Alterations

After I did a sewing machine lesson, last week, I started to teach basic alterations.

I think I chose something too hard for the first one, though. I chose taking the the center back of men's pants.

The reason it was too hard is that there is not a formula for tapering the new seam into the crotch part of the seam, which remains the same. There was no way for me to show them exactly how to do it, without just drawing the line myself.

I also originally wanted to show them some online videos of the alteration, but they all seem to assume that the pants will be pinned perfectly, and that you aren't taking them in a great deal or trying to make them fit a different body shape (men's pants on women for example).

In our theatre, because of the lack of time for fittings, and the fact that many times the designer pins the alteration, the pins are not exactly centered on the seam. But of course, you want the seam to be centered on the butt.

So basically you have to measure the entire amount pinned out, divide by two, and re-mark the amount centered. It is a little tedious, and because of my experience I do not always do this exactly, I just sort of guess at the curve. And I will be correct, because I have done it a million times. So have the women who have made the video, plus they have the advantage of pinning themselves in a non-hurried manner. The designer and I are often fitting people in 15-30 minute increments for 12-14 hours straight.

My students, though, they need a method. and the method can't be eyeballing, which is what I do.

In retrospect, I think I should have taught this to the advanced students only, and then have them mark the alterations for the others to sew. Then, after you have sewed a couple dozen pants like this, you will being to know the curve.

I don't know- still frustrated.

The Slough of Despond

I am a little discouraged.

First, I have been sick for a week.

Second, it actually take me longer than the lab to plan the lab sometimes, and I have very limited time.

Third, I do not know how to teach "sewing" effectively or interestingly.

I can teach pattern making, even though I am still learning, because it is fresh in my mind-- I have learned it as an adult. I am really good, I have discovered, at teaching the "understanding the design" aspects because I learned them in college, and have spent time thinking about them since

The thing is, I have never learned to sew. I am almost completely self taught. Well, my mother taught me before I went to Kindergarten, but just the basics. The rest I learned from old sewing books and magazines and trial and error. I did not take costume construction in college. I have never worked in a shop where we all worked together-- we always took things home and brough them back.

So- I have no models on how to teach this, and I also have a fear that I am not teaching it the right way. Plus, sewing is very hard to talk about verbally and it is hard for people to see a demonstration.

Additionally, the students are easily frustrated. They want to have success at something right away. The only way to get good and fast at, say, operating the sewing machine is to operate it a lot. For hours and hours and hours until it is in your physical memory. I am no where near perfect, but they cannot expect to be as good as I am in a one hour lesson, when I have been using a sewing machine for 33 years.

The biggest problem with my teaching is that I learned so young that I have no memory of not knowing how to do really basic things. Like threading and knotting a needle, or making sure the threads are always behind the needle on the sewing machine, and many other things I can't even think of. I can't think of words to explain them. I just want to grab their hands and make them do it!

So... this is a little frustrating.

Blackboard

I met with all four of my students tonight for an hour, and then we went to the "meet and greet" that is held before the readthrough so that all the technical staff can meet all the actors and stage management. We were going to work more after, but I spoke with the designer today and she is not planning on making much of anything, so even though it will be big and a lot of work, it is not the same kind of work and it is easier to do with students because I am much more confident of my alterations/pulling/shopping work than my patternmaking.

The reason this post is called "Blackboard" is that I have decided to use our student online learning system for the students. They have created an "organization" which will live over the semesters where I can put information and tutorials. I originally thought I could do 2 per week, but that was overly ambitious, even for 15-20 minute tutorials. For some of them I am going to have to take and upload pictures as well, and even though I know blackboard well, it is a technically frustrating program from the instructor point of view.

I was able to prepare half a tutorial for today. It was on different types of sketches we get from designers which range from fully painted renderings, to uncolored sketches with notes and swatches, to collages, to what amounts to basically a pile of research. I was able to give examples of all of this in pictures, as well as pictures of the finished costumes.

One of my theories about doing costumes is that being a good costume shop manager/assistant is about a lot more than technical skill. In fact, I think people sometimes don't mind my lack of technical skill because I try to deeply understand the vision of the designer and how the designer works so I can try and balance their skills and emotions. So I work differently with different designers.

The first clue I usually get about how designers work are the sketches. Most of the time beautifully painted renderings mean that the designer is very sure of their vision, and wants my input on how to build it. A pile of research usually means that the designer is process oriented, and will need me to help them both build the vision, but also make sure that we make decisions in a timely manner. Sometimes, this is also dependent on the director as well, and there are certainly people who paint renderings who don't set them in stone, but in our level of theatre (usually just before people either make it or quit) but more times than not painted renderings mean that the costumes will not change much over the process.

I shared my insights in the tutorial as well. I think it is very important for students to be able to read who wants their input and suggestions and who does not. It is very uncomfortable when someone who is very sure of their vision and product oriented gets a suggestion of a completely different vision from student. On the other hand, designers who are process oriented really enjoy student perspectives on things, even if they ultimately do not choose to use their thoughts

Tonight we went through the tutorial together. I wanted feedback on how they liked it and if they would like more. I also wanted to observe them. They said they liked it, but I am not sure they should be doing it completely on their own time. Because of technical difficulties, they were 2 to a computer, and were able to have discussions on what they read. I think I will have them do their future tutorials together in the costume shop, just during the day without me there. Then they can ask me any questions in lab, but they can also discuss with each other what they don't understand. I also think it really helped that it took about 15 minutes. Any more would be annoying

The opinion was, however, that I should go ahead and make some more. So I will be putting my famous "what is a costume" lecture on-line. Hopefully by the end of the year I will have some good tutorials, and next year all I have to do is deploy them. I am also considering perhaps having each student do a simple tutorial on something they are learning as part of the learning process.

Measurements

Although I have not posted my last 2 labs, I am so excited about this I just HAVE to share!

We did measurements today and it was absolutely the best measurements sessions I have had in my life.

This is a combination of many things

1. I redid the measurement sheet to be in an easy to measure order (I left one measurement off, but it is sort of obscure)

2. I worked with my advanced students on patterning a bodice from each other's measurements, so they could see first hand what each one meant

3. I did a session with my beginner students on how to be a scribe for measurements, and since they were interested, went over each measurement, and had the advanced students measure them.

4. Since we had done the tutorials, I was able to let one of my advanced students measure, so we could measure 2 at a time. Next semester, I think the other one will be ready as well, so we can do three at a time if we have enough scribes

5. We did measurements at callbacks, so stage management handled the actors filling out their measurement sheets and making sure we saw everyone, so we did not have to worry about calling late actors or keeping people moving along.

Usually measurements is three to four nights of absolute torture- it is after my day job, with untrained students, at the same time as rehearsal. I tend to get tired and start taking ridiculous measurements.

One question for anyone out there about men's pants measurements- I can totally tell by looking at someone what size pants to buy him, but usually both the natural waist (high waist) measurement and the measurement where they wear their pants is too big. The lower measurement usually by about 2". I would think this was just about the "baggy pants" trend, but I experienced someone today who was clearly a 30, and was wearing size 30 levis, who measured 31 at the natural waist, and 32 where he wears his pants. I usually solve this for designers by writing down my guess, but if they go by my waist measurement they consistently buy the wrong size! Help!