Evaluation

Throughout this project there have been times when I have loved and hated making a tutu but overall I think I have completed it quite successfully. I have learnt an amazing amount of new skills which will be extremely useful in the future and will take my making skills to the next level. It has been interesting working more individually and not being spoon fed the instructions on how to make a costume, at times it was hard but looking at my completed costume now it makes me feel proud knowing that I have achieved what I wanted at the beginning of this project.

I liked having the workshops at the start of each week because I knew exactly what I had to achieve by the next workshop. This helped me keep on top of everything and plan out my time management much more effectively because I would set a to do list at the start of the week and I generally stuck to this. Without these tutorials I would not of been able to complete my tutu, although I think we had enough tutorials it would of been helpful to have a tutor around more frequently in case I was unsure of what to do or to double check something. Due to this there were a couple of times when something had to be re-done because I had gone ahead to complete it but it was wrong, for example the bodice looking wrinkled. I think I was more hesitant to just go ahead with a task because I was making something completely new and wanted to do it the correct way.

During most of my projects I have made a time plan but not to the extent that I had for this one, I found this extremely useful because I could keep referring back to it to keep me on track. I also made weekly timeplans which were useful because I could see whether I was going to have to speed up my pace or have time to relax. I also put in time off which I have never done before and this had a massive effect on how I worked on this project. I found that I was a lot more relaxed and enjoyed making my costume because I did not get stressed. I will definitely make a more specific time plan for my future projects and make sure I have time off because it was very successful.

Surprisingly I really enjoyed pleating and making the tutu, although it was quite repetitive I found it enjoyable because I did not do it all in one go, I spread it out effectively. If I have enough time in future projects I will defiantly do this for tasks that are repetitive because I am really happy with how I did my pleating because it is all neat. I also enjoyed putting on the surface decoration because again I took time to make it perfect and feel that I achieved this well and it does look effective.

There were certain parts of this project that I didn’t particularly enjoy, for example putting the hooping into the tutu was frustrating because at first I didn’t understand how to make it lay flat, but with practice and now that I know how it works I think I wouldn’t find it as bad. I also found sewing the bodice to the tutu really difficult just because it was so fiddly and such a big costume to work around. Although I am happy with my costume I am not completely happy with the tutu and how it lays when worn, it still doesn’t look as flat at the others. I think this could partly be because it is the biggest tutu and therefore there is more weight pulling it down, but because I have never made a tutu before I don’t fully understand how to make it flatter. I have put more strings in which pulls it flat but it still is not as flat as I want. I think with more practice I would get better at stringing the tutu and with some more assistance I would have more of an understanding.

I feel that the fitting went considerable well seeing as on the day I found out that my dancer had changed. Obviously I had a lot of changes which put me behind slightly but I just worked quicker and put more hours in to get back to the same level as the rest of my group. It was interesting working with a client and I learnt a lot from this, travelling around London with my tutu was a task in itself. I have found that when working for a client every part of the costume has to be perfect, if a mistake is made you have to go back and start again. It taught me that you have to work around them and even though our fitting was a week before hand in I have shown myself that I can complete it if I set myself the right time plan and put the hours in. I will remember this for the future and prepare myself for having to work around the client and having to alter time plans if I need to.

After finishing my tutu I think that I would like to go into dancewear, maybe not specifically ballet but some form of dance. Although I did enjoy making the tutu, I don’t know if I could do it as a profession now that I have completed it I feel I need a break so doing it day in day out I think I would find stressful. I know now to prepare myself and make a time plan, and to give myself a sufficient amount of breaks so that I don’t stressed or bored. After making this tutu for a client I feel that I will be more precise with my work and try to make it as neat as possible. I have learnt a massive amount of new skills which a very specific and will be extremely useful to me in the future especially if I want to go into dancewear. I have enjoyed working more independently and it has showed me that I am prepared for my final year and that I can achieve what I put my mind to. Overall I am happy with the outcome of this project and have enjoyed it.

Attaching the Bodice and Tutu

I found sewing the bodice to the tutu extremely time consuming and the most difficult task throughout the whole project, this was because it was so awkward trying to work around the tutu and make it look neat. I had to sew through the gap between the piping and the bodice and along the edge of the binding on the basque, as well as all this I had to make sure that it was laying straight and that the CF and CB's matched. I think with more practice I could definately get better at doing this but I know that I did this to the best quality that I could of done.

I also had to put swing catches on the basque to the bodice. When I completed these I noticed that the bodice is not laying as straight as I would of liked but after I had spent so long sewing the bodice and tutu together I thought that I would be wasting time taking it apart and re-doing it. It is not that noticable and when worn it does look straighter.

Finishing the Tutu

Before I could do the finishings on my tutu I had to alter the basque and waistband so I had to then sew the netting and plate on again which was very time consuming. To finish the netting I had to use a very small zig zag stitch to create a satin stitch on the edge. I found this really difficult and I think this shows on the tutu. I think I should of practiced this more before doing it on my tutu because I think it is really untidy but it would of looked worse if I had unpicked it and started again. This is something I can think about for the future because sometimes I do rush into doing a task when I should practice to make sure I can do it perfectly and it doesn't take that much more time.

