Sunday, May 18, 2014

the Purple Tutu

Still working on recital costume repair/alteration/etc.
You see this tutu?
This tutu makes me sad. It's not constructed badly. It's made from a pretty standard pattern. There is a full underlining/flat lining. The basque and bodice are separate pieces. It's all as it should be. But the materials they chose to make it out of? They are awful. The acetate satin is bad but forgivable. But that skirt, regardless of the fact that it is constructed exactly the way a classical tutu should be constructed, is made with such limp and lifeless tulle (that has then been washed a hundred times, probably) that it just sort of... droops. It makes me sad because someone must have put so much time and effort in to it, and the result is so... just... sigh...
Oh, and it was closed all the way down the back with velcro. I don't know if you have ever accidentally caught tulle (or lace, or your pantyhose, or that beautiful silk chiffon blouse you just made...) on the scratchy side of a piece of velcro, but it's insanity. I couldn't even wear my wrist braces while working on this thing because the tiny edges of velcro that hold them closed kept catching on the tulle and shredding it. As you can imagine, the velcro closure has done horrible things down the back of this little guy.
My seamstress's heart. It aches for you.


2 comments:

  1. Oh! My seamstress heart breaks too! Velcro? Why?!?!?! If it is just limp, have you tried using a laquer sizing? It will help restiffen the net... Good luck with that!

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    1. Yeah, I have done what I could do and I am turning it over to it's intended victim... uh, I mean wearer... with the recommendation to hang it upside down and spray starch the ever-loving crap out of it.

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