Pagan Pride Nottingham August 3rd 2014 Home made Lammas Costume Part 1

Pagan Pride Nottingham August 3rd 2014

Home made Lammas Costume Part 1

I often find that I have difficulty trying to find outfits that I like, fit and above all can afford. Therefore I had the bright idea of adapting an old plain outfit that was past its best and revamping it. Since this was likely to be a long project especially since it would be all personally designed and then hand sewn by yours truly I decided to make it into a step by step blog.

Many thanks to all those that assisted in making this project possible. These include my mother and Shani Oates for supplying thread. D. B Griffith and David Hames for help with photography and finally Marie Sutherland for assisting in the locating of cheap material.

This project took roughly four months from conception to end product and though I was still sewing the night before the festival it remains a work in process and will be no doubt added to in the future.

I have tried to organise the development of this project in a chronological order but due to having various pieces at different stages throughout the revamping some items might appear out of sequence.

Equipment

Needle

A variety of coloured threads - both cotton and silks.

Thimble

Pins

Scissors

Thread Picker

Pencil

Ruler

Tape

Material

One old top

One old skirt

Assorted scrap pieces

Charity clothes to cut up

Beads

Start

Find an old outfit you want to revamp.

 

Mine was an old sleeveless top and a skirt that had got too big for me.

Next decide what design you want. Since I was wanting an outfit for Lammas (The First of the Harvest Festivals) I selected Gold, Red, Orange and Yellow colours for decoration. Some of the symbols that are connected to the Summer and the Harvest are , The Sun, Wheat, Sunflowers, Poppies, Bales of Hay, and John Barleycorn/The Wickerman.

Sourcing Material

Any old clothes that I have that cannot wear anymore I either pass on to friends or give to charity. However some clothes if they have tears or holes in are not suitable for this purpose. Therefore any left over material I keep in a rag bag for either dusters or craft projects. It is also an ecologically friendly way of recycling old material.

I looked into the bag and selected various pieces of scrap material. I try to wear only natural fibres so most of it is pure cotton. I designed and drew out patterns (pencil will do if you do not have chalk) on the Reverse side of the material. Always err on the larger side when cutting out as you can always trim to fit. Also allow at least a fingers width extra on patterns to allow for making a hem.

Unless you are being completely random make sure you have enough of the material you require for the pattern. There is nothing worse than finding that you have run out and cannot find an exact match. I did my patterns in stages so that I could stop and find extra material if necessary. I sourced extra material from charity shops which I then cut up.

Making a Poppy

Poppy Parts Collection

Poppy Parts Single

Base

Select Black material and have the reverse facing you.

Take a roll of tape and draw around it making a Circle. Cut out and make a running hem. To make a more secure hem you can go around it with blanket stitch.

Inner

Select Black material and have the reverse facing you. Draw a rough Cross shape and cut out. Trim around the square edges so they have a slight curved edge. Hem as for Base. Make sure the curved cross is smaller than the Base. If not adjust accordingly.

Petals

Select Red material and have the reverse facing you. Draw a Hexagonal shape and cut out. Hem as for Base. Each Poppy requires between 4 and 6 petals.

Left to Right - Rough cut - Tacked Hem - Secured Hem

Stem

Select Green material and have the reverse facing you. The piece I had was the old hem off a top which I had unpicked and opened. Cut out a piece just longer than you want the Stem allowing for hemming on both ends. The width depends on the size of the Poppy head but allow again for hemming. Fold the material until it is the right width and sew along the length.

Making up the Poppy

Take the Base and place it best side up. Take a selection of Petals you need to between four and six. Place one onto the Base. For ease I tried to select petals of a similar size. The next stage is a bit of trial and error. I placed the first Petal with the centre points just over the hem of the Base. This meant that there was 50% of the Petal is on the Base and 50% is over the edge of it.

Then overlap the Petals until you complete a Circle. You will have a small gap in the centre showing the Base. Sew along the overlapped Petals until they are all fixed in place.

Next place Cross over the gap in the Base.

Sew the Cross on top of the Petals.

For the centre I had two different designs. The first was a sphere bead with smaller different coloured sphere beads around it. This Poppy was for the front of the skirt. 

The second was an embroidered circle of yellow silk. This was for the back of the skirt after all it would be a bit uncomfortable sitting on it.

In my next Blog Post I will be demonstrating the process of how I made Sunflowers.