Orange Fire Costume

I made a fireshow waistcoat for my boyfriend.
The design is from both of us - he wanted a sleeve on the right arm (he spits fire and wipes the oil from his mouth to it). I made up the rest :)

I didn't have a cord or leather thick enough, so I had to braid a thin cord and I quite like it :)

Brown Fire Costume - Finished

This is our new outfit for the new fireshow.
The trousers are rather wide at the bottom and fitted at the top, everyone has the same costume except for the colour of the top and the neckline design.
The gathering ensures free move at the tight bracers. Without it it wouldn't be able to bend an elbow easily.

Brown Fire Costume - Bracers

New bracers as an accessory to the new fireshow costume.
This is the pattern I've drawn. I measured my arm at several places. I measured the distances between them and put this all on the fabric.
The rectangle at the left is for the velcro and the ones at the upper part are for the gathering.
I serged the piece except the lower third.

I cut out a rectangle from canvas, pressed the edges inwards and sewed on the bracer pattern into the upper part rectangles. The short sides are not sewn on.

I cut out bias tape, ironed its upper edge and sewed on the lower edge of the bracer piece.

I turned it over and sewed on.
I ironed the upper edge to the wrong side and the lower third's edges for the velcro.

Now I could sew one part of the velcro to the right side of the bracer.

I used a twill tape to gather the elbow area. I threaded it through the tunnel, sewed on one side, pulled the other end to a measured mark and sewed on this end as well.

I pinned the elbow seam and sewed from the velcro level to the upper edge. At the elbow part I decreased the width of the seam allowance to provide freedom of move.

I sewed the other part of velcro to the wrong side of the bracer.

I pressed the seam allowances flat and sewed the upper hem on.

I put each bracer on the sleeve board and evened up the chaotic gathers to neat lines.

Brown Fire Costume - Neckline

Now I have the body sewn and the lower hem done.
I drew and cut out the lining pieces for the neckline and the armcye.

I sewed the pieces together, ironed the fusible interlining and serged one side.

I prepared the straps: I folded a long rectangle and sewed it at one long and one short side.
I put a needle in and turned the strap inside out.
I ironed it for the seam to be in the middle of the strap.

I sewed on the lining pieces (right side to the right side of the waistcoat) and ironed them to the wrong side. I sewed on the armcye lining along the edge.
I pinned the straps on and fitted this on me.

When the result was satisfactory, I marked the positions with a thread. I ripped out the stitched here and drew the straps through these holes under the lining.
You can see the straps have the angle drawn with chalk on them.

I resewed the ripped part, with the straps between the neckline and the lining.

I'd made a bra with one strap. Now I sewed one strap of the neckline that's been left long to the bra in the front and at the back

The bra is supported with one strap of the neckline at one side and with its own strap at the other side. This one is hidden under the waistcoat's shoulder and secured there with this little band I sewed on the seam allowances.

I sewed on the neckline lining along the edge as well and for the neat fininsh I sewed the seam allowances of the neckline and armcye to all the vertical seam allowances.

Brown Fire Costume - Beginning

New season calls for new fireshow costume.
The concept is this: everyone has wide black trousers and a waistcoat of chosen colour, with slanted lower hem and a individual neckline.
I took a dress pattern from Burda, cut the lower part out, left out the sleeves and drew the shape of the neckline.
I prepared it for the fitting - I basted all the vertical seams.

The top fitted quite well, so I sewed these seams as well. The tricky part is always the tip of a tuck. It must be sewed carefully and slightly curved. The threads are tied in hand in this case.

The lower hem is just folded and sewed on. Before I could do it, I had to make the corners.
I folded the seam allowance of the slit right side to right side and sewed at the line over the whole seam allowance.
I turned the corners over and pressed them flat.

The basic overview.
I just have to finish the neckline and it'll be done.

Fire Waistcoat

We needed another waistcoat for a new member of our fireshow team. Before, we used to have these waistcoats sewn at a dressmaker. Now I wanted to try it myself :-)
My boyfriend had a waistcoat that was too thin for him. So we gave this one to the newbie who was slim and I made a new piece for my boyfriend. He was so kind as to take the pattern from the old one (I don't like the work:)). You must take a pattern paper, lay a piece of clothes on it and put these on a carpet. Then go along the seams of each panel with a tracing wheel. The outline will be visible on a paper, then you may retrace it with a marker.
You can see how I enlarged the pattern - I measured him at a chest, waist and hips and added evenly to each seam what was missing.

