Explore the vast range of titles available.

Learn how to create historically accurate costumes for Elizabethan period productions with Elizabethan Costume Design and Construction! Extensive coverage of a variety of costumes for both men and women of all social classes will allow you to be prepared for any costuming need, and step-by-step instructions will ensure you have the know-how to design and construct your garments. Get inspired by stunning, hand-drawn renderings of costumes used in real life productions like Mary Stuart as you're led through the design process. Detailed instructions will allow you to bring your designs to life and create a meticulously constructed costume.

In this chapter we will explore how to drape and construct the bodice of Elizabeth I's court gown from the 2003 Milwaukee Rep production of Mary Stuart. This chapter assumes you already have an Elizabethan corset for your performer. If you wish to create your own Elizabethan corset, please refer to Chapter 10.

In this chapter you will learn to drape and construct the Elizabethan basque and the Elizabethan cartridge pleated skirt. Scaled patterns are also included at the end of this chapter. This chapter assumes you already have an Elizabethan corset, farthingale and/or petticoat, and bum roll for your performer. If you wish to create any of these, please refer to Chapter 10. Figure 9.3 Draping the basque along the waist. Step 1 To drape the skirt basque, begin with a 10″ × 20″ piece of muslin. Mark a center front guideline 1″ from the 10″ long edge. Mark a waist guideline 3″ from the 20″ long edge. Working on a dress form and over your bodice mockup, pin the basque center front to the waistline center front. Smooth the fabric a few inches along the waistline and pin to the bodice waistline. You will discover the fabric does not want to do this smoothly. If you snip into the fabric from the top edge to just above the waistline, the fabric at the waist will be free to curve smoothly around the body. Continue pinning and snipping around to the side seam. Figure 9.4 Marked basque drape. Step 2 Mark the waistline and the side seam. The side seam should run perpendicular to the waist seam. Mark the placement of the front bodice edge by tracing the lower edge of the bodice while on the form, as shown. Add a notch mark where the waistline and bodice meet. Make note of the distance between this mark and the center front of the waistline-this distance will be used later when draping the skirt. Figure 9.5 Draping the back of the basque. Step 3 Repeat this entire process for the back section. Remove both pattern pieces from the dress form. Step 4 Lay both pattern pieces out on pattern paper. Transfer lines using a tracing wheel and tracing paper. The width of the basque should measure 3″ down from the waistline. Mark this width on your paper pattern. At the center front, the width of the basque extends to 1″ below the bodice placement line. Using a ruler, blend the 3″ width line down to the point on the center front line that lies 1″ below bodice placement. Using a ruler and French curves, true the lines. Figure 9.9 Truing the seams on the paper pattern. Step 5 True the seams and cut your patterns from paper. Mark with the appropriate cutting information. The front piece should be cut on the fold and you should cut two of the back pieces. Also note that the grain line on these pieces should run on the bias. This means the grain line is marked at a 45 degree angle from the center front and center back lines. Figure 9.11 Fabric laid out for cutting. Step 6 On a cutting table, lay out your skirt mockup fabric as well as flat lining fabric. Pin all layers together, lay your pattern pieces out and pin into place. Trace all seam lines and add seam allowances by measuring out from the perimeter of your pattern. Suggested seam allowances for this basque are: 2″ at center back 3/4″ at the waistline 1/2″ at the hem 1 1/2″ at the side seams Figure 9.13 The basque during construction. Cut out your basque pieces, keeping the layers of fabric together by pinning in the interior of your marked basque pieces. Refer to chapter 7, step 9-17 for more detailed instruction on laying out fabric and patterns, adding seam allowances, pinning, and cutting. Step 7 To construct the skirt basque, baste stitch the flat lining fabric to your mockup fabric on the marked seam lines. Serge the edges together around each piece and sew the side seams together, matching marked stitch lines. Press the side seams open. Place on a dress form after construction to check the fit. Figure 9.15 Stitching grosgrain ribbon to the seam allowance of the basque. Step 8 Pin grosgrain ribbon to the waistline, aligning the bottom edge of the ribbon with the waistline seam. Sew the grosgrain ribbon to the waistline making sure the ribbon is smooth and flat as it is sewn. Snip into the waistband seam allowance at regular intervals to allow the ribbon to lie flat against the body. Do not cut into the ribbon itself. Sew a second length of grosgrain ribbon to the back of the first ribbon, stitching along both the top and bottom edges. This effectively encases the raw edge of the waist and builds a sturdy base for your cartridge pleated skirt. Figure 9.18 Completed basque. Congratulations! You have completed the skirt basque. In the following steps you will learn how to draft and construct an Elizabethan skirt, which will use this basque as the anchor for the cartridge pleats. Step 9 Begin draping the skirt with a length of muslin 8-10″ wider than the center front waist-to-floor measurement for your performer and 2 1/2 yards long. If you desire more fullness in your skirt you will need to cut a longer piece of muslin, but 2 1/2 yards is an appropriate level of fullness to start with. The fabric will be oriented on the body so that the selvedge edges run parallel to the floor. Draw a center front guideline 2″ in from the cut edge of the fabric; this line should run the full width of the muslin. Mark a point on this line 4″ down from the top selvedge edge; this mark indicates the level of the waistline at the center front. Mark another point on this center front guideline that extends below your original waistline equal to the distance of your performer's waist-to-low-hip measurement. In our example this was 8″ down from the waistline. This point indicates the placement of the horizontal balance line. Extend this into a line that is parallel to the selvedge edge of the fabric and runs the full length of the fabric. Pin the fabric to your dress form, matching the center front waistline mark on your fabric to the center front waistline of your form. This should be done over any undergarments such as a petticoat or bum roll. Figure 9.20 Pinning fabric in large sections. Step 10 Keeping the horizontal balance line parallel to the floor and the center front grain line perfectly vertical, pin the fabric to the waistline in large sections moving around the body to the center back. Allow the circumference of the hem of the skirt to lay flat against the petticoat. Some drapers will find it helpful to use a length of elastic pinned around the waistline to help control the fabric as they work. Fabric may be pinned to the waistline in either pleats or gathers. Figure 9.24 Marking waistline on skirt. Step 11 Continue gathering or pleating the fabric around the waistline, working each larger section into a series of smaller gathers or pleats. Check your center front grain line and horizontal balance line often to ensure the skirt doesn't pull from the front and hangs level to the floor. Once you are satisfied with the fullness and arrangement of your skirt, mark the waistline directly onto the muslin. Also, transfer the notch marking you made on your basque in Step 2 to your skirt muslin. You can do this by measuring the distance from the notch mark you made in Step 2 and the waistline center front point on your basque. Then, measure this distance from the waistline center front point on your skirt muslin along the waistline and over all gathers. Step 12 Mark the placement of the side seam and the center back seam at the waistline. In order to extend these marks the full length of the skirt you will need to establish a plumb line to assist you in drawing a true vertical. Pin a length of cord or string to the center back at the waistline. Attach a small weight to the other end of the line and let it hang freely. In this example I have used a small pair of scissors. You can use this line to mark the center back line. Step 13 Now remove the fabric from the dress form and transfer to the cutting table. Using a hip curve and a ruler, smooth out all marked straight lines and curves. At this point, you will transfer the draped skirt pattern to paper. Lay your fabric out onto pattern paper and transfer the corrected lines to the paper with a tracing wheel. Remove the fabric, true the seams, confirming that the measurements of corresponding seams are the same, and cut out your paper pattern. Label your pattern with the necessary cutting information. Step 14 Lay your mockup fabric out on a cutting table, aligning selvedge edges with the edge of the table. Lay your pattern pieces out on the fabric, aligning grain lines and pinning into place. Mark seam lines by tracing around your paper pattern, add seam allowances, and cut out your skirt pieces. Suggested seam allowances are: 4″ at the hem 2″ at the center back seam 1″ at the side seams, and 3″ at the waistline. Congratulations! Your skirt pattern is complete and you are ready to begin construction. Figure 9.31 Measuring out bias strips. Step 15 For the construction of this skirt you will need approximately 5 yards of 3″ bias strips cut from baby flannel. These may be purchased or created. To create these strips from yardage of baby flannel, you will need to identify the bias grain of the flannel which runs at a 45 degree angle from the straight-of-grain. Draw six or more cutting lines 3″ apart, cut out the strips, and sew the ends together as pictured in Figure 9.33. Press the seams open and trim the tips of the seam allowance even with the fabric edge. Figure 9.35 Center front seams of skirt sewn together. Step 16 Sew center front seams together along seam lines and press open. Sew two lines of basting stitches 1/8″ on either side of waistline between the notches marked in Step 11. These are gathering stitches and will be drawn up later in the construction process. Figure 9.37 Bias strip pinned to seam allowance. Step 17 Lay bias strips on the waistline seam allowance from the notches to the center back. Topstitch the bias strip to the seam allowance just above, but not directly on, the waistline seam. Step 18 Serge the edge of the skirt seam allowance with the bias strips facing down to reduce rumpling. Fold over the seam allowance at the waistline seam, along the edge of the bias strip, and press. At this point, the bias strip will be between two layers o

