Knight in Knitted Armor

Among the many hats I wore as an undergrad, one was an employee in the Hartke Theater Costume Shop. Last year I had the opportunity to knit chainmail for CUA’s production of Pippin. All my hours in the shop and my free time went into knitting this project, which is partially why I did not make much progress on the dress I wrote about in my previous post, “Totally Clueless.” I have had the privilege of working for Margaret (Meg) Weedon the past 2 years in the costume shop at CUA. She has taught me so much about sewing and costume design. Thank you Meg!!!

According to Meg I am the resident knitting expert in the costume shop, so she has tasked me with several knitting projects including the chainmail for Pippin. She was already familiar with this pattern and process from the Utah Shakespearean Festival which is where the pattern came from. Instead of dying nylon cord, Meg bought 5 or 6 tubes of black cord from Twine by Design, the same online shop where I purchase rosary cord. Knitting with this unusual texture took some getting used to, but overall it was a fun experience! 

After I knit all the pieces, they had to be laid down flat to apply the silver leaf. But the silver leaf, which Meg had purchased weeks in advance, still had not arrived! So I had to paint the pieces with a mixture of metallic acrylic paint and this special pain pictured below that when mixed with acrylic paint turns it into fabric paint. How magical!!!

To paint the pieces without painting the entire table too, I put towels underneath the knitted cloth and pinned the pieces down so they would lay flat.

I had to apply several layers of paint to get the right look. In the picture blow, the left is what the top with the paint looks like, and the right is what the bottom without paint looks like.

The next step was to sew the pieces together. Once I sewed the pieces front and back together I had to do a quick fit check. It actually looked pretty cool, but the weight made it a rather impractical wardrobe item. 

One Thursday and I took the pieces with me to sew them together by Tuesday afternoon. I began sewing the pisces together, but then had to shift my attention to the paper I had due on Monday. Tuesday morning came around and I had most of the pieces sewn, I just had to set the sleeves, but that was going to take over an hour, and I had sailing practice. Thankfully someone else drove so that I could set the sleeves. I can’t remember if people asked what I was making or if I volunteered the information (probably the latter) but it led to a discussion of the play on the way to sailing practice. None of us were familiar with the plot of Pippin and we all had some opinions to share after one teammate read a synopsis of the play. 

After all the pieces were sewn together, the silver leaf finally arrived! To make it stick I had to apply a sticky substance to the area where I wanted the silver leaf to stick, then place the silver leaf on top and iron it for a few seconds. By this time the play was just around the corner and so some of my coworkers helped with this part of the process.

I was so excited to see the final product on the dress form in the costume shop! Unfortunately I had a regatta that weekend so I did not get to see the chainmail on stage, but my friends who saw the play said it looked good, so I will have to take their word for it. And now when I go to recreate the Monty Python and the Holy Grail costumes, I know exactly how to make chainmail!