Cara in NZ Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Due to teething problems with introducing a new uniform this year, we (I) am now going to have to sew three rows of ribbon on four character skirts in time for the Grade 6 exam in a month. The skirts are long as they're for teenagers, and measure 5.2m round the hem... I've started on DD's, but find it's taking me 2 hours for each row of ribbon – measuring, pinning, tacking. I haven't even got the sewing machine out yet! Just wondering if there are any tips out there in the dance parent mine of information? I'm wondering about using tailor's chalk to mark where the top of each ribbon should go, for example, but am hoping for a miraculous time-saving solution 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I don't envy you. I wouldn't know where to start! i only ever bought pre-done character skirts. Dd's previous teacher wasn't overly fussy about the ribbons. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowiththeflo Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Hi Cara- i would definitely suggest the chalk method..... use tailors chalk as it's designed to brush out afterwards. You *should* be able to 'sew as you go'- ie no need to pin, ( but if you feel you need to pin, put them in at right angles evey couple of inches or so. ) and just line up the top edge of the ribbon with the chalk line and sew. Don't pull the ribbon too tight as you go- in theory the top edge of each ribbon needs to be smaller than the bottom to allow for the curve of the skirt, but in reality the curve isn't really that great, so it doesn't make much of a difference. Each row will get easier- by skirt 2 you'll be flying!! Good luck! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisiblecircus Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I wouldn't bother tacking or chalking. I'd just pin and go 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viv Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 (edited) I have to confess, I made my mum sew mine on last year when I couldn't justify the expense of a new character skirt just before the uniform was due to change. I asked her for advice and while I don't have a clue what any of this means, she said to use 'silk bias binding' rather than 'natural ribbon'. Her technique was to use a marker to mark the line of the skirt where you want the ribbon to go, then pin the ribbon to the line and hack away at it with your sewing machine. And be aware that the ribbons stretch so make sure to pull the material and ribbon equally taught (I think by this she means "don't pull the ribbon tighter than the skirt or the material will bunch" but not really sure). My pro-tip is that the shop bought skirts at my school have only sewed the top edge of the ribbons and left the bottom edge free, so don't feel the need to sew the ribbon down on both edges. Edited September 17, 2017 by Viv 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Can I ask a stupid question? What are the ribbons on character skirts for? My daughter hasn't done character work yet, and I'm a bit puzzled by the ribboned skirts and the different shoes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 7 minutes ago, ScottishDancerMum said: Can I ask a stupid question? What are the ribbons on character skirts for? My daughter hasn't done character work yet, and I'm a bit puzzled by the ribboned skirts and the different shoes. They are used for RAD syllabus but can't remember what Grade from as we seem to have had them in the family forever. Each school can select their own graded ribbon colours to tone in with their uniform colours, skirts can be bought ready made but some colour choices can be rather more challenging to find. Should hang a couple of inches below the knee (as stipulated by RAD), which is a tad annoying as the waist bands are adjustable but our darling DD's tend to have a growth spurt normally just before their exams! Bless 'em The shoes are black canvas with a soft suede sole, pink elastic secured with a popper. Low heels for the younger girls and Cuban heels for the higher grades. Very soft and easy to dance in. Generally worn only for a short amount of time and not necessarily every lesson. Just enough to learn the Character dance for the exam. Shoes are out grown before out worn. Many studios have a second hand uniform shop of some description and well worth a look when these items are required. Skirts start at about £24/28 but vary depending on sizes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 (edited) Just decoration I think Scottishdancermum. I'm not sure if the colours are set by each dance school or by RAD. Re the shoes - character is often used to describe european national dances and I guess character shoes are more similar to what would be worn than ballet shoes. Sorry cross posted with balletbean. Edited September 17, 2017 by sarahw 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I see the skirts and shoes for sale all the time on the second-hand ballet costumes page on FB. None of the shoes look terribly used. We're UKA rather than RAD... I'm not sure if they have a character element later on (we're only up to grade 2). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 (edited) 11 minutes ago, ScottishDancerMum said: I see the skirts and shoes for sale all the time on the second-hand ballet costumes page on FB. None of the shoes look terribly used. We're UKA rather than RAD... I'm not sure if they have a character element later on (we're only up to grade 2). It is a unique requirement for RAD so I can understand the reason for the question. Doesn't mean to say that UKA won't include character as some stage but they might have their own style of skirt to enhance the dances. The girls hold the skirts (1/2 circle) during the routines as and when they choreography requires it, tends to be on the fast turns or similar. Girls also wear headdresses like hair bands with long trailing ribbons or handkerchiefs along with their skirts for some grade. These accessories are provided by the dance schools and not bought individually by the girls. The dances are that traditional the accessories tend to have been in store at the schools for many years. PS Now my turn to ask a question. UKA? I have to admit I have never heard of that one before. Sorry RAD and ISTD appears to be my limit. Can you help? Thank you Edited September 17, 2017 by