Underpinnings Fit For A Witch

Now I have the pattern I want figured out, the next step is working out the underpinnings. Underpinnings not only change the shape of the performer, and therefore the shape of the garment, but it also aids the actor in performance and becoming a new charcacter. An extreme example of this is a story I heard, of a director and costume designer working together, to purposefully make the costumes for the actors slighty too small, so they actors would always be a littl uncomfortable, and change their body language without thinking about it. Evil.

Much like the design of the costume, I am using a mix of contempory and traditional elements. I will be using an elizibethian style stays:

And this style of petticoat:

I am making the costume to my own measurements, as its still COVID and I do not have another person to measure… My other half didn’t really feel like becoming a witch (Not this time anyway….) and here is something to know about me: I’m short with wide shoulders. Why do I mention this? It’ll make sense in a moment.

First step for the stay, is to create a basic corset block (I am using Jean Hunnisett’s pattern) that we will then trace off and adapt. Here is how mine ended up looking:

Now you may notice those shoulders… Those shoulders are supposed to look like this:

I am too short for this.

Fortunately, it is an easy enough fix – talking with my tutor we figured that we just didn’t need to add the extra 3cm from point 11. Next post I’ll try and explain the next steps of ajusting this into the stay that we need.

Until next time, stay crafty!