I had to put a facing onto the plate before sewing it to the tutu, I found this really hard again because of the fabric being so thick and in places found it impossible to fold the placket under and for it to stay in place. If I had more time I would of started again with the facing and if i had more fabric but due to these issues I had to leave the facing as it is.

I needed to put a placket on the plate for the fastening, when I first did this I sewed it to the basque wrong so it made the plate CB wonky in comparison to the tutu CB, so I had to take the whole plate of again and change the placket. Once I had made sure that I sewed the right side down I could then sew the plate back on, this had a big effect on my time because this was a very time consuming task. For the future I need to ensure that everything is lying right before sewing it down properly.



Lastly I then stitched the bias binding to the top of the plate and sew this to the basque to finish off the tutu and hide the rough edges. I reaslised that this would of been alot easier to sew it to the plate before sewing it to the tutu, I felt that thinking this shows that I am starting to learn on my own which this whole project was about, noticing little things like this will save me alot of time.
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Finishing the Bodice

After altering the bodice I then had to do the finishings. The top and bottom edges needed piping and we decided that the armholes were not going to have sleeves so needed a concealed binding. I found these finishes on the bodice quite difficult because the layers of fabric were so thick.

The left side of the bodice needed a placket for the fastenings and it was at this point that I realised I had not left a 5cm seam allowance when cutting my pattern pieces out. Because of this I had to cut a facing out and sew it to the centre back, and luckily I had enough fabric left over. It is little mistakes like this that I need to think about because one day it could cause alot more problems.

I think I could have made the finishings on the bodice look a bit neater but I found it really hard because the fabric was so thick and this has made it look slightly untidy. I think if I had done alot more pressing this would have helped to tidy it up a bit.

Fitting

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Seeing as we are making our tutus for Arts Ed in London, and we had to fit it around the dancers we were only able to have one fitting. When I turned up I was told that my dancer had dropped out and that I would have to fit my tutu to a new much smaller dancer. This was a bit daunting seeing as I only have a week to complete my tutu for hand in anyway and I was already nervous, but I got on with my fitting and after taking the time to make it fit the new dancer I realised that it wasn't as bad as I initially thought it would be.

Obviously seeing as my dancer was so much smaller than my original one I had to take the bodice in on the main seams, CF, SSF, SSB and CB. the amount taken off the CB was quite a lot so this will be distributed along with the SB seam. The Basque also had to have a dart put in which means I will have to re-do the waistband to fit the new measurement. The images below show my fitting.

I think that considering being told just before my fitting that my dancer had change, I coped quite well with the fitting overall. I tried to ensure that the dancer was comfortable throughout the whole process, and to get to know the dancer to make her feel more comfortable, I also tried to get the fitting done as quickly and as efficiently as possible without rushing so that she wasn't in the fitting for too long.
Overall I think my fitting went well, I just got on with what had to be altered. I found it quite difficult at first because in dancewear you use safety pins and the fabric was really thick as there was three layers to go through so it was hard to push the pin through. I had to have some assisstance with which seams to alter and which ones to leave but apart from that I knew which areas needed altering, such as the shoulder seam, changing the armhole, and the neckline.
Having a fitting with a client who is going to buy the costume taught me alot about working in this industry and how to work professionally, I had to travel to London to Arts Ed to be able to carry out the fitting with my dancer. This alone taught me how to cope with transporting a large costume from one place to another on public transport which could happen in the industry. I had to think about how to protect my costume, and be aware of everyone around me. It also made me think about how to look professional in front of the client so that they have confidence in me.

Making the tutu plate

The plate for the tutu goes over the top of the actual tutu and is the decoration. My plate is the same fabric as the bodice so ties it all together, there is a net layer underneath this which is the net I dyed earlier. I learnt how to make the plate by cutting a hole in a piece of calico by using a sunray effect of cutting, the putting this over the mannequin with my tutu on it. I then could draw out the plate pattern piece. This method of creating the plate could be used as a way of drafting a quick skirt if I jut wanted a basic circular skirt so was a handy method to learn.

Once I had drafted the plate pattern I then used the example tutu to draw out the decoration on my pattern piece, I found this quite difficult because the two tutus were such different sizes but I learnt to manouver the pattern to make the decoration fit. This was useful to learn because if I ever have to re-make a costume with decoration on it I will know how to transfer the decoration so that it looks exactly the same even if the costume is slightly bigger or smaller.

I also learnt how to cut the net plate and top plate using my calico pattern, this was useful because if I ever need to make a skirt I will know how to use my pattern to cut out in top fabric by just lying the calico pattern over the top and cutting round, and with the net by laying the net on top of the pattern the tacking the waistline and hemline. This will be a much quicker way of making a simple circular skirt so will be useful.

Stringing the Tutu

Stringing a tutu is where you have to loosely sew the layers of the tutu together to make it lie as flat as possible, it compacts it together a bit more and stops it looking so fluffy. I didn't even know that a tutu had this but after stringing it I could see the difference it has made.

Another method I used to flatten the tutu was to lay it on a flat surface then put something heavy over the top of it, or you could put it under your matress and sleep on it. It is left for a few days then taken out, and this flattens it even more.

I think these two methods are quite specific to tutus so I don't know whether they will help me a massive amount with future projects but if I am working with lots of layers of net I have learnt a way to control it and make it lie how I want. I also now understand the tutu much more and how thy get them to lie flat like a pancake.