Month: September 2018

First post of two about the back and lapels!  Tomorrow’s post will be just a bunch more photos.  Remember, all photos enlarge when clicked.

This first photo shows a great selection of the types of beads and baubles.  The tiny little 16/0 beads are the only ones sewn on, and they follow a floral pattern that isn’t part of the lace.  The floral pattern exists only because of the beading.

The smooth beads that look like small glass fishbowl pieces are glass, as are the faceted rhinestones that come to a point at the top and the 9-faceted black rhinestones (the table is a facet).  The rest have the glow and roughness of plastic, which makes sense since they’re meant to be rough, and that’s a difficult look to get with glass.  Say hello to those strings of hot glue!  I will be experimenting with different options since hot glue melts in areas with hotter weather, like Arizona, or Burning Man! (I learned that one the hard way…also, m Green Fairy costume caught on fire. 😀 )  Even if not worn, traveling though hot areas could melt the glue.  So I’ll report on what I tried in post 2.5

This photo shows well the cut of the tail coat in the front.  The seaming almost gives the appearance of a separate vest, but there isn’t one.  The lace/baubled bits (I’m just going to call the decorated pieces “baubled bits”) follow the seams in the front down to about 4″-5″ below the waist, and continue up over the shoulders.

The exaggerated labels are glorious, and that wonderfully high collar are just…*sigh*  Notice also the single button on the front.  I’m going to come back to this on post 2.5.

Pay attention here to how the baubled bits on the back extend all the way to the waist, to the two buttons, before sharply curving back up, then to the waist again, like three long drips.

The lace is folded to cut over the sleeve cap, but is the same piece.  Click on this pick to make it larger, and you can see that the fold terminates about 1/4″ below a blue bead.

More photos tomorrow!  If anything isn’t clear enough, or more explanations of any sort are needed, let me know.

 

I can hear it already.  “But, Aria, why are there so many pictures of just cuffs?!”  Well, I can tell you with authoritative certainty that the spot that people are most likely to skimp on is the cuffs because the main focal point is the back and lapels, and this is what drags down an overall look.  If more time will be spent anywhere, it’s usually going to be where you expect the eye to go.  Yet it’s actually the secondary features that need to be more impressive than the primary.  This seems counterintuitive, but bear with me here.

Let us call them Yummy, Chair-dude, Beach Bros, and Street Man.  Let us define primary clothing as that which you would wear to say you’re wearing something.  If you’re wearing a suit, that means the coat and slacks.  If you’re in casual stuff, it’s the stuff won’t take off if you’ve got friends visiting.  So, your top and pants (or skirts, but I’m using the example of men since women are too often used to make positive and negative points).  Everything else are accessories, the things you can change easily and still be dressed.

A suit is typically considered dressy.  Jeans and slacks without blazers are considered casual.  Well, Yummy and Beach Bros are wearing primary clothing that is considered dressy.  But Yummy’s casual undershirt and un-shellacked ponytail and the Beach Bros’ bare feet make them look like they’re dressed down.  They have a casual, laid-back vibe to them.  But Chair-dude and Street Man are wearing primary things considered to be casual, yet are wearing shined shoes, dress socks, a hella nice outer coat and scarf, with nary a hair out of place, and come across as dressed up.  If you have a business meeting, you’d be better off wearing Chair-dude’s or Street Man’s technically casual ensembles than to go in how Yummy or Beach Bros are dressed, even though they’re wearing blazers, and one of the thing making Yummy look casual–the t-shirt–is also on Street Man.

What’s so different here?  Well, the secondary things, also known as accessories, even when necessary (e.g. a shirt under the blazer), are the finishing touches, and those can make or break a look.  A couple common phrases are “the shoes make the man” and “the accessories make the outfit” (I don’t know of any equivalents that are about women in particular, though Coco Chanel is known to have been very much into accessories how how they can make or break the ensemble, regardless of formality).

