Tailoring, day 1

Hello world!

It has certianly been a LONG time since I last blogged, and I have no real excuse other than I never really got hooked on it. YET!!

Today at work (with Opera Australia still) I started a tailoring project. The last 4 months with the company, I have been working exclusively on womenswear (dresses, skirts, corsetted bodices etc), but today I was given some tailoring work. For the upcoming production of Don Giovanni, the male chorus members wear a kind of 1750s style outfit (jacket, shirt, waistcoat, breechers); and as there are 8-10 of them, one jacket has been given me to me as a big learning exercise. I'm looking forward to it (there had been rumours it was coming), and so far I'm feeling good about it.

I feel the need to make this perfectly clear though - I am arriving quite late into the process as far as making is concerned: the patterns were made, fabric cut, and a fitting done already, as well as the alterations marked through to the fabric. I am 'simply' completing the garment. I have heard this stage of the process actually takes someone with considerable skills and practice a little less than 50 hours, and I will be documenting my process carefully, and taking the time to get it right, so I expect it will take 80 hours or so - roughly two working weeks. I don't actually know the deadline of the show though, and that may change how thoroughly I can write my notes. I also have every intention of blogging about it, so here is the first installation.

Hours 0-5
My jobs began with the very straight-forward, but very important: marking through stitch lines, and tacking. All hems, notches, CF line, neck, armholes, and sleeveheads needed to have hand sewn tacking lines, as well as all the trim placement lines. While it was possible, I was also encourgaged to sew closed my sleeves (outter and lining pieces) so as to not worry about them later, which I did.

As the hours went by, I also started the next few tasks: sewing the CB seam of the lining, to include an 'action back' for ease of movement, following this up with tacking the CB line itself closed (to be removed later), and pressing it with the seam allowances facing left (when worn).

Then, I was given an option! To do the front, or the back first! It was a difficult one to choose - do you do the front, with loads of trim to be tacked, then machine sewn on, matching perfectly; or the back, which looks simple, but has a VENT! A vent is an overlap/split in the CB, below the waist. You'd recognise it if you saw it (I will load photos later) I chose the vent. It seemed the lesser of two evils.

The way the Opera cuts its jacket linings, is actually in two parts, split horizontally. This is for not-difficult alterations later down the track (keeping in mind that Opera costumes can be worn for 10 or 20 years!) I can't begin to explain how it was put together, especially without images to go with it, so you will just need to be left with the knowledge (for now) that I did it, with only a few crooked lines, but generally got it right the first time.

The useful information I CAN pass on, is how you know which side of a vent sits on top, and which side sits flat/underneath. This amazing knowledge comes in two steps. 1 - The Woman is Always (on the) Right. So, when you stand on the right side, with the man on the left, step 2 comes into play: you need easy access to his wallet (these days, it tends to be kept in his back pocket of his trousers). Therefore, the side of a vent with the 'extension' is the RHS, and the side that is folded back in the LHS. Visualise it, it makes sense, I promise!!

My day finished up with attaching the top part of the CB lining to the jacket, in all possible ways: tacking the seam allowances together, 1mm off the stitch line, from the inside; a later-to-be-removed tacking of the two CBs on top of each other; and the diamond/heart shaped two lines of tackingsimply holding the majority of the lining to the correct parts of the jacket. The trick with the diamond stitching is to not get too close to the shoulder pads, or seam allowances - you will always need to get complete flat access to these seams, and in the mean time you don't want to mess with your lining.


And thats it! That was 5 hours of sewing.

In an amusing note, I was offered a job to sew 3 suits in a weekend. This weekend. All I can assume is that they are in no-where near the same league as this one I am creating at work. I am curious as to what that job was going to be for, and who they end up finding to do it.