Getting all dolled up

Making the clothes is, I'd like to say, my favourite part of building an armature but after over 7 hours of hand sewing the tiniest outfits I feel like my eyes and fingers are on fire. And just to make it clear, generally after sewing for over 7 hours I'm not even finished with one part of the clothing. So you see the amount of time, effort and pain put into each piece, that or I'm just really crap at making clothes. 

To be awkward I decided in my design work for the guy to be wearing a suit and a cape over the top, great forward think on my part. I made his clothes first as they would be the most times consuming. I started by making patterns over the maquette's bodies using some old fabric I had lying around. I would then use these patterns/ templates to cut out the same shapes on the fabric I was going to use for the actual pieces of clothing.

Once all the patterns/ templates were made and the actual pieces cut out I then went about sewing them together or ironing them together using Hemming Web. I seriously don't advise using hemming web on tiny pieces though, you'd think it'd make things simpler but it's so fiddly and tricky and I burnt my hands so, so many times.

I made then outline of the suit using an old pair of trousers and his shirt is made from an old white shirt. I decided to make the cape as well, even though I've been thinking it may look a bit odd and too "Vampire-ish", just in case I decided to use it after all it'll be there at hand. It's made from an old Halloween cape that's kind of velvety on one side and smooth on the other, so gives a nice contrast.

The woman's clothes were a nightmare to make. Firstly, I had to have a pleated skirt and then a tight vest on top with more pleats. I decided to change the design slightly so that she had a skin tight blouse on top and a large pleated skirt on bottom. Luckily I came across an old dress that was the perfect colour, and wait for it, had a full pleated skirt at the bottom that was the right size for my maquette. The material was a little thin to go straight over the padded out armature without the padding showing through so I had to make an underskirt and vest to go underneath.

The finishing touches to the clothes meant that the maquettes we're finally finished, and hopefully ready to use. The clothes were sewn tightly over the characters bodies so if an arm or leg was to snap I would be well and truly gutted.