from the Weaving Room WEAVING ROOM PATTERNS ON STAGE 1
Costume and Clothing Design 2001 Owen Carey 2001 Owen Carey 2
from the Weaving Room WEAVING ROOM PATTERNS ON STAGE In the summer of 2001, I was invited to design costumes for a production of Arthur Miller s play, The Crucible, a story of the Salem witch trials of 1692. The director, Allen Nause, wanted the costumes to be inspired by the clothing of the period, but he wanted them to be abstracted a bit, to be obviously costumes, and to be of-a-piece, to be at one with the reality of the play. I gave the concept some thought, and on my way home from that meeting it struck me that, We could base the costumes on Weaving Room Patterns! I got home, and set to work researching the history of costume from the late seventeenth century, and did some drawings of my interpretation, bringing the personality of each character into each drawing. I thought that each costume should have a bit of handwoven cloth featured in its design. The finished costumes would then be aged with theatrical painting. My ideas were enthusiastically accepted by the director and the set designer, so I set to work making the ideas come to life. For materials, I gathered all manner of upholstery fabric, looking for rough texture and earthy colors. For the handwoven accents, I knew I had plenty of scraps, and when I told the idea to my friend, Karen Gelbard, The Oregon Weaver, she enthusiastically added scraps of her handwoven fabric to the project. Then, I had to draft the patterns. I started by analyzing the silhouettes that I had gathered from the history books, and decided that I needed to develop only two patterns. I needed a frock coat for the men that could be used also as a long vest pattern, and a short fitted jacket for the women. To get the men s SCALE 3 pattern, I consulted Patterns for Theatrical Costumes by Katherine Strand Holkeboer. Starting with those patterns, I superimposed the Weaving Room pattern design scheme, as shown here. I straightened out the shoulder for the continuous roll of fabric over the shoulder. The sleeve is made from a large rectangle with a generous cuff, to achieve the look needed for the sleeves of the time period. The gussets under the arms are shaped to bring in the waist, again to approximate the look of the late seventeenth century. The fullness of the swashbuckling skirt is achieved with side gores. The collar line is unembellished, and the front of the coat hangs closed, with a continuous facing as in other Weaving Room patterns. The women s jackets were based on The Bolero from Clothing Patterns from the Weaving Room. The jacket was lengthened, to be tucked in or worn on top of the skirt waistband. I added small gores at the waist to accommodate the flare of the hips. 2
Costume and Clothing Design Measurement chart Age Height Size (S,M, L, XL) Shoe size Character Actor s name 1. Chest 2. Waist 3. Neck 4. Shoulder to shoulder 5. Sleeve, center back to wrist 6. Circumference of arm 7. Center back, neck to waist 8. Shoulder to waist over bust 9. Waist to ankle MEASURING AND SIZING Since I was working with 60" wide upholstery fabric, the loom-width idea, which drives the creation of Weaving Room Patterns, was irrelevant. I therefore used the shoulder width as my most important measurement. If I were weaving the cloth for these designs, the shoulder width would have been my width of fabric. Patterns were sized by the width of the shoulders. Men s medium coats and vests were cut 20" wide, and men s large and x-large were cut 22" wide. Women s sizes were also determined by shoulder width. Size small was 15", size medium was 17", and size large was 18". Chest and waist measurements were also important, as were jacket length and sleeve length. I include the measurement charts used for men and women, which show the important measurements needed to construct a Weaving Room Pattern. 4
from the Weaving Room Measurement chart Age Height Size (S,M, L, XL) Shoe size Hat size Character Actor s name 1. Chest 2. Waist 3. Neck 4. Shoulder to shoulder 5. Sleeve, center back to wrist 6. Center back, neck to waist 7. Waist to below knee CUTTING AND FLAT-LININg Flat lining is an old theatre costume construction technique. With flat lining, the fabric and the lining are cut at the same time. They are serged together, along all the cut edges, and construction proceeds as though the two fabrics were one. This lining, usually of muslin, acts to give body to the fabric used. In the case of upholstery fabric, it gives a soft lining that protects the actor from the rough backings used on upholstery fabric. The coats were flat-lined with black broadcloth that looked like a regular lining as the coats moved on stage. In addition to flat lining, all coats, vests, and jackets had the facings common to all Weaving Room Patterns. With few minor adjustments flat lining can be used with handwoven cloth, with instructions given for all Weaving Room Patterns. Treat the double layer of cloth and lining as one. This technique comes in handy if your fabric needs extra body, or if it is a bit rough in texture. 5