The next step in the creative journey for Mary Stuart was the one I've always found most fascinating. Research is the process by which the conceptual understandings of the play and its objectives as well as the director's interpretation are transformed into visual ideas. The journey from the abstract concept to the concrete visual art form is guided by the artist's \"peculiar power\": the imagination. This journey this transformation, is the very heart of the creative process.

After a great deal of planning, preparation, and collaborative work, I began the process of selecting fabric and, in doing so, took my first step towards lifting the design from the page and realizing it on the physical stage. Similar to casting, fabric selection is a formative step in the life of a theatrical production. Choices made at this stage will resonate throughout the finished work.

In this chapter you will learn how to create a collection of women's undergarments including an Elizabethan corset, Elizabethan bum roll, and a ruffled petticoat. You will also learn to craft a removable whisk and a removable ruff element.

Each theatrical production is unique and unrepeatable. Because of this there are no universal laws that can be expected to govern good design. As a professional costume designer and theatre educator with over 25 years of artistic and academic experience, I have found great success in teaching by example rather than by principle. By guiding my students through my own artistic process I can share with them my passion and help them develop their own approach to design. In this text, I attempt to replicate that experience by exploring the design and construction of my design for the Milwaukee Repertory's 2003 production of Fredrick Schiller's Mary Stuart. I am not a historian or an authority on the period. Rather, I am an artist sharing with you the process of creating her art. I have written this work with the young designer in mind, in hopes that showcasing my own process will guide early career designers to a deeper level of artistry and execution in their own work.

In this chapter you will learn to draft and construct a mockup of a pair of Elizabethan breeches. These breeches have a slimmer inner pant to help support the bulk of the pleated or gathered outer leg. Both layers are finished at the waist with a yoked waistband and at the knee with a knee band. A Men's breeches pattern has been included at the end of this chapter. We will refer to the breeches as pants throughout the instructions, as this term is a bit more familiar with most readers.

In this chapter you will learn to draft and construct two different sleeve styles for the male doublet. The first style will be a bishop sleeve with cartridge pleating at the sleeve cap and a cuff at the wrist. The second style will be a paned sleeve with a gathered inner sleeve, fitted lower sleeve, and sleeve liner.