Breaking Down: Part 3

At my dress parade I was asked to break down the trousers more than they already were. It was suggested that I press and steam them to kind of stretch them out, possibly sand them to make them look worn out in places, and to spray into them a little more. To stretch them out with steam I put the trousers on a form with legs and wrapped them with the putties like I would have on my actor. And in my fitting I had marked with safety pins exactly where Josh's knees were so I could get the right area to focus on. My process for the steam was to spay a light mist of water and then blast with steam and then too pull and scrunch the fabric while it was still warm and damp. I do think this loosened up the fibers and stretched out the trousers more, especially around the knee. Next was to use sand paper to roughen up the edges and places that would be worn down. I was really skeptical of doing this because with the cheese grater it kind of just pulled out fluff without creating a visual affect. The sand paper did work better with enough concentration. The main areas that were sand-papered were the knees, bum, pockets, waist line, and button stand. Hopefully this roughing up will be easily seen from the audience.

Back After steaming and sanding 

Front After steaming and sanding

Close up of back after sanding

My next step after this was to just go back in with a little dye and darken up the knees. My tutor suggested that I put the trousers on legs, and then wrap the putties and just spray where they fall and don't flatten out creases; just to let them hang as they would one a body.

Knees after being sprayed into

Trousers after being sprayed into

Evaluation: Working on the breaking down one more time before they go on stage was a good thing. After seeing the trousers under the lights and on my actor I could see where they needed a little more attention. When I sprayed into them this last time I put more dye than water into the air-brush, unlike when I had previously sprayed and filled the jar equally with dye and water. I think that if I had been a bit bolder and used stronger dyes they would have broken down more before the dress parade. I now know that for stage lights going a little extra in the breaking down than you normally would will probably look just about right.