Carnival row costumes
Every single piece was hand made by myself.
The wings were digitally designed, then printed on organza mesh. Then 32 hours to embroider, whilst couching in a thick thread. After which I airbrushed them. Then came 4 layers of latex, then mica piwder then latex polish.
The horns are modelled based on one of my own goats horns. I used eva pipe lagging as a starting point. Heated, cut and manipulating into the shape I wanted. Then wet use tissue paper, and layers of wool roving to build up the texture. After that, painted with pax paint and another layer of latex.
The hooves were made in the sane manner from a pair of platform shoes, removed the heel, and built the shape up with foam clsy before the wool roving and latex was added.
I dyed the trouser fabric and the skirt fabric. I then made toiles of each piece to get the correct fittings before making any if the clothing. Correct tailoring was essential to sell the story.
The tweed for the jacket was too pink, so I had to dye that before cutting. I hand made all the bead applique and laid each one out before adding to the jacket. I then set about making the vibe twist and curve around the body of the jacket, before lining.
The shirt fabric I hand printed with blick printing and pigment paste which was then baked onto the fabric. Boy was that tedious and frustrating.
Each shirt was designed to look like a simple basic 19th century shirt, but then adapted to the characters needs. The fairy shirt has a shaped back with an opening to allow the wings to pass through from the performers back where they are attached to a harness.
I made sure the shirt opening and the jacket opening lined up so the wings could clearly pass through, but also so I can quickly remove the wings from the body harness if needed.
I digitally designed the patterns for the skirts ruffles, the first ruffle I designed a flower pattern to look like the Sparas monster. No one notices it, but I did it anyway. The second ruffle the flower is designed to look like the wheel from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller flag. It was to represent the displacement of the Fae and their treatment within the Burgue society which mirrors the continuous struggle Roma people face. I had noticed in Carnival Row costumes a lot of eastern European influences, and quite a lot of that was Romani based. Being half Roma myself I was inspired by this and wanted to push the heritage crafts side further. That's when I chose to start the lacework. The edges of the ruffles are crochet lace with tiny beadwork, in pure silk. 10 metres to each ruffle layer with a 1mm hook.
The cuffs and hat topper are shuttle tatting lace. Made in the same colours as the shirts, to keep continuity. There's also a small flat bead in the centre of the hat, with a dragonfly on.
The collar of the fairy shirt is two layers, the first being hand spun cashmere dyed orange (same wool used for the knitted hat). The second layer is crocheted in cotton with a silk edge and tiny glass beads. The ties for the collar are hand beaded.
The socks I dyed half the tarn, and kept half undyed from cashmere off one of our older goats "big red" or Dede which is her real name. I wanted the natural faun shade as it looks more subtle and understated. I wrote a simple sock pattern and knitted a pair, reinforced the heels by knitting an additional strand of silk alongside the cashmere.
The trim over the top edge of tge ruffles was woven on an inkle loom. My first time weaving on one, and was a steep learning curve, as I don't think I am a natural weaver.
The apron was designed based on Balkan romani aprons of the 19th century. I crocheted the edge in deep orange mercerised cotton. Then added the woven trim.
The shoes were a simple pattern with a pre bought base. I used pax paint and gravel to make them look muddy, and latex polish over it to give a wet look to the mud effect.
The shawl on the faun character was hand spun undyed yarn from our goat Iris, who is a blue grey colour. I wanted it to represent the dikhlo worn by Romani, but be less obvious.
The spats are heavy duty canvas, dyed then broken down using patina products. I made several mock versions, trying to find a shape that worked with the hooves and the performers movement.
Did I cover everything?
Gloves. I crocheted the gloves using a Victorian glove pattern and a 0.5mm hook. Then broke them down and aged them to add authenticity.
Apron, heavy canvas then a ton of abrasion, waxing and breakdown.
All buckles were bought because I am not about to learn how to make buckles too.
My aim was to make every item as authenticly to the period as possible, so the characters could slip right into the background of Carnival Row and no one would notice them. I tried to keep the pueces as traditionally handmade as much as possible so that I knew they were correct.
Ooh bag, I always forget the bag. The front panel us hand beaded and cross stitched, which took me 3 weeks of evenings in bed. I had planned to make the whole bad this way, but on researching I found most only habd embellishments on the front side, so used silk velvet for the base and hack panel, and lined with a fine wax cotton. I have never made a bag before either, but figured that the fairy needed a bag to keep her things in. Then the bag was empty, so I knitted a pair of socks to put in the bag too. Sometimes I really believe I hate myself and make life mych harder than it needs to be.
