Fabric Shopping in London

So I have been living as a costume student in London for just under a year now and am starting to find the best places to shop for fabrics and haberdashery goods. When I first moved to London it was quite daunting as I had no idea where to go and I feel that many people would be in my situation too. So here is my list of places that I have found useful as a 1st year student for fabric shopping.

Goldhawk Road

Circle or Hammersmith and City Line: Goldhawk Road

A road full of independent fabric shops, ideal for dressmaking, selling wide ranges of cottons, silks, polyesters, jerseys etc. and a variety of prints. Most of the shops give fabric samples although some can be quite stindgy. The shop 'Fabric House' are usually generous with samples.

Fabric House

Macculloch & Wallis - Dering Street

Jubilee or Central Line: Bond Street

Bakerloo, Victoria, or Central Line: Oxford Circus

I've heard this shop been described as Aladdin's Cave and I'd say that was pretty accurate! If I ever need something in particular I would usually go here as I know they will probably have what I'm looking for. The shop has 3 floors of fabrics, haberdashery, sewing machines, books etc. Pretty much everything you need! The bottom floor sells fabric and you can also help yourself to a maximum of 5 samples.

Macculloch & Wallis

Atlantic Road

Victoria Line: Brixton

A good selection of shops selling a variety of fabrics and haberdashery bits at cheap prices - good for dressmaking and interiors. I went to the shop Simply Fabrics with my sister and managed to pick up lots of bargains - packets of buttons, threads, fabric bundles from as low as 10p! A few other shops are dotted around that area too and I've been told that their markets sell cheap sewing bits.

Simply Fabrics

Berwick Street

Bakerloo, Victoria, or Central Line: Oxford Circus

Northern or Central Line: Tottenham Court Road

A very beautiful selection of expensive fabric shops here selling lots of silks and high quality fabric. As a student, I mainly would go here to admire and get inspiration. I have never dared to ask for samples but I'd imagine some of the shops might be generous. I have found Kleins a helpful haberdashery shop.

Kleins

Markets

There are some great markets in London that sell new and vintage fabrics and trimmings. I have never been to any myself but I have heard that Walthamstow Market (Victoria Line) is great for bargains. Also, the Vintage Fashion Fair which is on every 4 - 5 weeks (Hammersmith) is fab for unique vintage clothing, accessories, fabrics and trimmings at low prices.

Other shops / Online shopping

Liberty London - Regent Street (Oxford Circus tube station)

John Lewis - Oxford Street (Oxford Circus tube station)

Sew Box

Dragonfly Fabrics

There is also the option of buying fabrics online but I personally prefer to be able to touch and feel the weight of the fabric. Colours can also look different on a computer screen than in real life. Some companies will send out fabric samples to you on request.

I hope this has been of use to you. Hopefully I will be able to update it as I become more experienced in fabric shopping. Happy sewing!

Katie's Dress

My friend Katie and I collaborated together this summer to make a dress for her. Actually she was doing me a favour so I could practice dressmaking! I kind of felt like a fairy godmother though! I was quite pleased with the end result and she looks so beautiful in the photographs.

Designed and Modelled by: Katie Pearson

Made and Photographed by: Bryony Hamer

Chessell Pottery Barns

So I have been working at Chessell Pottery Barns for basically as long as I can remember! It is a pottery painting studio with a lovely adjoining Shop and Cafe. I now just work in the pottery assisting customers when painting their pottery to take home and I work with the production team making the bisque pottery. 

However, after approximately 6 years of decorating pottery I still haven't quite got the hand of it as the paints change quite dramatically when glazed and fired.

My younger sister and I decorated an Emma Bridgewater water jug for our Mum's Birthday and were quite ambitious in terms of design and experimenting with layering paints.

Emma Bridgewater Water Jug - Before Firing

After Firing

As usual I'm not completely happy with it but it means I'm still learning! My Mum loves it so that's what matters. We also treated her to Chessell's new High Tea as another Birthday treat, which was delicious. Everyone around us was very jealous! I'd highly recommend it.

High Tea at Chessell Pottery Barns

Visit their website for more info on the pottery and how to book a High Tea yourself! 

Click here to like Chessell Pottery Barns on Facebook and keep updated on offers and events. View my photos of their latest event: The Strawberry Fair June 2013, here.

Bringing Gabrielle to life!

