We don’t need no stinkin’ mock-ups!

  

As a historical costumer, I almost always do mock-ups well before cutting into my fashion fabric.  There are always little kinks to work out of any pattern, and I want to go through that process using cheap fabric that I don’t care about rather than my precious fabric that will be used for the final, complete version of the garment.

There are occassions, however, when skipping the mock-up process is called for.  Today, was one of those days.

I’ve started working on my costume for the GBACG Seelie & Unseelie Fairy Court Gathering.  I’m making the base gown out of red stretch velvet.  So, I figured, why on earth would I need to make a mock up…it stretches.  Thankfully, my slight risk has paid off, and today I was able to cut out and get most of the major sewing done on the dress.  It still doesn’t have sleeves or a hem, but the dress itself and the hood are sewn and fit beautifully.

Of course, I’m already rethinking the hood, but I knew I was going to do some experimenting with that, so I’m not going to be put out with myself if I decide to take it off and change it.

The corset, however, is another matter entirely.  For the fashion fabric, I have some silk brocade that is black with red flowers.  I do not have much of it…definitely not enough to experiment with.  So, the first thing I did today was cut out a mock-up of the corset.  I’m using a late nineteenth century corset pattern that I’m trying to modify to have better bust coverage.  This first mock-up looks like it is going to need a bit of work, but hopefully I’ll be able to get that taken care of tomorrow when I see my fitting buddy.

August 20, 2009  Tags:   Posted in: Costuming

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