I think that's everything covered. 6 months from start to finish for both costumes. All made entirely by myself, all tailored by myself.
Thank you for looking, and reading all this too.
Sarra
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Comments
Ngila Dickson and Penny Rose would both be proud of this level of work. Wrought by hand, from scratch to match not only the look of Carnival Row but the aesthetic worthy of ultra closeups.
Bravo.
Any more typing on my part and it's just total fan boy mumbling.
I needed to know that I could do all of it, everything. Having so many different skills pushed to breaking point was probably not my brightest idea I have ever had, but I really am a sucker for punishment.
I think my next project might be curing the insomnia I now have 🤣🤣🤣
Thank you for such lovely kind words.
"The beadwork is tremendous and...I think that this woman should work in high fashion or for the movie industry or...with such talent, she makes us all look like amateurs with a one dollar costume found in a thrift store!
The jacket beadwork was done as individual applique that I made then applied one at a time, then worked the vine around, couching it in, before I could line the jacket.
The bag I beaded a front panel, and worked the rest in cross stitch. I had originally thought about making the entire bag beaded, but settled on just the front panel, after realising I am not an entire costume department and can only do so much, so did the rest in silk velvet. I have also never made a bag before 🤣🤣🤣 but figured it couldn't be as hard as tailoring a couture jacket.
I married an animator, who is equally as insane. He's spent the last 4 months hand drawing frames for his MA in Animation, despite being a 3D animator, he chose to do a 2D old school Animation for his final piece. Thousands of hand drawn images.
We are both really determined and possibly insane. It's not a bad thing, but it does mean we don't have social lives because we are always working on something, usually sat together but working on completely different things.
That sounds amazing, very little sleep but amazing. Would love to see your future work. Please keep posting your future projects.
When my son was about 8, he was laughing at someone's "scary" costume and said, "Only prey animals have horns. The hunters don't." I stopped and rethought my life, "How had I not noticed this?"
These are incredibly well wrought horns. Brings a nice touch of suspended disbelief to the character.
Your nephew is right too. Horns are on herbivores.
Once finished I used an sirbrush to spray the wings the desired colour.
Then when dry it took 4 layers of latex to get the weight and feel I wsnted.
Once completed I attached jumbo fasteners to each wing that could be clicked into place on the body harness, so the wings could be added and removed safely from the performers back without the need for her to undress.
I have a question on the wings, mainly because I am mind boggled on the effort level. Did you use a machine stitch similar to embroidery thickness to do the line pattern on the wings or was this all done by hand? I read the description on the process but because there are so many lines, I could still see using a machine would take days to finish the lines.
Luckily I had spent a lifetime building up skills before the car wreck at 41 (drunk driver plowed into me, pushing my car across the road into tge path of another car). I had 2 surgeries to save my arm/life before I could start trying to make again, and slowly retrain myself to work with my right arm doung all the hard work, and my left being more of a "paperweight" than a functional limb.
I have a pre op on the 13th November for another surgery, tendon transfer grafts in my left hand. There's a 50/50 chance I could get sone use back in my left hand but the nerve damage is permanent so even if it works I won't ever get tge feeling back.
Where there's a will, there's a way. My being stubborn made me go back to uni with only 1 working arm, and do a BA honours degree in Costume with Textiles. I graduated in July top of my class, won an award for Innovation and Creativity in Textiles, and a full scholarship for my Masters by research study which I started on the 2nd October.
Going back into education as a mature student with only 1 working arm was interesting but I was so annoyed with sitting around waiting for the function to return that I decided to push myself harder than ever. Turns out tge idea of failure really motived me into finding the best way around any problem.
Uni has me teaching part time too, as part of the scholarship and I genuinely love it. I never thought about it beforehand, but I am so happy watching others gain confidence in new skills.
It's annoying I had to become disabled to figure out that though 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thank you for sharing. I am so glad they appreciate my hard work and determination. It's been a wild 6 years, from near death car accident to another degree added and now working towards an MRes in Costume.
If I could go back in time and tell a pre accident me that this was possible I would but the crash made me work harder to prove to myself I was still capable of doing anything I set my mind to, even if it's had to be tweaked a little bit.