Salador Dali

In term 3 we were asked to work in a group of 5-6 and as a group design a set, costumes, make up, hair and prosthetics for our chosen concept (ours being surrealism - read about our design process here) for the play 'The Madwoman of Chaillot'.

My costume design for Gabrielle

We were then asked to realise 3 of our character designs. I was working with Liz Hedley to design for the character Gabrielle - The Madwoman of Chaillot. She's a sweet, light and fluffy woman dressed in 1880s fashion who keeps canaries and hears voices from her hot water bottle. We decided to play on the idea that she's living in a bit of a dreamland with her head in the clouds.



Everyone on my course is so talented and has a unique style. Here are some links to some of the girls on my course who are on Blogspot for this current project. It's so interesting to see what other people have come up with for the same play! Do take a look.
Charlotte Wainwright
Lucy Calder
Megan Doyle
Sanya Torkmorad-Jozavi

Here are some photos below of the process of constructing and realising my design for Gabrielle with hair and makeup artist Elizabeth Hedley.

The progression of making my final costume.
Fittings with my model, Jessica Foy

Gabrielle's final costume details

Elizabeth Hedley and Aurora Beadle applying the make-up and wigs on our presentation day

A special thank to Stefanie Kemp for being our make up
assistant on our presentation day

Gabrielle
Wig and Make up: Elizabeth Hedley
Costume: Bryony Hamer
The RagpickerWig, Makeup and Prosthetics: Aurora Beadle and Elizabeth Hedley (Stefanie Kemp - assistant)
Costume: Poppy Moorcroft

Gabrielle
Wig and Make up: Elizabeth Hedley
Costume: Bryony Hamer

I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone in my group. They are all so talented and it has been a real privilege working with them all. I have learnt so much and learnt to appreciate how important it is to create the whole look for a character. Working in a group has been difficult at times but so fascinating to learn about the different sides of the design process and I hope to collaborate further with other students in the future!

Consolidation and Collaboration: The Madwoman of Chaillot

Finally I have a chance to update my Blog on my final term of my first year at University of the Arts: London College of Fashion. It has been very full on but extremely rewarding at the end of it all. I plan to practice dressmaking to fit over the summer and work a lot to save some pennies for my next project in October: 18th Century Men's tailoring. I will probably study this a little over the summer in preparation for it but I'm so excited!

This term just gone was all about consolidating all the skills we had learnt in the first term and being able to make a costume quite independently as part of a group of 3 Costume students and 2-3 Makeup and Prosthetics students. As a group we had analyse and break down the given script (The Madwoman of Chaillot [pronounced "shy-O"]) and come up with an overall idea and concept. 

Salvador Dali - The Persistence of Memory 1931

We decided to focus on the main point of the play: it is mad! This led onto looking into surrealism and the Mad Hatter's tea party as part of our concept. We felt that each character was in their own time period and in their own little world so we really focused on this when designing.

Andre Breton

As a group each costume designer paired up with a makeup artist to design a complete look for one character of the play (3 characters in total per group).

Poppy Moorcroft's Costume design for
The Ragpicker

Anastaysia Hochar's Costume Design for
Josephine (1920s)

We had to decide on a scene in the play we would be designing for and design and build a set box for that scene.

Our stage was designed to have an interactive audience where not only the stage will be dressed appropriately for each act but the audience's tables and chairs as well. For both acts we wanted to create real sensual elements to give the audience a life like experience and really set the scene, eg. Act 2: the tables will be dressed with antique lace, fresh flowers and the audience and actors will be served tea, cake and honey.

I was collaborating with Elizabeth Hedley to design for the character Gabrielle: The Madwoman of St Sulpice - a sweet, light and fluffy old woman dressed in 1880s fashion who keeps canaries and hears voices from her hot water bottle. We decided to play on the idea that she's living in a bit of a dreamland with her head in the clouds.

 As an individual project we then had to design 3 more characters ourselves to go in our portfolio:

The Ragpicker

The Flower Girl

Constance: the Madwoman of Passy

The Royal Ballet School - Work Experience

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get to have a weeks work experience at the Royal Ballet Lower School which I really loved. The school itself is just stunning and is situated in Richmond Park amongst deer and greenery. My first day was really exciting as the gates were opened and a beautiful 18th Century Building (White Lodge - shown below) was in front of me.

