Volume 6, Issue 2 June, President s Message. Page 1. Aurora Celeste

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1 Volume 6, Issue 2 June, 2008 President s Message 1 The Many faces of Aurora Celeste 2 Basic Cabaret Bra and Belt Construction 3 Easter in New Orleans 6 SiW Businesses: Deb Salisbury s the Mantua-Maker 7 Editor s Message 8 President: Vice-President: Treasurer: Secretary: Representative to the ICG BOD: Alt. Rep. to the ICG BOD Web Site Coordinator: Editor Aurora Celeste Richard Man Bruce MacDermott Jeanine Swick Richard Man Aurora Celeste Ari Hollander Dana MacDermott The Silicon Web Costumers' Guild (SiW) is a non-profit, volunteer-run chapter of the International Costumers' Guild (ICG). Redistribution or republication of content requires permission of the author and editor of this publication. President s Message Aurora Celeste Greetings fellow costume fans! I suppose, as the new President of the Silicon Web, I'd better introduce myself. I know I've been around a shorter time than some here, so we'll start at the beginning. I've been sewing for about 8 years now. My mother taught me the basics when I was a small child, but I started sewing seriously as a hobby while I was in the Navy, hemming pants and sewing patches to make a little extra money and help people out. A request for a wedding veil started my breakout into more creative endeavors. From there I moved on to Star Wars and historical costumes. In working on some research for the new Moulin Rouge movie I found a group that was planning a huge photoshoot at an event called DragonCon. It sounded like fun, so I attended my first con and had a blast. A few years later they started costuming programming, and I volunteered to help out because I wanted to learn more. However, due to an accident and a scheduling mix-up, I ended up teaching panels instead. I discovered I really liked helping other people learn costuming skills, so I looked around for opportunities to learn and educate others. That's when I found the ICG. (Ed s note: and the ICG found her!) In taking the reins of this group, I have a few ideas that I'll be working on. In July I'd like to do an update on the website to include current members' web links. I'll also be doing some polling for some other things I've been working on to benefit both the Silicon Web and the ICG at large. And, of course, I hope to see everyone who can come to Costume Con next May. That will be a big month for me; I also plan on graduating college that month with a BGS in History and Theatre & Film. Perhaps then I can get started on some bigger costuming plans. Page 1

2 The Many faces of Aurora Celeste: Page 2

3 Basic Cabaret Bra and Belt Construction Gail Wolfenden-Steib aka Rukshana (First part of a series) Bra construction: 1. Purchase a lightly padded underwire bra with cups that you feel comfortable wearing. Different styles will have different amount of coverage as well as different looks. A plunging cup will show more cleavage versus a strapless style cup that will provide more of a shelf look. Don t worry about how the band or straps fit these will be replaced during the construction process. Depending upon your build you may want to purchase one cup size larger than you typically wear. 2. Cut the cups free of the band and straps. 3. Draping the cup pattern: a. Place the cup on a tailors ham or small firm pillow to stabilize it b. Cut a square of muslin or other stable woven fabric scrap large enough to cover the entire cup area plus 1 inch all around (be generous) c. Mark the straight of grain on the muslin with a pencil d. Pin the muslin to the center of the top edge of cup Carefully lay fabric over the top of the cup and pin to bottom edge following the straight of grain (this should go over the longest part of the cup s curve) e. Continue to pin across the top edge of the cup, working from the center out do not pull the fabric too taut or you will distort the cup f. Pin across the bottom edge of the cup from the center out to the sides you will have extra fabric at the side and CF (center front) point when you have finished pinning the top and bottom edges g. Pin out the fullness across the cup this will create a dart (see picture) *The dart placement should be adjusted so it falls across the most flattering part of the cup. Ideally, if you were to place a strip of fringe across this line it would hang freely and not rest on the lower portion of the cup. Page 3

4 h. Trace around the edge of the cup and along each side of the dart. Label the top and bottom sections (see photo) i. Record the manufacturer, style #, and cup size as well as marking CF (center front) on both the top and bottom pieces, neck strap placement, and three notches on pattern pieces (see diagram below) j. Remove the pins and cut along the lines this will be your pattern for the plastic canvas, fashion fabrics and linings note that it does not contain any seam allowance! 4. To create the stiffened cup pieces: a. Pin the pattern to your plastic cross stitch canvas, carefully trace the pattern using a Sharpie and label the pieces, (Be sure to protect the surface under the canvas as the Sharpie will go through the holes in the canvas. * A trick to use if you don t have a cutting table you can pin into is to place a piece of heavy weight paper the size of your pattern pieces on your carpet. Pin the paper to the carpet (pin straight down into the pad). Place your plastic canvas on top of the paper and pin in place. You can now pin the patterns in place and trace around them with a sharpie. b. Cut out the plastic using craft scissors be sure to label pieces top and bottom c. Test the fit of the plastic in the cups Pin the top half of the cups in place stretching the top edge of the bra cup to create a tight fit. Place the bottom half of the cup in place. The plastic should fill the cups and nest up under the underwire. You will have to trim approximately! of an inch (possibly more) from the lower edge of the bottom cup to achieve this snug fit. d. Once the plastic is in place, pin securely e. Overstitch around the exterior edge of the plastic canvas stitches should be approximately! to 3/8 inch apart f. Stitch seam down (whip/overcast the edges) g. Using a large running stitch, tack the plastic to the bra cup be sure and stitch all the way through both the plastic and the cup pieces. Page 4