I put this pattern on two layers of twill. I had very little fabric, so I had to lay some of the pieces upside down. But on an ordinary twill, this shouldn't matter.
I pinned the fabric carefully before cutting.

I made the front panels and the back panel and sewed them together in side and shoulder seams.

To neaten the neckline and armholes I used bias tape. Home made:-)

I have a special tool for it. I cut a bias strip of twice the width, thread it in the tool, then I can go with it before the iron and get a strip with two sides folded in.

I sewed the bias on in one fold, right sides together...

..then I turned it over the hem and sewed near the edge of the bias. I was quite pleased with the result.

To iron up the lower hem, I marked twice the width. When ironing, I just laid the edge on this line. Much easier then my previous methods:-D

Another method I used to iron the bracers. I ironed them around a paper pattern.

The waistcoat. You may notice the light and dark strips. Unfortunately, the twill was not normal, it coloured my machine black and apparently had to have some nap. But I know I couldn't lay all the pieces head up (lack of fabric) and it shouldn't be visible in the fire light at all.

A completed new fire costume:)

New Fireshow Costumes

This is and old version of our poi costumes. Vest (by dressmaker), belt, kerchief (no hair should be visible) and stretch trousers from market (I took me a bit of time looking at old fireshow photos to recognize what could be improved:-) ).

And new version - black loose pants and black bracers. I had to make five trousers (one male) and five pairs of bracers. One pair I had to sew the night before the performance:-D
I like that shoes aren't visible so much now. However I couldn't make the trousers long to the ground as shoes would deform their natural straight look (they're made of twill as well).
No hair should be visible again.

And a picture you might long to see:-) Bracers and skirt together sounds strange but look great. Twill plated skirt as well.
I wear trousers under, tucked in my socks, like harem pants.

These costumes were ment for one certain performance in Moravská Třebová. We had cameramen with us and they made a very nice clip for us. They are really skillful. (And we too:-) )
Enjoy!
(I recommend to watch in high quality)

Fake Bracers

These are black bracers for fireshow. I wanted this accessory as I like how it looks with fire costume.
I made patterns in accordance with measurements of wrist perimeter and perimeter 8cm above wrist.
The first step: eight centimeters height, two perimeters laid as widths, all joined in trapezium.

Step two: room for velcro. Four lines perpendicular to the basic ones. I prolonged them on the left for 2 cm.

A bunch of lines for those who don't own a curve:-D You can spot two horizontal lines at the point a vertical supporting line meets lines from step two. Short lines at the break to smooth the pattern.

Tiny lines finish the curve. You can see well now the symmetrical pattern with two cm added for the velcro.

I cut four pieces (all different - two wrong and two right sides) and marked position of velcro.

Ironing these wasn't very comfortable as the pattern was drawn inside. Steam helped a lot to deform the curved edges.

I sewed on 8 x 2 cm velcros by zigg zagg stitch. I think it's a lot tighter than just straight stitch.

I took two matching pieces (cut the edges to minimum) and sewed them together two milimeters along the edge. That's all:-)

Fire Skirt

Here's how I continued in the process of making a skirt for fireshow.
I made paper patterns according to the prototype, cut these shapes out of black twill and ironed all sides according to the method I already described. Then I sewed three sides of appropriate couples together.

Then I cut four rectangles at the same ratio as the lenghts of the blak pieces and made three sides of them more civilised by serging and folding them in. The upper side has been plated and pinned as you can see in the picture.

I sewed it through which wasn't the easiest thing to do and you can watch how I spoiled it. I couldn't see how the fabric looks at the wrong side and I didn't manage to catch the black fabric everywhere. I didn't fancy ripping and correcting it so I just sewed it again a bit further from the divide.

Then I invented something better. Handling all the stuff pinned was uncomfortable. I pinned the plates in other place than where I would sew and marked spots where the two pieces would match with chalk. The result looked far nicer (you could see at the previous one that the plates weren't of the most regular).

This was just a "cosmetic" but very useful treatment. I wanted the cords of lacing not to fray. I took a double thread, made a knot at the end and pulled the needle between the two threads at the knot.

This gave me a tight hold. I twisted the thread around neatly, hiding the end under. When finished I tied it, pulled the needle through the cord and cut out.

I measured the right distances and set in five grommets at each side. I love lacing:-)