COSTUME DESIGN PROJECT
Pages (Voices)
Our year 12 had to create costumes for a play dedicated to the Holocaust. These were supposed to be shirts for prisoners who were kept in the camps. To do this, we looked up a certain amount of information on the Internet.
In most camps, prisoners were stripped of their own civilian clothing and forced to wear a uniform. Typically, this uniform was patterned with blue stripes, although this wasn’t always the case.
Men were given a cap, trousers, and jacket to wear. Women wore a dress or skirt with a jacket and kerchief for their heads. Some uniforms, especially those of higher-ranking prisoners such as Kapos had pockets, which were extremely useful for concealing extra rations or having useful luxuries such as spoons or cutlery. Some prisoners also secretly sewed pockets into their uniforms.
On their feet, prisoners wore wooden or leather clogs. Socks were not supplied, and as a result, many prisoners suffered from sores from rubbing. This could be very dangerous in the poor and unhygienic conditions of most of the camps.
The uniforms usually had each prisoner’s number stitched onto the front left-hand side of the uniform, as well as a triangle to show the category of a prisoner to which they had been classified.
Jews wore two yellow triangles which formed the Star of David, political prisoners wore red triangles, Roma wore brown triangles, although they were also sometimes classed as ‘asocials’, which was represented with black triangles, homosexuals wore pink triangles, and Jehovah’s Witnesses wore purple triangles.
Prisoners clothing was usually inadequate for the conditions in which they were expected to work and live.
Most, but not all, of the prisoner uniforms were striped. Iconography, in this case the stripes, is the most readily interpreted aspect of a textile. But other aspects of the uniforms are also well worth exploring. Manufacturing details, such as the materials used and the tailoring, tell us about the practical application of Nazi ideology and about the quality of textile materials in wartime. Alterations made by prisoners testify about living conditions as well as the prisoner’s adaptation to these conditions. Even the damage on the uniforms is telling; wear patterns and different stains suggest the prisoner’s work assignment.
They were fastened with the simplest buttons
Alway were the same size so someone had it oversized and someone had it too small
Perhaps they were made with cheap textile such as cotton.
The overlocker was invented in 1881 and the sewing machine was invented in 1830 so most likely Germans used them to make a uniform
approximate pattern for a collared shirt
MOOD BOARD
Making process
PATTERN CUTTING
First, we had to print all the patterns on regular a3 paper and then glue the parts together to get the layout for the patterns. Then we took a special thin paper and transferred the drawings to it. It must be handled very carefully because it is thinner than ordinary paper and can easily tear. So we got several patterns: back, front, sleeves, and collar. After all the patterns are translated and cut out, you can begin to transfer measurements to the fabric. It is important to observe the correct direction of the stripes on the fabric, all parts of the shirt must be with vertical lines. Using carbon paper and a copy wheel, you can easily transfer the pattern without using a paper blank. After all parts of the shirt are lined on the fabric, they can be cut out. The main thing is to leave a seam allowance, otherwise, you will not be able to sew the shirt properly.
SEWING PROCESS
Stitching order is important for the most part at the very beginning. We have two pieces for the back, two pieces for the front, two pieces for the sleeves, and four pieces for the collar. First of all, we sew the back parts in the center line. Then, in turn, we sew them with the front parts on the sides and in the shoulders, leaving an opening for the sleeves. In front, it may seem that there is too much fabric, but since the edges will be sutured for buttons, we just need the “extra” fabric. The sleeves are the hardest to sew on. First, you sew them into a cylinder, and then with pins carefully pin them to the shirt at the sleeves, you will need to sew in a circle, so you need to be careful with the rest of the shirt, otherwise, they may get under the seam. I decided to make a collar at the very end. For the collar to be stable, the two parts need an additional layer in the form of a special fabric with glue on one of the sides. All you need to do is apply the sticky side to the fabric, and take the iron and iron on top a couple of times. The glue will melt and the fabrics will stick together. The remaining two sides merge in the same way as the previous two, only without a layer. We got two out of four parts, and now we also need to sew them together, leaving one of the sides without a seam so that we can easily turn it inside out. Then attach the collar to the desired location on the shirt with the “reinforced” side up, attach it with pins, and sew. Then it's small: make the final seam just over all layers of fabric.
BUTTONS AND BUTTON HOLES
First of all, the buttons need holes. It is important to calculate how many buttons you need on a shirt, I got five by 68 centimeters. Using a ruler, I marked the distance between the buttons and marked it with a pencil. For holes there is a special nozzle for a sewing machine and different seams. Instead of sewing by hand it is much easier to do it with a sewing machine. The seams are very neat and the only thing left for you to do is to cut holes in the fabric with the help of an unpicker. The seams will prevent the fabric from fraying, so the shirt will last longer. I tried to choose different buttons but with more or less the same diameter. There is no need to sew on buttons with a sewing machine, it is easier to do it manually.
BREAKING DOWN THE TEXTILE
In order to age the shirt, I used powder for fabrics of different shades to look like dust or dirt; coffee and fabric spray to darken the fabric; brushes with metal bristles that scratch the fabric; a small grater which can be made like torn clothes; fabric crayons that can be applied to seam areas to make them look dirtier and older.
COSTUME DESIGN PROJECT EVALUATION
I finished my Holocaust costume project. Our task was to recreate the shirts that people wore in the concentration camps so that the actors would wear them for the performance. The project includes the search for historically reliable references, the search for patterns suitable for creating shirts, the process of sewing clothes and their breaking down.
I coped with my task not at the level that I expected, but I'm still satisfied with the result, since it was my first experience in sewing a full-fledged thing. I quickly coped with part of the patterns and the search for historically accurate samples, my classmate and I helped each other with patterns and therefore it was easy for both of us. such tasks help to work in a team and set up communication with people. The only problem at this stage was that there were a lot of people in the classroom and a place to work was not very much, but still it helped to realize that one has to work not always in good conditions and the work still needs to be done well.
The fabric cutting process took a little longer than we expected. Again, due to the fact that there are many students in the classroom and there was only one roll of fabric, you had to wait until the others cut out their details, and only then you could do your work. Here you can understand that patience and endurance are also necessary.
Even though I didn't have much fear of overlockers or sewing machines, when I started sewing a shirt, I realised that it is much more difficult than it seems at first glance. I made a lot of mistakes because of which I had to start work again. I spent a lot of time correcting these mistakes, so I finished the shirt right on time. I realized that I still lacked enough experience to work with sewing equipment. Mindfulness during the process also plays a big role. Due to inexperience and lack of attention, I didn’t notice how, while sewing with an overlock, a part of the shirt fell under the blade, which caused a hole to form on the back. Fortunately, the teacher said that since we will spoil the fabric anyway, let the hole remain as a small detail.
In order not to make such mistakes again in the future, I will need to devote more time to practice and theory. If I still do not connect my life with costumes, these skills will still come in handy in life. Although the process was full of stress and setbacks, I'm glad I finished the job on time and it came out pretty good.