Breeches - Research

The breeches I am making are typical of the 18th Century - they are relativly close fitting with their length finishing at the knee. Alot more attention to detail was given to the breeches at this time as waistcoats and overcoats were shortened.
Please click the image below for a larger view:
1 - Arrow heads - decorative part of the front flap for the breeches. Button fastened closed. Front flap is used to hide fastenings underneath.
2 - Welt pocket on the waistband - used as a ticket pocket.
3 - Larger pocket - used as a cash pocket.
4 - Knee bands - once again arrow heads are used in this design. Button fastened closed.
5 - Inner fastening - used to keep the breeches buttoned up.

John Plampin by Thomas Gainsborough, 1952.

A Fanily Group In A Garden by Alan Evans, 1974.

A Trip To The National Theatre!

This post has been a bit long overdue.

Two weeks ago our crew of SDP makers for the National Theatre visited their hire department for a mooch around, a handful of questions and (of course) a chance to dress up! Not only was it useful to see so many costumes close up to look at construction, any broken down elements and how easily the costume gets worn in, it also gave an insight into how the hire company funtions, their layout and organisation of costumes and their policies when it comes to costume hire.

Every girl's dream...if they worked in TV or Theatre!

I liked the smaller details of the broken down costumes, right down to the subtle mud on the boots.


The armour was interesting too, especially this leather piece and how they've coloured the leather to look older.

Wonderful details on the back of a dress modeled by Emma. We had seen the same dress on a trip to the National Theatre earlier in the year (below).
Myself in a doublet from 'Women Beware Women'. Made from cow hyde, laser cut and dyed pink with hair dye, this was another costume I'd fallen in love with when we saw this before at the National Theatre.
Mandy in Belle's sack-back dress from the National Theatre's production of 'Beauty and the Beast'. We had seen The Beast's costume before at the National Theatre as well, though that time in production! (See below).
So much work seemed to go into this dress, modeled by Lucy, though it had either been loved or neglected too much as the lace and beading was quite fragile.