What all of this means is that the thing you expect to be the main focal point isn’t the thing that will form your opinion on something.  Cuffs that don’t get much time because they aren’t the main focal point will pull down Jareth’s ensemble, but better cuffs with lapels, collar, and upper back that didn’t get as much time will come across as more put together.  The state of what we consciously think of as lesser important affect our subconscious view more than we realize.  Take my word on this–after doing this stuff for almost 20 years now, and fairly consistently being considered among the best, I’ve learned a thing or two, and if you critique my work hard enough, you’ll come to see that that thing you can’t quite put your finger on that makes my work so jaw-dropping (and that makes me cringe and think much of my stuff is so flawed, ironically) is the secondary details that don’t seem to matter, things like the lapels, or the stripes lining up even in the arm pits, even if that are small flaws in the primary parts of something.  If there’s anything to let go of, it’s perfection in the part people already expect see as perfect, and if there’s anything to make sure is perfectly right, it’s the part where people expect to find the flaws.  Since we tend to look for problems where we expect to find them, and don’t bother looking for problems where we don’t expect to find any, when those problems aren’t there, and we aren’t looking for them elsewhere, we see perfection.

It’s psychology, and that’s why cuffs aren’t just cuffs, and now you know my secret to everything.  And now I’m screwed since y’all will be looking for flaws in the primary things. 😀

So there is your answer.  There are so many photos of cuffs because they are more important than the lapels.  They are more important than the collar.  They are more important than the upper back.  This is the detail that will make or break your recreation.

So, to the cuffs.  Scroll four photos down.  Click on it.  Notice how there is a section there that isn’t decorated.  The rest is black lace with a bunch of stuff on it.  That stuff includes plastic green/blue plastic faceted iridescent buttons.

 

It also includes a bunch of stringy hot glue…

…with chunky glitter and beads tossed on top…

And some teeny tiny black seed beeds, the 16/0 annoying kind, and they’re the only beads that are definitely sewn.  Because of course.  Glue the beads with the big holes, but sew on the painfully tiny things.  What were you thinking, Brian Froud?  Giving the baby beads the power, were you?

I love the lace.  It’s such a lovely lace.  If it didn’t look so pretty with glue and glitter (we’re all familiar with my loathing of the glitter glue on the live action Belle yellow gown, right?), I might want to rip my hair out for it being used on such beautiful lace.  At least there are some teensy short glass tube beads mixed in.  But this is an ensemble where these measures not only make sense considering the quality of film at that time, but it makes sense for the character.

The beads used on the cuffs are the same as on the lapel, collar, and upper back.  Those posts will show a lot more detail about those beads.

Why yes, that is Ludo in the background, next to a Firey.

‘

Glitter.  And beads.  On glue.  Over black tulle.

Now there’s been a question about hot glue and the heat….  Stay tuned for post 2.5, Friday for my public posts, Thursday for the day-early-Patreoners.  I’ve got some ‘sperimentin’ to do.

The least exciting part first, shall we? 😀 Cherie Lovell, a follower of my page, confirmed that the serging is a 3-thread for both layers.  🙂 So if you want the same serging, that’s the method to use.

This photo shows well the fading.  It’s definitely not intentional.  This side, the right side, has a good deal of fading.  The left side doesn’t.

Here is the left side, and the fading is very little.

Another of the left showing how little fading there is compared to the right side.

(Please let me know if you don’t see 11 photos.)
This post has given me grey hairs. The first time I posted this one, it disappeared. I spent scads of time on it, then…POOF. Finding the time again has been very difficult. Then, when I finished it a second time, it wouldn’t work either. Thank goodness the text was saved! This time, I found out that the problem is too many photos that are too big. We had to increase storage capacity and a few other things, including having to resize some photos. So, at full size, some photos make be smaller than they otherwise would be. I also rearranged photos, and will have fewer n this post than I was otherwise going to have, and the rest will be posted every day or two (the posts are already set to auto-post, so expect a new post on Monday at 1pm PST, Tuesday at the same time, etc.) in smaller posts that will hopefully not have any issue posting.

Monday: Lining
Tuesday: Cuffs
Wednesday and Thursday: Back and lapel details
Friday: Miscellaneous

Those are all already done and scheduled, and I’ll be biting my nails waiting to make sure they post without issue.

Expect this post to be something of an overview with more photos for each part in the coming days.   One day will be more photos of the lining, another will be cuffs, another of buttons, etc., which will also make it easier to find the specific part you’re looking for.

