Costume Alteration

Here is a small costume alteration for a character in "Smoke on the Mountain" presented by Bank Street Players.  The waist of this 1930's-era dress needed to be expanded about 5 inches.  This is tricky in a cotton dress with a form-fitting bodice like this.

The director suggested I put a zipper down the back and add fabric there, so I went with that.

The cut down the back of the dress and widening of the waist created a diamond-shaped opening (below left).  I knew the inserted fabric following this shape would emphasize the waistline.   So I inverted the diamond, making the lower part wide enough to cover the waist expansion, with the upper part emphasizing width in the upper back instead, with the triangles somewhat echoing the triangle design on the front of the dress (right).

Below you can see the original opening.  On the right, the dotted lines show the raw edges of the dress underneath the insert.

Below I have placed the insert on top of the back of the dress, then pinned and top-stitched it on.  Note the zipper was put in the insert before it was placed on the dress.  Easier that way!

The dress originally had a side zipper.  I removed the side zipper and closed the seam.

Here are the front and back of the costume, pressed and ready to go.   The insert, cut on the bias, gave just the amount of stretch needed to fit the actress and give her room to move while retaining the form-fitted look.

Valence Mock-Up

Recently a customer asked me to work with her on drapes for her new house.  She wants some pinch-pleated drapes, some with a valence only (the lower halves of these windows have shutters), and some pinch-pleated sheers to go behind existing drapes.  She sketched what she would like to see with the valences.  Here is a mock-up I made using muslin.  I taped it to a mounting board and hung it in my work room so I could make adjustments to the pattern if needed.

An interesting thing to note is the difference between the left and right swags.  See how the left swag is a little choppy, while the right swag drapes much smoother?  It is much more obvious in real life than this picture. The difference is caused by cutting on the bias vs. cutting with the fabric grain.  I made the right swag first, as it should be, cut on the bias.  When I got ready to cut the left swag, I did not have enough room to cut on the bias, so cut it with the grain.  I wanted to see the difference because some patterns for swags show cutting on the grain.  This sample is all the proof I need that cutting on the bias is essential, even though it often takes a little more fabric.

Another thing about this is interesting to me as a former math teacher.  I designed and laid out the pattern pieces using trigonometry!  Knowing what certain dimensions of the pieces had to be, I was able to determine the angles, offsets, and pattern cut-out placement using trig functions and the Pythagorean Theorem.  Math is actually useful in real life, and was created in the first place because of such needs.  I know -- blah blah blah!  :)

The final valences will be made of some yet-to-be-chosen drapery fabric, with a plain or decorative lining and cording.  For the cascades (on the sides) and jabot (in the center), I plan to use sausage bead weights in the cording to make them hang "heavy".  It should look great.   More to come on this project, I hope!

Logo applique project

A small project last week was to applique a logo onto two t-shirts.  The customer provided these materials and emailed his logo:

This project did not take long.  I worked with the logo in Photoshop until the printed version (using 2 pages) was the right size.

After applying some Heat-N-Bond to the applique fabric, I traced the cut-out logo (in reverse) and cut it out.

I bonded the logo to the t-shirt and stitched around the edges.

The customer also wanted a rectangle appliqued to the inside back to cover the manufacturer's printed logo and size information.  Another rectangle was placed on the bottom left front (no picture).  

These are the finished shirts.  Interesting logo, isn't it?  The customer designed it.  I do not know what he does for a living, but he could be a graphic artist.

Favorite Shrek pictures featuring Lord Farquaad costumes

Now that I have received the picture disc from the Shrek performance in April, I want to share some of my favorite pictures of Lord Farquaad.  This adult role was filled by a local teenager, whose portrayal of Farquaad was spot on.  He was very much in-character and funny, stealing the show whenever he was on stage!   I would not trade anything for the experience I had working with the actor, cast, and crew!

These pictures were taken at dress rehearsals.  They feature him in his Ruling and Wedding costumes, which I designed and made, as described in earlier blog posts.   As you can see when you look closely, throughout the performance the actor is on his knees, with his lower legs and feet camouflaged by Farquaad's cape  In the last picture, the cast are taking their bows, and the actor at last can stand up!.