5 h. Trim away any pokey bits of plastic that might be overlapping the soft cup edge be careful not to cut any stitches i. It may be necessary to cover the top edge of the cup blank with a strip of bias tape to prevent the plastic from poking through the fashion fabric (a must if you are working with delicate fabrics) if your interior seam is rough you should also sew a layer of bias tape down to prevent chafing 5. Covering the cups a. Pin your cup pattern to your fashion fabric and trace allow one inch of seam allowance between and around each piece (if you are using a sheer fabric you will need to cut a flat lining and stay stitch it to the fashion fabric) b. Sew pieces together to create cup by hand or machine c. Pin fabric cup to reinforced bra cup (carefully smooth fabric over cup so you don t have any puckers) do this step on both cups *Be sure that your seam placement is the same on both cups. d. Stitch fabric to cups being careful to only catch the plastic/padding on the interior you do not want to stitch all the way through to the fashion fabric (see picture below *this sample has the plastic on the exterior of the cup* and has additional steps already completed ) You are now ready to decorate the cups! Page 5

6 Easter in New Orleans Dana MacDermott We flew into New Orleans the day before Easter with a group to spend a week working for Habitat for Humanity on a project in Picayune, Mississippi. We were home based in a church in Slidell, Louisiana, and had Sunday to explore the French Quarter in New Orleans before we took tools in hand and set to on the two houses in Picayune. New Orleans clearly takes advantage of every opportunity for parades and festivities. Although the devastation of Katrina is still overwhelming in many areas, the French Quarter was the earliest settled portion of the city, and as a result of being on high ground, was minimally impacted. Rather than a single parade, there were numerous small parades with throws of the traditional beads as well as stuffed toys. Here, from among my many photographs are some costume oriented images of Easter in the French Quarter. Page 6

7 SiW Businesses: Deb Salisbury s the Mantua-Maker A number of Silicon Web members have their own costume related businesses. I am hoping those of you who do will share information about your work and your businesses in the Virtual Costumer. Deb Salisbury has her historic pattern company, The Mantua-Maker. Recently, I asked her about how she goes about creating her patterns. (Editor) Deb: When I can get hold of existing garments, I do draft from them. My Whistlestop Polonaise is taken from a polonaise in my collection, and I borrowed two of Animal X's collection, years ago, and drafted from them - the Mantlet and the 1820's Day Dress. I've drafted corsets and other undergarments from museum examples that I was allowed to study and measure. I also have a couple of very boring bodices that I use to study sewing techniques. Without a garment to study to create my patterns, I research everything related I can get my hands on. I love to do research, and sometimes forget to create the pattern because the history is so fascinating. I go through my collection of Victorian patterns, photographs, magazines, catalogs and books, and the reprints by Dover. I pour over books by reliable costume historians, such as Janet Arnold, Nancy Bradfield, and Francis Grimble. I try to find a drawing of a pattern, even if it's only an inch tall. Then I recreate the pattern on my CAD program, grade it out from the original (usually) size 2 and test it; generally several times. I write out instructions for each step, keeping in mind how the original seamstresses did it, if I was able to find their instructions. When it works, I print it out and put it on my website. The patterns I find generally need to be adapted for the modern figure - our ribcages are oval, whereas a woman who has spent her youth in a corset has a round ribcage. That makes a difference in the fit of the bodice. I hope other people enjoy using my patterns as much as I enjoyed researching them! Look for my patterns at My newest pattern is: Mystic Mine Basque Ideal as a dinner bodice, a walking jacket or as part of a riding habit. Two lengths of coat style sleeves, three styles of necklines. Pointed or cutaway front, or with an overlap. Narrow or wide box pleats in back. Page 7

8 Editor s Message On working at a Costume-Con Dana MacDermott This is the first post CC-26 issue of the Virtual Costumer. Silicon Web has a new President, and many of us spent considerable time sorting out our real world lives after our intense participation in the convention. At Costume-Con 26, I was Director for the fashion show. Aside from organizing the staging of the event, itself, this means that I publicized the show through the various costuming lists and created the informational write ups in the Folio, PRs, and the Program book. I took registrations for the three events (Single Pattern Competition, Future Fashion Show, and Art to Wear), arranged for the Judges and the MC, recruited models and established with the participants and Judges the guidelines for the look and feel of the show and awards. I also maintained extensive correspondence with the contestants who signed up in advance. This correspondence was essential in the building of a show that displayed the creations of our participants to their best advantage. Presenting an event is a team undertaking. The most crucial part of managing an event is finding the right people to whom to delegate portions of the responsibility, and then keeping them informed of everything that impacts their job. You also have to be able to recognize when the existing plans (or people) don t work and to make the necessary changes, sometimes extremely quickly. First, I gave all the data manipulation to my husband, who was also my general assistant. I did make a number of decisions about the event design and structure, but a tremendous amount of the final appearance of the fashion show resulted from the advice given by the tech people, the crew that was supplied by the Con, and the staff we put together, not to mention the input from the Judges and participants. We had developed a detailed approach to the choreography for the presentation that we summarily discarded during the rehearsal that led up to the show on the advice of one of our expert volunteers. It made for a better and easier production. Each Con is different, with its own scheduling, personnel and peculiarities. This year, the Con Chair (SiW s Kevin Roche) was concurrently both running the Con and creating a database specifically designed for taking care of all the data and organizational needs for a Costume-Con. This contributed both benefits in continuity of information as well as setting us up for all the hassles and unintended results of Beta testing a complex system. Personally, it made my job both easier and more difficult at various times. Subsequent Cons that choose to use it (see Kevin) will find a system that should make their lives far easier. When you run an event at a Costume-Con, you do not get to go to many panels. You do not see all the exhibits, but you get a tremendous sense of satisfaction. You also link into the people, both staff and the participants in a different way. I have always found attending Costume-Con results in friendships made, but working with people on the show created a greater bond of friendships solidified, and respect that I shall treasure. Consider this column both a statement of appreciation to everyone who participated in my show, and a recommendation that taking part in working on a Costume-Con can be a deeply rewarding experience. Page 8