Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2013 - 50

dress form. Maeder taught the team how to make a padded
bustle out of batting, twill tape, straight pins, and muslin. He
began by cutting a rectangular length of batting and folding it in
half lengthwise. He then used a long piece of twill tape to tie the
folded batting onto the back of the waist. Next, Maeder examined the dimensions of the skirt to determine how rounded the
polyester bustle needed to be. He shaped the batting into an appropriately sized, rounded form before securing it to the dress
form with standard straight pins. To finish, Maeder pleated a
length of muslin around the back of the bustle shape, pinning
each pleat down with a straight pin.
Regardless of what type of structure is used under a skirt, a
petticoat should always be placed over the structure. Pre-washed
muslin petticoats protect dresses from getting damaged by creating a smooth surface for the dress to rest on. They also make the
dress look more polished. Crow and her team used extant petticoats, reproduction petticoats, and simple drawstring petticoats
made out of muslin. Often, a length of muslin would be pleated
and pinned directly onto the dress form in lieu of a finished petticoat. Either way, care was taken to create some type of cotton
barrier between the skirt's understructure and the actual antique
garment. To help the narrower dresses hang nicely in the front,
a large sheet of batting was pinned to the front of the dress form
and under the petticoat. This prevented the front of the skirt from
collapsing against the pole below the body of the dress form.
Mounting dresses onto the forms in tandem with a partner
began with the skirts, gently sliding them over the top of the dress
forms and positioning them at the waist. To limit the strain on
the closures of the skirt and to distribute the weight of the fabric
more evenly, the team used long silk pins to secure the waistband
at even intervals around the dress form. Once a skirt was in place,
it was usually necessary to tweak the understructure until the desired look was achieved.
Once the skirts were in place, the bodices were positioned
on the mannequins. If necessary, sleeves were padded before the
bodices were mounted. The bodice closures were carefully fastened and were often reinforced with silk pins. "A lot of the fronts
were held together with pins so we didn't put any undo stress
onto the button shafts and button holes," Crow explained. Bows,
ribbons and other decorative details were artfully arranged and
pinned into place using silk pins. Crow also took care to realistically style the sleeves of each bodice, "We had a problem with
what I call floating arms. The arms would stick out to the side and
had to be pulled in to the body and secured onto the dress in a
way that looked graceful and appropriate."

After steaming, each mounted
garment was transferred to a small photo
booth where it was photographed from
eight different angles before being packed
up and transported to the museum.
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& technology

s u m m e r 2013

Once mounted, the dress forms were then transferred to a
steaming station where they were gently steamed on top of a large
table. June Gaeke, costume design professor at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, did much of the steaming. In order not
to damage the textiles, it was important to avoid any water drops
during steaming, especially on the silk dresses. To help with this,
the steamer was placed on the floor and carefully monitored. Additionally, the steaming wand was always held a few inches away
from the garment. Despite these precautions, the occasional mishap still occurred, "We did have one occasion where the steamer
spit water onto a dress," Crow recalled. "We took a damp cloth
and feathered out the edges of the water drop so it wouldn't
make a hard stain, which worked pretty well." After steaming,
each mounted garment was transferred to a small photo booth
where it was photographed from eight different angles before being packed up and transported to the museum.

TRANSPORTING THE DRESSED MANNEQUINS
To prepare the dresses for transport, each mannequin was
swaddled in a cotton bed sheet and secured with safety pins.
Crow said, "The best way to transport these, we discovered, was
to wrap them up in a cotton bed sheet and to carry them out
like a mummy. For the larger dresses we used fitted queen-sized
sheets because the contours fit nicely around the bottom hems
of the dresses." The swaddled dress forms were then secured
with twine inside of a truck to keep them from falling over. The
sheer quantity of mannequins packed into the truck also served

Laura Crow wrapping up a wedding dress for transportation.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2013