I was also planning to make this coat as part of making this post, but then had the brilliant idea (well, “brilliant”) to have it be a make-along.  I’m likely heading back to Paris at the end of this year, and, if I do, I plan to try tracking down more of the metallic velvet I got before.  If anyone is interested in that, it was €75 per meter, and sold in 3-meter lengths, and I charged the actual cost converted to US-dollars.  It’s not cheap, but it’s perfect.  I got some for myself as well as for one of my followers.  Once tickets are booked, for those who are interested, I would ask for a refundable-if-not-found deposit, and fabric would be distributed on a first-signed-up order.  I’m regretting not choking down the cost of a few more lengths, but I was already over my baggage weight limit.  Having me get the fabric wouldn’t be required to participate in this make-along.

So let’s start with the lining and the hem.  The lining is a simple silver lamé, and it’s serged with cream.  I’ll be honest–I don’t serge enough to know if that’s a 3-thread or 4-thread, though it looks like a 3-thread.  (I serge so rarely that I got a Baby Lock Imagine since it adjusts all the tensions automatically, and I suuuuuuuck at that part.). Click on any photos for larger versions.

The bottom of the coat looks like it’s been light-damaged.  Yes, light causes damage.  This is why flash-photography isn’t allowed.  The flash from one camera seems like it wouldn’t do anything, but over time, all those flashes add up.  But it does make the hem of the velvet easier to see as well, and it’s also serged, but with navy.  You can see in these photos that the backing is woven, not knit and the metallic fibers are also easier to see.  In Monday’s post, you will see some tulle that I suspect was used for display purposes.

Movin’ on up, we get to some buttons.  There appear to be already-made buttons, nothing custom, and that makes sense.  Unlike the broach, this isn’t a detail that will get much notice.  There are two in the back, and one in the front.  more on that in a bit.  In place of a coat vent, there are three pleats under each button, and this piece is cut separately.  In the first button photo, the seam is clearly visible.

Next up: Cuffs.  I really want to show more of these in this post, but am not wanting to come up against whatever limit on files there is.  So more photos will have to wait for the cuff page scheduled for Monday.  The bottom of the cuffs are gathered tulle with a gorgeous soft black lace.  It looks like silk, but no silk was used.  This Is probably rayon.  It’s too soft to be nylon.  All over this, following various parts of the design, is glued-on chunky black glitter and small black short bugle beads.  The beads are glued as well, but mixed in with the glitter and sprinkled on the glue.

The top of the cuffs are cut pieces of lace that wrap around, but don’t go around the back.  The method used on this lace will be shared in the section below about the back and lapels since it’s the same method.  Simple plastic buttons in shiny peacock colors are used.  The faceted mold is meant to look like crystal.

The third button is on the front.  Look below the cravat (as pointed out, it’s technically a jabot).  The coat covers left over right and closes at that button.  I’m going to speculate that the button is decorative and that it likely covers with concealed hooks and eyes.

The collar is a standing collar with a fold.

Now to the big part.  This is going to be a very quick overview since there are so many photos of this that I’d definitely hit the file cap.  On Wednesday and Thursday, these dozens of posts will be metered out.  Notice, at least quickly for now, that the sleeves are gathered in the caps, not tremendously so, but enough to help pad out the lace that falls over it.

The trick here is that hot glue is drizzled all over lace (it’ll stick better to the netting of lace than to velvet) with chunky black flutter, small sequins, small black faceted beads, opalescent round and oval beads, deep green and blue leads that look like broken pieces of glass (definitely aren’t, though!), 4mm faceted black beads, and shards of plastic beads that look like shattered mirror pieces scattered all over it.  Just go full ham on this.  You can’t overdo it.  No, the beads aren’t sewn.  Look at the shattered-mirror piece in this first photo.  You can see the hole, and there is nothing through it.   About halfway down, about two-thirds of the way to the right, is a black bead with a hole, and you can, again, see that there is no thread.  While the method is just about as cheap and quick as possible, it manages to work without looking cheap.  It’s perfectly Jareth, and reflects the concept of being shattered and broken, a sense of vulnerableness crossed with rocker glam.  To me, it feels like tis goblin king living a simple, yet complex existence, dug up whatever he could pull up in an attempt to seduce this young lady he’s fallen for.

Keep a watch here this next week for the rest of the posts.  As said, they are ready and waiting to auto-post.  I have the text all saved.  If there are any snafus, I’m ready to tackle them.