Angels the Costumiers

I went on work experience for 1 week from 22nd - 26th March at Angels the Costumiers in London. I was very excited to get this experience and when I went to the interview, I was informed that I would be working in the warehouse. This would include sorcing items, putting back returns, tidying and any other little jobs. I thought this would be better than working in alterations and making because I already know I like that area of costume. My aim was to experience a different area of jobs in the costume industry.
The result was I could easily imagine myself working in the Angels Warehouse. It was a good experience in the way of showing me a different area. However, I still feel I'd prefer to work in making and alterations just because that's what I prefer to do.
The collegues working in the warehouse had all unknowingly developed a characteristic of walking very fast, let alone having to be physically fit to have to deal with the job.
The bad aspect of this experience was that there wasn't really much to do. I just wandered around a lot of the time asking if anyone needed help with anything.
The best part of this week was sorting the 'women's rough' section from years 00's to 50's. All the costumes were mixed up and we had to sort them into the different eras. This was perfect at developing my knowledge of those eras and I now feel I could spot the difference between women's clothing in those decades more easily.

Today I've spent the day drafting up patterns for my jacket and trousers. The pattern I used was 'Double-breasted frock coat, 1880-1900' from Men's Garments 1830 - 1900 by R.I.Davis.
Below is the image I will be working from, with photocopied instructions from the book. I will adapt the patterns pieces on the stand tomorrow to match my design.

Group Meeting

Today we met to discuss what we need to do within this project and to collaborate a timeplan.
From this we've discussed when we'd all be available to do fittings and two dates we've come up with that are yet to be confirmed are:
1st fitting - Tuesday 6th April
2nd fitting - Monday 3rd May

Colour Development

Now that Joe has chosen which design he likes best, I've developed what colour fabrics I could use. We planned to use blacks, greys and navy but I wasn't sure what would look best. So I created some ideas and showed them to Joe for him to decide.
Joe's favourite designs are 1) and 3). We plan to go fabric shopping on Thursday 18th March, so I will chose what colour to make the costume depending on what fabrics I like most that I find.


1)2)
3)4)
5)

Developed Ideas

These designs are a collaboration of the initial ideas and lapel designs based on Joe's feedback.
Joe's preferred design is number 3) with the high collar.

1) 2) 3)

Lapel Devlopment

These ars a few sketches of lapels i've created for a wider varity of choice. I felt I was being too specific with just two designs and felt I needed to develop so that the final design will be easier to create after specific decisions had been made.

Joe's opinions:
1) He likes a lot
2) Not his favourite
3) "This is almost regal so i could definately pull it off....just want to find the right balance between edgy/stylish and not poncey"
4) "Crazy" But he likes a lot because it's a bit more original.
5) No comment.

After recieving this feedback, I'm now going to create final designs with lapels 1, 3 and 4 and see which Joe prefers.


1)2)
3)4)
5)

2nd Tutorial 10/03/10

Attendants of the Tutorial:
Myself, Kate Eldridge, Lottie Cutcher, Graham Cottenden

This tutorial was arranged to help kick start the project. I think we've been fairly organised so far within this project but we do have a lot to do in the next couple of months and this helped to see what we need to do. A group tutorial would be more successful with all makers present.
What needs to be done:

Budget - A budget needs to be discussed as a group to determine how much will be spent on both made and sourced garments.

Making - The recomended amount that we should make is two garments. My items will definately include the jacket and i'm yet to decide between a shirt, trousers or waistcoat for the second item. All other items that aren't made will be sourced for the photoshoot.

Patterns - We are to colaborate together relevant research images and use the patterns from 'The Modern Tailor, Outfitter and Clothier - Volume 1', pgs, 20-22, 54-56, 59-61.

Materials - We will find a day suitable to all 4 makers to go fabric shopping. We're looking at blacks, blues and greys. The quantity will vary depending on the costume being made but will probably be about 2.5m for trousers, 4m for the jacket and 3m for a shirt.
We will find lightweight fabrics to suit the band's comfort in performance.

Timeplan - We will have to put a timeplan together as a group, however, due to work experience, we will have to plan out our own individual time as well. It will be extremely beneficial to have days in the workrooms together.

Bush Hall Gig Photos

Pictures from the Bush Hall gig:

Designs

Initial idea sketches collaborated together from the research pictures Joe chose.

Joe prefered the design that has two lapels on each side.

What he prefered about this design:
- It's not an open cut.
- Small cuffs with buttons.
- Look of the lapels.
- Uneven sides.

I thought after these designs I would be able to create a final idea. However i've still got different ideas that couuld be posibilities. I will do a few more development sketches before I create a final design.

Designs

Today I've started to create designs for Joe's costume.
Joe wants and open cut jacket with large lapels and embellishment. I will put together more than one design so that he can chose which he prefers (i've got different ideas for lapels, cuffs and shirt).
These are the research pictures that he chose:

Bush Hall Gig

I've already seen The Rileys perform before, but before we decided to use them for this project. Therefore Jennifer and I will be attending their gig at Bush Hall on the 6th March. We'll treat this as primary research and will speak to the band after the gig.