Soldier First Fitting

I had my first fitting with my actor Josh who will be playing the Soldier. I was very excited to see how everything would come together. Especially the trousers since I made them purposefully a little bigger in the pattern. I was pleased with my results. The shirt did fit him well, it had a sort of loose-ness and bagginess that was in the design. The trousers were big as they were meant to be but they might have ended up a bit too large. The putties as well were cut at 4inch wide and were a little wide. However over-all my adjustments were minor and Rose was pleased with this first fitting.

The Shirt:
My main adjustments to the shirt are scaling down the size of things. Both the collar and the cuffs are a little too wide. The collar needs to be a bit more narrow and it also sits a little high so the neck line has been lowered to sit more on his lower neck than upper neck. The were a bit too wide, in a comical way so a large amount of that has been taken out and they were also too large for his wrist so that was adjusted as well.

      


The Trousers: 

Overall the trousers are a good shape and style. I was very happy that Rose was pleased with the shape that they created. When I went to wrap the putties around, starting at the ankle, I made sure that the hem line was sitting at his ankle and that added a little volume to around the knee which reflected the design nicely. However they are a little too baggy the whole way round. The loose-ness and comfort should be kept but with the thick wool of the trouser fabric it could end up looking sloppy. So there were adjustments made and pinned around the center front seam and the center back seam. I will need to remember to accommodate the fish-tail in the back when making my adjustments. And I will also need to make sure the braces buttons are an equal distance from the center when I mark them for the second fitting. I will also be raising up the top waistline about .74inches the whole way round so they sit a little higher on Josh and fit more with historical research and Roses design. Now that it is decided that there will be a belt and braces I will need to consider belt loops while making them.



Evaluation:

I feel that this was a very successful fitting. It has given me a lot more confidence in my pattern-making skills, to see a toile that doesn't need any massive alterations. I also find it very encouraging that the trousers really came together well, and that my research really aided me for these creations. I think I could have done a bit more while patterning to judge the proportion of my collar and cuffs on the shirt. Luckily these are things that can be easily altered before cutting out of the top fabric. I will also need to do some more research on the putties, their width and how they should be wrapped. I am happy with my first fitting for the Soldier.