I served as draper and oversaw the construction of the look for the character Queen Isabella in Kent State’s production of The Hunchback of Seville . The look was such fun to do! I hadn’t had the opportunity to work in clothing for the early 16th
This look was challenging in that clothing from the 16th century has many layers and I needed to find ways to maintain the look while also making the clothing workable for the actress. As the play progresses, Queen Isabella is rolled out in a wheel
Pictured here is the pattern for the corset. I drafted a 1598 “Pair of Bodies” corset using Mandy Barrington’s Stays & Corsets Volume 2 book. I love her corsetry books as I am able to go right into fabric. Photograph by Grace Cochran Keenan
This is a front view from the undergarment fitting. In addtion to drafting and making the corset, I also drafted the Spanish farthingale and oversaw the construction of it. This fitting went well and I just needed to add a tuck in the back of the f
In this side view of the undergarment fitting, you can see the tuck in the back of the farthingale. Photograph by Grace Cochran Keenan.
This is a front view from the mock-up fitting. I used muslin for the majority of the mock-up except for the underskirt. For that I used quilted cotton as the fashion fabric was also quilted. There is quite a bit of fussing that needed to happen w
Side view of mock-up. Photography by Grace Cochran Keenan.
Back view of mock-up. Photograph by Grace Cochran Keenan.
This photo is of the fitted sleeves in the fashion fabric. The designer was unable to find a fabric that had all of the elements that she wanted so I told her that we could create fabric with the texture she wanted. Here I have cut out and stitche
Front view of the fabric fitting. There is still some fussing in the front of the bodice and looking at the garment on the actress in the fashion fabric, we decided to take some fullness out of the chemise layer at the neck. Here you can also see
Side view of the fabric fitting. The white puffing seen in the sleeves took a bit to get right as the shape of them flat is not an intuitive shape. The designer and I worked closely together while I tried various iterations of this puffing on the
Back view of the fabric fitting. The one thing I would change on this garment is that the red fabric really did not do well with a blind hemmer and due to not having the time to hand stitch, I chose to machine stitch the edge of the facing at the t
Photograph by Kent State University.
Photograph by Kent State University.
prev / next