FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Tiffany Aching
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
My dad, David Goldfarb, the photographer
Outline the story …
“Then there is the dress. It has been owned by many sisters as well and has been taken up, taken out, taken down, and taken in by her mother so many times that it really ought to have been taken away.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men
When I read Terry Pratchett’s books about Tiffany Aching, I found myself falling in love with her. Her style of talking and being strengthened me, and I have wanted to dress up as her ever since I first read “The Wee Free Men”, the first book in her series. When this competition came around, I realised that this was my chance to dress up as her.
To start, I drew how I imagined Tiffany Aching looked - a simple country girl in a green dress, and a witch’s hat. I knew the dress would have to look mid-19th century, as that was when I’d pictured her story. I took inspiration from Sewstine and her Ghibli-core dress video, since that matched the image in my head. I was also inspired by different 19th century (mainly 1860s) fashion plates, which gave me a mental image of how the dress should look and fit. For the hat, I took inspiration from Bernadette Banner’s witch hat videos.
Outline the construction…
The hat used black wool felt. I drafted it myself, using freshfrippery.com’s instructions as a reference point. The hat was simple, though I had trouble with the cone geometry, which I solved with a circle segment.
I chose a heavy green cotton for the dress. The dress construction was more complicated. I based the bodice on patterns in The Science and Geometry of Dress. The skirt was made with four panels and cartridge-pleated to size. I closed the bodice and cuffs with homemade covered buttons and used hooks and eyes for the skirt.
The bodice was difficult as my shoulders slope slightly inward. I had to fiddle with the armscye multiple times until it fit.
I then realised I hadn’t left enough seam allowance for the skirt buttons. So, I changed them to hook and eye closures.
I wasn’t certain where to seat the cuffs. I experimented until I found the most comfortable.
In addition, I did not realise that the cartridge pleats were like gathers: I could fiddle them to size! I ended up finding historicalsewing.com’s article on how to fit the pleats, and then it worked.
I accidentally cut the fabric too deeply around one bodice buttonhole; I fixed that by tacking its edge, and the others too, for symmetry.
I also tacked the pocket edges, and the skirt opening, guided by Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques.
When I hit trouble, I asked my mom for help. I am truly thankful for her advice.
Sweet composition. So nice to hear about how you have been strengthened by this characters and that you now can wear her clothes. =)
It is really nice to read how you overcame all the struggles you had while constructing the dress and you did a great job! Your dress looks so good and I love your witch hat!
It turned out so well, and I also love the way you read that quote (one of my favourites of hers).
What a great dress and hat!
Great job! Love the hat <):-)
I like how we both did Tiffany but went in different directions 🙂 Skirt pleats look great.
Big wee hag is a beaut!