If in doubt, make it bigger and add more sparkle

I am always thrilled to hear that the truly divine Jonathan Mayor wants to talk to me about a design, so was there like a shot when, back in June he sent me a message asking to chat about something "fabulously Roman-esque" for his part in the Manchester Pride Parade.

Original sketch

Jonathan wanted to incorporate some red sequinned fabric into his dress, and true to form, wanted an absolute show stopper. "Think big, and then think bigger." With a reference image of Celine Dion in a Stephane Rolland gown for sleeve inspiration we sat down together and drew up a design with a huge, full skirt and kimono drop sleeves with massive shoulders. During his on-stage performances, Jonathan is very expressive with his arms so there needed to be lots of room to move.

As the dress was destined to be big and heavy, Jonathan chose a breathable silk fabric for the bodice part, lined with cotton, with a faux silk habutai for the billowing inserts and faux silk dupion sleeves. 

Sewing with sequinned fabric is always somewhat of an experience, and creating the size and shape of the sleeves was quite a challenge involving a large amount of crinoline and coils of boning all hand-stitched in.

Sparkly heart-shaped buttons were added all the way down the front, and the chest area was left intentionally empty to accommodate Jonathan's wide variety of spectacular jewellery. He also wanted the sleeves to not come higher than shoulder height to avoid crowding his head/headpiece.

To create even more fullness to the skirt part of the dress, a ready-made hooped petticoat was bought online, which also helps to ensure it doesn't get wrapped in his legs when moving around.

Seeing Jonathan parading down Deansgate for Manchester's Pride Parade leading the rugby Spartans, I was incredibly proud too! I can't wait for Jonathan's next vision! 

Back detail

Featured in the Manchester Evening News 

 

They've got to be easy to remove...

So 2 new burlesque routines were put together recently, 1 of which was a double-act so lots of costuming has been a-foot.

The corset is entirely spiral steels to allow flexibility for dancing in. It doesn't have a busk as it stays on for the whole performance and as I had to make 2 of everything it kept cost down too! When I first made it I put 2 wide inflexible steels at the centre front which gave a lovely flat front but had a couple of drawbacks.
1. As it was based on the same pattern that I had made for an entirely spirals corset, the flats stopped it tightening quite so much at the waist and although the silhouette from the front was gorgeous, the back lacing had that upside-down 'V' of a poorly fitting corset.
2. It didn't work very well with a bra as it made the underwires dig in.
3. It was a lot more difficult to bend over in, which was essential for my solo act, which used the reverse side of the corset. (Yes, reversible too!)

The skirt is a riot of liquid satin and garish colour. The complimentary skirt was made with the blue satin that you can see in the trim and pink and yellow ruffles. Everything had to be overlocked or roll-hemmed, including the ruffles as liquid satin unravels quicker than a ball of wool in the clutches of a kitten. I was hoping my Ultimate Ruffler would make light work of this, but sadly it just wasn't up to the job and I had to gather by hand. It wraps around and the ribbon waistband turns into a side-tie for easy removal.

This is the reverse of the corset, which I designed to go with my other new costume. This saved me having to make yet another corset for the event, and saved money obviously. It was a little tricky trying to work out how to do the lacing panels without interfering with either side but I was very pleased with the final piece. Both outers are 100% cotton with a cotton coutil sandwiched in between.

I really didn't know what I was going to do about the modesty panel - in the end I just made a loose one that the person lacing me up could push into place for me. This corset was an absolute nightmare to lace as it had to be so loose in order to get it over my head, it needed so much tightening once on and I'd accidentally bought a new type of lace with no slide whatsoever. Trying to get it off in a hurry was no fun either as the easiest option was to just unlace -tricky on your own at the end of the night!

Plans plans plans!

I do have a couple more things that I've made recently, including a very decadent Victorian inspired burlesque outfit that I will talk about as soon as I organise pictures to go with it.

However, there are a few things in the pipeline as the sun starts to shine and summer approaches. I have a NEED for more skirts with a good twirl-factor, and dresses I can just sling on and have an instantly glamorous outfit. Luckily (with a little help from a very wonderful friend) I am just about to acquire this little beauty to keep me company in the shop. It's a vintage version of the modern workhorse I have at home so I'm trusting that it's going to be a good little runner - and it looks gorgeous too!

I'm very excited :)

Christmas burly clothes

The outfit for my xmas burlesque performance was pretty complicated and featured a heck of a lot of red satin! Obviously quick removal is fairly essential in these matters so almost everything was fastened with poppers or ribbon ties.

My choir girl outfit came together pretty well, though involves a hell of a lot of sheeting! With a combination of trims to make the neck ruffle.

Underneath that was a long red liquid satin crossed-halter-tie wrap around dress held closed by a popper over the bust and a wide ribbon belt (that was held shut with a chunky hook-and-eye). I made the pattern for this with just my bust, waits and hip measurements with which I made a basic undarted back panel and 2 identical front pieces with a few inches overlap and long ribbon shapes coming off the top. Originally it was going to be plain halter-style but the crossed-halter looked better and covered more of the outfit underneath. It falls open way too easily but then again it doesn't stay on very long anyway! I may well use some principles learned here for a formal dress in the future...


This is the final piece of the outfit I want to talk about. Red liquid satin side-tie french knickers with an elasticated waist. The white fluff at the side is the corset underneath. These knickers are tied either side by a thin white ribbon. I really liked the way these hung and will be making more, but without the side tie. I went for encased elastic at the waistband rather than stitched on. I might experiment with this. I may also try making them on the bias for a more floaty look.

All in all it went down a storm and I learned some good things making it.