balletbean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishDancerMum Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 UKA is actually UKA Dance (United Kingdom Association of Dance). https://ukadance.co.uk Our school is primarily Highland Dance, so I'm guessing that's why the RAD syllabus isn't adhered to. The UKA has their own ballet syllabus. I'll have to ask her teacher if the UKA has a character element. Most other skills seem to be covered by the syllabus... just some variations on order they are taught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishballetmum Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 3 hours ago, balletbean said: Girls also wear headdresses like hair bands with long trailing ribbons or handkerchiefs along with their skirts for some grade. These accessories are provided by the dance schools and not bought individually by the girls. The dances are that traditional the accessories tend to have been in store at the schools for many years. Not all dance schools provide the accessories, we had to buy our own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cara in NZ Posted September 17, 2017 Author Share Posted September 17, 2017 Thanks everyone! I was being extra careful so the ribbons were straight but you never see the skirt flat so I guess a slight wiggle or two is ok... I'll get some chalk, try the pinning method, and figure out what works. I appreciate all your suggestions. I have also questioned the whole RAD 'character' thing – I understand that it's good to learn about dances from other countries but here in NZ it seems odd to be learning Russian, Hungarian, Dutch etc when there are other countries much closer to us with equally valuable dance styles! The best reason I can see is that most of the 'classical' ballets have court scenes and village/peasant dances so it's good to have some experience of the style – but then why does the RAD stop teaching character for the vocational levels? (On another note, we have just been to see the Royal NZ Ballet's Romeo & Juliet and I suspect the harlots hadn't had any childhood training in THAT dance style!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cara in NZ Posted September 17, 2017 Author Share Posted September 17, 2017 4 hours ago, balletbean said: They are used for RAD syllabus but can't remember what Grade from as we seem to have had them in the family forever. All of the grades (from Grade 1–8) have character in the syllabus, but it is dropped for the vocational levels (Intermediate Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced Foundation, Adv 1 & 2). As the skirts are circular, the hem circumference gets vaster as the girls get taller. Don't ever volunteer to sew ribbons for teens. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viv Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 2 hours ago, Cara in NZ said: I have also questioned the whole RAD 'character' thing – I understand that it's good to learn about dances from other countries but here in NZ it seems odd to be learning Russian, Hungarian, Dutch etc when there are other countries much closer to us with equally valuable dance styles! The best reason I can see is that most of the 'classical' ballets have court scenes and village/peasant dances so it's good to have some experience of the style – but then why does the RAD stop teaching character for the vocational levels? I despise character, because I'm terrible at it, but I still see the value in it. From Grade 6 onwards they start giving you character dances they are specifically tailored to scenes from classic ballet productions (which they tell you about on the DVD). Even paquita has a number of traditional polish(?) steps, just done in pointe shoes, so a familiarity with the moves can be beneficial. Of course, since by the time you get to doing these productions you've probably done enough dance to pick up very quickly, learning character from a young age isn't essential. But it also gives a break from the purely classical elements, encourages some fun twirling around in long skirts, trains different muscles to classical ballet and also gives an introduction to a range of musical time signatures and styles from an early age (e.g. mazurka, polka, polanaise). There are also certain parts of the dances where the dancer contributes rhythmically by clapping, stamping, clicking and some people find they perform better in character because the toes don't have to be as pointed and some is done in parallel. Some teachers also take the opportunity to teach a bit of dance history, for example my teacher explains that the arms in a character balancé can't come as far across the body because the shirts originally worn for this dance style were much stiffer. So I will continue to despise character and see my teacher physically wince when I try it, while still valuing the skills it's training. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 one thing to remember with RAD is becasue it;s RAD the Ballet awards are the only awards they offer, compare that with ISTD/IDTA/BATD where ballet is one of a several main offerings or some of the other CDET awarding bodies where ballet is just one of a whole panopoly of styles ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 Panoply- what a wonderful word! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballettaxi Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 At DD's dance school everyone pay's for a character skirt when they are sitting the first exam that requires the wearing of one. Her teacher would put this towards replacing the worn out/faded skirts that she had in stock. This meant that no matter how much the girls grow parents only ever had to pay for one character skirt. It was a great arrangement that worked for everyone. