully match your fashion fabric/underlining and lining wrong sides together, more power to you! If you're totally unskilled in this area as I am, do what most Victorian seamstresses did: baste your fashion fabric, underlining, and lining together into one layer BEFORE sewing together your pattern pieces. This will make your life so much easier, as you will make all fitting adjustments ONLY one time!

But what, you say, do you do about fraying seams? You can hand sew the seams to the lining fabric (be careful not to catch the fashion fabric!), zig zag the seam edges with your machine, trim the seam edges with pinking shears, or bind the seams with bias tape. See the section below on piping for a beautiful way to finish the top and bottom edges of your bodice.

Inside view of a bodice with fashion fabric, underlining, and lining sewn as one layer.	Exposed seam edges were zig zagged first, then hand sewn to the lining. Boning was sewn on top BEFORE sewing the seams to the lining.

piping

Piping is your friend! First, it adds visual interest and highlights a well-constructed garment:

Piping adds definition to the armhole, top of the sleeve puff, and the bottom of the sleeve (not shown).

Piping can also be used to finish the edge of a garment:

Bottom bodice edge, finished with self-piping.

To finish the raw edges of a garment with piping:

1. Make piping:

• cut bias strips of fabric at LEAST 2" wide
• fold the bias strip lengthwise over a piece of string, yarn, or cord (depending on the width you prefer), making sure to leave one side of the piping longer than the other (leave at LEAST 1" of bias length on the longer side)
• machine stitch as close to the cord as possible using a zipper foot

2. Sew the piping to the garment edge. Lay the piping, wrong side down, on top of the garment's right side. Make sure the extra bias length is AWAY from the garment, not on top of it. Machine sew the piping to the garment, as close as possible to the cording, using a zipper foot.

3. Fold the piping over the edge of the garment, so that the piping "stands up" at the top of the garment edge. The long bias length of the piping should encase the garment edge and the piping's short bias length.

4. Fold under the edge of the piping's long bias edge and hand stitch it to the lining, being careful not to catch the stitches in the fashion fabric.

making friends with hand sewing

All of this leads us to making friends with hand sewing. All I can say is, do it! Get a book such as the Reader's Digest Guide to Sewing or the Vogue Book of Sewing, practice some of the basic stitches, and incorporate them into your garment finishing. Why? Because your garments will look So Much Better.

Notice the lack of machine sewing visible on this bodice. Nice, eh?

pattern drafting

An advanced technique, and one that I recommend to sewers and costumers at the intermediate level, is to do your own pattern drafting. Start small with this -- find a copy of The Costume Technician's Handbook, which includes a very practical introduction to pattern drafting -- and learn how to draft a custom-fitted bodice. You won't BELIEVE the difference it makes when you draft your first bodice, try on your muslin mock-up, and it FITS. Yes, you may adjust an armhole or neckline here or there, but it will be NOTHING like the hair pulling, pinning, and repinning that you normally go through.

Look at the differences among these three bodices:

This first bodice was made using a pattern by Truly Victorian.	This was a second try using the same bodice pattern. Better fitted, but not perfect.	This bodice was made from a custom-fitted pattern, using the techniques described in The Costume Technician's Handbook.

tips from other costumers

Some great tips and tricks are listed on my links page.