Costume Sketches from the Ballgown Exhibit

 After our visit to The V&A, in our costume lessons i worked from sketches and tried to copy certains styles and cuts from the designs to then make more modern. From this costume i liked how the sleeves were constructed and the shapes they made. However for my design from the 1700s the sleeves were tighter at the top and looser towards the bottom so i moved the puffed part of the sleeve towards the bottom.

 My first focus was to look at the sleeves of the costumes. from the 1700s they were usually tight at the top then looser towards the bottom but the tight at the wrist this then gave it volume and allowed it to go baggy.

I liked the idea of using lace on the edges like on the tops and bottoms od sleeves. This would allow me to make it tight at the top and bottom making it baggier at the elbows creating volume. I laso had the idea to layer the sleeve under the top making it a vest but padding it out so the top stands out from the sleeves to make it look more modern.

 These were more sketches i made for sleeve designs changing the shapes and cuts of them. Lots of the sleeves had lace and were usually to the elbow with ruffled or pleated light material. One of my designs i worked from the basic shapes of 1700th sytle sleeves but tried to make them mroe modern and relatable to today. Instead of smoothly graduating from tight to baggy i made the lines straight which i would use wire to strengthen the bottom of the sleev and keep its shape.