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 58 minutes ago, ballettaxi said: At DD's dance school everyone pay's for a character skirt when they are sitting the first exam that requires the wearing of one. Her teacher would put this towards replacing the worn out/faded skirts that she had in stock. This meant that no matter how much the girls grow parents only ever had to pay for one character skirt. It was a great arrangement that worked for everyone. used to be standard practice with uniforms in the uniformed youth organisations as well ... pay once and throughout your membership trade in as stuff was outgrown/ worn out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisiblecircus Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 21 hours ago, balletbean said: It is a unique requirement for RAD so I can understand the reason for the question. Doesn't mean to say that UKA won't include character as some stage but they might have their own style of skirt to enhance the dances. IDTA used to include character dances in every grade for which character skirts were requested. I donìt know if that's changed since the latest syllabus has been in use. I don't know if there's a reason for the ribbons other than for decoration but they must surely help weigh the skirt down a bit which helps it to hang more nicely. What fabric is everone using to make their skirts? A basic cotton or polycotton or something with a bit more body? There have been a number of comments on this forum about the RBS character skirts. Do those have some sort of lining underneath? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 My dds ballet school used to have a dressmaker provide their character skirts in a heavy polyester or polycotton material. Grades One and Two had graded pink ric rac braiding and a pink and white ribbon for the hem which turned to blue ric rac and ribbon higher up the school. They were very heavy and expensive compared to Dance Direct RAD character skirts but oh, they were beautiful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cara in NZ Posted September 18, 2017 Author Share Posted September 18, 2017 7 hours ago, mph said: used to be standard practice with uniforms in the uniformed youth organisations as well ... pay once and throughout your membership trade in as stuff was outgrown/ worn out 3 hours ago, Fiz said: My dds ballet school used to have a dressmaker provide their character skirts in a heavy polyester or polycotton material. Grades One and Two had graded pink ric rac braiding and a pink and white ribbon for the hem which turned to blue ric rac and ribbon higher up the school. They were very heavy and expensive compared to Dance Direct RAD character skirts but oh, they were beautiful. Interesting – we have our own skirts, but I have only just retired DD's after 4 years! I'm used to heavier skirts – the ones I have to put ribbons on are poly/cotton and lighter. I just don't want anything that creases as they live in dance bags. And I reckon ric-rac would be great because nobody would ever know if you'd sewn it on straight! The last-minute dash to the exam is because the teens were going to wear their old age 10-12 skirts, which are all a bit short, ie below the knee but not by a lot. But then one girl got a new skirt that is actually a bit long on her, and makes all the shorter ones look REALLY short. They need to look the same in their exam group so... sigh! UPDATE: Just did the last row on DD's skirt with chalk and vertical pins, and actually could pin it by eye after the first couple of metres. I've also done enormous tacking stitches that should pull out easier than the previous tacking, which I did in the same place as the machining and so the thread got tangled and it took ages to get the tacking out. I've also been to a sewing shop with a skirt and checked what sort of cotton I should be using as I had trouble with bobbin tension on one row and have had to unpick the machining. So the first one is almost finished – 16 metres down, 48 to go 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 13 hours ago, Cara in NZ said: The last-minute dash to the exam is because the teens were going to wear their old age 10-12 skirts, which are all a bit short, ie below the knee but not by a lot. But then one girl got a new skirt that is actually a bit long on her, and makes all the shorter ones look REALLY short. They need to look the same in their exam group so... sigh! Well done on your perseverance, I would have given up. DD came home last night with her latest RAD exam certificate. 10 for Character, I am still in shock and thanking my lucky stars that she was the only one in the exam for two reasons. 1) Her ribbons were the wrong colour as her school have changed their uniform/ribbon colours but this bad mother had not got around to replacing it! 2) Her skirt was really just too short (right on the knee) but when standing there on her own there was no one to compare her to (thankfully). I feel your pain. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 I'm thinking of you, Cara. I don't much like sewing and fiddly sewing under pressure must be horrible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cara in NZ Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 3 hours ago, Fiz said: I'm thinking of you, Cara. I don't much like sewing and fiddly sewing under pressure must be horrible. Thanks Fiz – I only offered to help because I'm very fond of our uniform lady (another harassed dance mum). But DD wore hers with the new ribbons last night and I'm a victim of my own success – the other girls liked the new ribbons so much that they all want them... I was just doing four for our exam group but now there's possibly another six... and the exams are in 3 weeks... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 (edited) Say no!!! Or charge..... Edited September 20, 2017 by sarahw 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cara in NZ Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 10 minutes ago, sarahw said: Say no!!! Or charge..... I've thought about whether I could charge, but honestly, at 3-4 hours per skirt even £5 an hour would equate to half the cost of the skirt (they are about £35-38 here, but usually they would already have ribbons). So I'll probably end up charging a 'symbolic' £10 if anyone asks. (The uniform lady is supplying me with ribbon and reimbursing other haberdashery.) At least I've got the time down a bit from 6-7 hours though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 Cara you are too nice!! If that's how long it takes then people should pay for it - or do it themselves!! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 I agree with you, Sarah. I wouldn't do all that work. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cara in NZ Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 12 hours ago, Fiz said: I agree with you, Sarah. I wouldn't do all that work. Looking on the positive side, our school has never asked us to sew costumes. So I'm just grateful to be only required to sew in a straight line! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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