About Evelyn Tyler
Evelyn is leaving university with a thorough understanding of making processes both for stage and screen, as well as more specialist techniques like hand sewing and tailoring.
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She throughly enjoys making historical dress and in her final year, focused on womens tailoring from a regency riding habit to the first womens tuxedo which changed the way women dress today.
Evelyn wants to pursue a career in historical costume making that use the skills and knowledge she has built up over her education. She is also open to tailoring and would like to learn more about the craft.
My Projects
Le Smoking 1966 A/W Haute Couture Yves Saint Laurent Re-creation
For my final university project I chose a classic piece of women tailoring. It presented many challenges for me as this is the first attempt at modern womens tailoring. I struggled with the making process initially but the support I received on this piece has expanded my knowledge on tailoring and I am sure I will be able to transfer the skills I have learnt in this project to future projects. I think challenging myself with this as a last project was a great way to finish my degree and to enter the workplace.
1795-1810 Riding Habit from Salisbury Museum, Patterns of Fashion 1 by Janet Arnold
This riding habit peaked my interest due to the simple yet beautiful lines of the regency period. I was yet to work with wool when I started this project and learnt about using it on the bias for both front pieces, which taught me about handling the bias as well as wool.
During the making process, Salisbury Museum were kind enough to let me see the piece in person and the opportunity to explore the original was priceless in my understanding of the construction.
At the same time, I wrote my dissertation on using historically accurate fabrics or inaccurate fabrics and their outcome on a costume which helped me deepen my knowledge into fabrics and the importance of fibre content and choosing the right fabric.
Victorian Bodice for Theatre
This was a project pre determined by the university. I was excited to try some pattern matching which was successful. It was a nice refresher in machine sewing as it was made during a hand sewn project. I like the mix of different coloured piping on the piece but I believe the buttons should have been a different colour as the contrast is too great.
1630s Womens Waistcoat, Patterns of Fashion 6 by Janet Arnold
The conception of this piece was inspired by the original as well as my love for Lino printing. I created a repeating pattern and then after cutting the pieces out according to Janet Arnolds pattern, I printed them to create the continuous and symmetrical pattern you see. The effectiveness of the print is best seen from the back.
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Under advisement of Jenny Tiramani I used a linen twill as this is the closets fabric to what was originally used. It is completely hand sewn and I tried using traditional methods from the period.
​Tudor Bodice for Theatre
Another project pre determined by the university. I finished this during my final second year project. It was the first time I had worked with silk and am very happy with the outcome. I only wish I had time to make the whole bodice.
Ceres From Shakespeare The Tempest.
The brief for this project was to recreate a design given to us by the university. I was attracted to this design as it has historical elements but still has an element of fantasy to it. There were many aspects of the design that interested me, from the fruit (which is all hand felted) as well as the millinery element which was a first for me. I had fun in the dye lab, experimenting with dye effects to make effective skirt decorations.
Art Deco Tutu
This tutu was designed by Sophie-Celien Butt for exhibition in the Strand Palace Hotel in London. I worked closely with Sophie when creating the tutu. We discussed fabric choices as well as techniques to get the best outcome we are both happy with. We decided that computerised embroidered peacock feathers were the most economical and effective decoration technique. We liked using lame which was appropriate for the 1920s as well as for ballet.
This tutu was chose to be one of a few to be exhibited at the Strand Palace Hotel in 2022
Headpiece
A first year project which required me to make a headpiece to personify excitement. I used feathers and metal springs to bring this to life.
The brief for the photography was for a music cover. I wanted to keep the theme of excitement though the photos.