Costume and Clothing Design Cutting was a bit difficult with the two widths of cloth. The upholstery fabric was all 60" wide. The flat lining was all 45" wide. I had to cut, then move fabric, then cut again. There is considerable waste here, but we have a different philosophy when we are dealing with odds and ends of upholstery fabric from the sale table. It is not as precious as our hard-gotten handwoven cloth. I will leave the details of figuring all that out to you, as each situation will be different. Cut the pattern pieces out of paper, and move them around until you have the most economical arrangement, then cut the double layer of fabric. None of the selvages was usable to me in construction, so all pieces were serged all around. Regular seams were used in construction, and they were all topstitched after being pressed open, to control the stiffness of the upholstery fabric. The costumes had excellent body, and the drape of the coats was elegant and wonderful. The large cuffs, with their generous application of handwoven cloth, conveyed the style of the period. There was enough fabric in the pile of scraps to construct three women s jackets. These jackets had the feeling of being made by human hands. They were handwoven, as the jackets of village women would have been in 1692. They shaped themselves to the women s bodies, looking well worn and lived in. FITTING Fitting is simple and direct with this patterning method. The gusset under the arm serves as a place to adjust for varying body shapes. Figure 1 shows the X-large coat, with a wide underarm gusset. Figure 2 shows the men s large, with a smaller five-sided gusset. The women s jackets can be taken in along its side seams for better fit, as shown in Figure 3. The side seams, along each side of the gusset, serve the function of shaping darts. In the case of the men s vests, a tuck down the center of the gusset and through the side gores brings the garments in for proper fit, as shown in Figure 4. Shoulder darts for each vest are fitted to each actor, also shown in Figure 4. The hems for the coats and vests must be measured on each actor. When fitting, use large safety pins to pin darts and tucks on the outside of the garment. Turn the garment inside out, and mark along the pins with chalk. Remove the pins, and you have your new seam marked and ready to go. Figure 2 6 Figure 1
from the Weaving Room Figure 3 Figure 4 FINISHING Finishing touches make a costume. Using only these few simple patterns, you must have each character emerge as an individual. Fabric choices, enhanced by trims and accessories, bring out the personality and social position of each character in the play. Points of historical detail are important here, also. Most importantly, each actor must feel completely at home in the clothing of his or her character. When the actors put on these clothes for the first time, and looked around at one another, I could feel their excitement at becoming the characters they had been rehearsing for so long. They became the people of that faraway land, and were part of its story until the final curtain. The show opened on September 7, 2001. Disaster hit a few days later, and though their hearts were broken, the actors went on with the show. 7
Costume and Clothing Design ENCORE In an amusing footnote, these costumes were called upon again to perform in a video about life in the late Middle Ages. By belting the tunic, changing the legwear, and adding a hood, we were able to transform the male s costume. By overlaying a cyclas and adding a wimple, we were able to change the female. The basic structure of the garments permits easy manipulation. 8
from the Weaving Room 20 LENGTHEN OR SHORTEN HERE 4 SLEEVE CUT 2 FACING 42 COAT BACK 25 52 14 CUFF 15 3 3 SIDE FRONT SEAM SIDE BACK SEAM STRAIGHT GRAIN SIDE PANEL SIDE PANEL STRAIGHT GRAIN 42 COAT FRONT LENGTHEN OR SHORTEN HERE 12 SCALE CUT 2 2 12 SEAM ALLOWANCES ON ALL PIECES 4 CUT 2 7 5 12 CUT 2 3 4 6 CUT HERE FOR VEST MAN S FLARED COAT SIZE M CHEST 38-40 SHOULDER 20 FLAT- LINE ALL PIECES WITH FACING & PLACKET SUSAN LILLY 2003 THE WEAVING ROOM 9
19 Costume and Clothing Design 28 XL 6 L SLEEVE CUT 2 L XL 17 46 FROCK COAT BACK 7 CUFF 22 L X-L 6 6 CUT 2 UNDER-ARM GUSSET 27 CENTER SIDE STRAIGHT GRAIN CUT 4 27 6 3 4 7 10 L XL 46 17 SCALE 2 MAN S FROCK COAT SIZE L - XL 12 SEAM ALLOWANCES ON ALL PIECES FLAT- LINE ALL PIECES WITH FACING & PLACKET 10 SUSAN LILLY 2003 THE WEAVING ROOM
PLACKET 15 from the Weaving Room 15 10 BACK LENGTH 17 16 15 FACING 4 23 SLEEVE 33 12 11 23 FRONT LENGTH 17 16 15 SLEEVE 12 5 GUSSSET GUSSSET 5 4 FLARE 7 1 4 4 7 5 12 SEAM ALLOWANCES ON ALL PIECES FLAT- LINE ALL PIECES WITH FACING & PLACKET SCALE 2 WOMEN S FLARED JACKET SIZE S CHEST 33-35 SHOULDER WIDTH 15 FLARE 7 1 4 7 SUSAN LILLY 2003 THE WEAVING ROOM 11
PLACKET 20 18 JACKET BACK Costume and Clothing Design 17 1 4 5 20 18 SLEEVE 34 10 FACING 4 12 14 5 JACKET FRONT 17 SLEEVE 1 4 5 10 9 11 2 GUSSSET L M 12 SEAM ALLOWANCES ON ALL PIECES FLAT- LINE ALL PIECES WITH FACING & PLACKET SCALE 2 WOMEN S FLARED JACKET SIZE M-L M = CHEST 36-38 SHOULDER 17 3 4 5 5 6 SKIRT FLARE M = CHEST 40-44 SHOULDER 18 SUSAN LILLY 2003 THE WEAVING ROOM 12
27 15 from the Weaving Room OPTIONAL CURVES AND PEAKS 15 48 CYCLAS HOOD 15 CUT 2 BASED ON HOLKEBOER 20 4 4 7 48 SCALE 2 MEDIEVAL TABARD AND HOOD LENGTHEN OR SHORTEN HERE SUSAN LILLY 2003 THE WEAVING ROOM 13
Costume and Clothing Design SHOULDER LINE NECK OPENING MEN S FROCK COAT SIZE M 14
from the Weaving Room SHOULDER LINE NECKLINE MEN S FROCK COAT SIZE L-XL 15
Costume and Clothing Design NECKLINE VARIATIONS WOMEN S JACKET 16
from the Weaving Room NECKLINE CYCLAS 17