The Royal Ballet Lower School, White Lodge

The boarding school is for students aged between 11-16 years where they will take their GCSE exams in their final years. Their afternoons/evenings are spent learning dance - mainly classical ballet but additionally contemporary, Scottish and Irish dance. If they are successful in the audition process they will continue on to the Upper School in Covent Garden.

The Wardrobe Department

The Wardrobe Department

During the few days I was there I was working with Caroline Hume, the Wardrobe Mistress, where we were adding final touches, organising costumes, attending rehearsals and fittings and making final alterations in preparation for the Summer Fair at the end of the week. It was a lot of basic skills but it was sew useful to put what I had learnt in my first year at uni into good practice.

Costumes that aren't machine washable have sweat pads sewn
under the arms which are removed after the performance
and machine washed separately 

Pattern cutting tiny bodices! Generally, classical ballet
dancers measurements are all quite a similar so their bodices
rarely need altering from one year to the next so can be reused.

As well as this I was lucky enough to meet and work with many talented staff including rehearsal pianists and dance teachers who have danced professionally and had incredible experiences.

Tutus are stacked on top of each other on a tutu pole

I felt so privileged to be around such talented and hard working students. Everyone at the school was such an inspiration but I particularly liked how it really felt like a family. It was also so exciting to watch them rehearse and perform to such a high standard and to know that one day they may be performing on the most famous stages in the world!

The students on the Royal Opera House Stage

I am now following one of the student's blogs who has graduated this year and starting in the Upper School in September. Prisca Bertoni (www.all4ballet.com) describes what it is like to be a student at White Lodge - a pleasure to read and I am so excited to see where she ends up in the future - same as I feel about all the students. It is such a tough industry but I really hope they all get the future they deserve, hope and dream for.

Prisca Bertoni

See Prisca's blog post about leaving White Lodge and her final performances here. She posts photographs of wearing the bodice/tutu that I worked on.

Picture 10 on The Classic FM website also shows the tutus being worn on the Royal Opera House stage at Linbury Theatre! I got far too excited about this!

Akram Khan Company - iTMOi

As a complete contrast to a hip hop show I saw at the beginning of the month (Some Like it Hip Hop), at the end of May my Mum and I were lucky enough to go and see Akram Khan's iTMOi. For those of you who don't know, Akram Khan is an artistic director, choreographer and dancer. You might recognise his work from the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony - in my opinion, the best part of the it! See here. 

However, I have only just discovered that American broadcasters chose not to show his sequence as it was not commercial enough. See here. I am extremely shocked and disappointed to hear this as I really really love his work. 

Akram Khan's sequence in the London 2012 Olymic Opening Ceremony

After reading a few reviews for iTMOi I didn't feel as guilty for admitting that I didn't really understand it! But in my opinion, that is the beauty of dance. I really think that dance is an art so even if the audience don't fully understand it, it can be interpreted in many different ways allowing the mind to wonder and get lost in the performance.

A report of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in 1913

The piece is inspired by Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (iTMOi : In the mind of Igor) celebrating it's 100th anniversary. Now if my understandings are correct when the Rite of Spring premiered on 29th May 1913 it caused an outrage to the point that Stravinsky's dissonant chords and energetic rhythm caused a riot amongst the audience. 

So is it really a bad thing that some (according to reviews) were unimpressed by Khan's iTMOi? The Rite of Spring remains one of the most famous and inspirational ballets over the past century didn't exactly receive a good reception! 

Although I found it hard to follow I still personally thought the piece was absolutely fantastic! I particularly loved how the creative team had clearly worked so well together and every aspect of the production: the minimalistic set, costume (Kimie Nakano), choreography (Akram Khan), lighting (Fabiana Piccioli) and composition (Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook, and Ben Frost) blended so effortlessly together. It was very impressive to watch.

Something I really loved about this performance is the innovative way the dancers interacted with the costumes and props. For example, the dancer (I think Denis 'Koone' Kuhnert) would use the structure of the crinoline combined with the choreography to create different shapes and movements. Very clever! Also, the use of chalk in the performance I though felt very dream-like and mystical which was a very interesting way to create a mood and atmosphere.

I really admire Akram Khan and his team. The work they produce is exactly the kind of thing I love. Although people (including myself sometimes!) struggle to understand it I can only describe it as a good thing because it means I'm still thinking about it and I saw it a week ago! Overall, a really powerful, intense and mesmerising performance that I simply couldn't take my eyes off.