Yes, the costuming project is coming along. During the past 5 days, my crew and I have finished many things. Here's a list:
15 tunics
5 robes to go over the tunics
2 Egyptian tunics
5 little girls' white dresses
One loincloth, vest and tidy-whitey underpinnings for Joseph
Plus I made a tied blanket and a dress for my Granddaughter's 4th birthday.
That's quite an output for three ladies.
This week is going to be very short on extra time for me. I have company coming on Thursday, then I might have to babysit all evening. I can't sew when babysitting because the grandma calls for action come every 15 seconds.
I tried on the women's broomstick skirts and tops. All the tops need major altering. The skirts just need the elastic waist put in to them. The tops--major repair!
I had an offer from my main side kick to let her line the coat of many colors. I just couldn't say yes to that, those coats are my babies! Sorry! Another potential helper came to get some Egyptian dresses to add trim! Another potential helper thought her social life would interfere with working in the mornings this week--my only time to work, so she isn't available. My company is coming Friday, so I'm giving up that day of work. Another helper is going to KC this week to a wedding. And our deadline to finish is July 26 (Sunday before the show starts) because that is the only day the photographer can come.
Fine, who knows what the costumes will look like or I will look like on July 26th. But they will all have something to wear, it may be pinned together, but they will be dressed.
Oh, and my Evolve is fixed. If only I had time to go down to the store to pick it up!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The countdown continues.....
The men's costume rack this morning--3 tunics, shirts, 1 pair of pants
The men's costume rack this evening--three tunics, shirts and 10 pair of pantsThis is what was done today by Miss Em and I.
Cut 10 pair of MC Hammer pants
Sewed 9 pair of MC Hammer pants--we ran out of steam about 4. I started at 7;45 and she started at 10, so we put in a good day's work.
Sorted the men's costume shirts to coordinate the colors with the pants.
Sorted the lady's skirts and assigned them to specific women
Went to the fabric store for more elastic.
I knew the pants would not be hard to make. The organization of colors and fabrics to use was harder than actually sewing them. Once I got that worked out, I could more or less go on autopilot to do the work. It was a good thing about 4 that I could work without thinking, because my brain was fried by that time! Body also!
Miss Em, who is a good seamstress, was surprised that she completed one of her pairs in 10 minutes. I told her it would be easy. I've made tons of boxer shorts, and these are just longer boxer shorts. We have not completed the hems or inserted the elastic. That will be for others to do later. We've had offers of help from many who say, "I can't really sew that well on a machine, but I can sew on a button" Those are the people who will be getting a workout soon. We've done the machine sewing and they will have to help us with elastic, snaps, trims, etc.
Tomorrow we are going to work on the tunics to go with the pants and shirts. These will be more colorful, and will be different from each other. I dug out some mock sheepskin fleece, and perhaps we will trim some of the tunics with that. Not much, though, it is summer after all! One of the lines that Joseph sings is "no more sheepskin for me anymore!" after he puts on his coat of many colors. And my friend from down in the country is coming up, she will be working on the little girl's dresses, to finish them. The bodices are done, the skirts need to be attached and zippers inserted.
Count so far:
10 broomstick skirts, sewn, dyed, and hemmed. Still need waistband elastic put in
10 matching peasant blouses. Need to try them on, adjust and finish sleeve hems.
10 Egyptian womens dresses made, 5 need elastic at waist, all need gold trim
10 men's pants, need hemming and elastic at waist
3 tunics made and trimmed
1 long undertunic made, needs hemming
6 Egyptian neck collars made, bejeweled, 5 need edge trim
2 coat bodies made, one fancy and one plain, need lining and finishing
1 plain coat skirt made, needs snaps
Total 53 costume pieces done (more or less)
Yet to do:
1 pair of MC Hammer pants sewn
5 little girls white dresses
17 men's loin cloths
6 vests to match loin cloths
5 tunics, 2 Egyptian and 3 Canaan
1 Canaan overcoat
Mrs. Potiphar's outfit
Potiphar's jacket
Elvis cape
Headgear and sashes ???? Unknown quantity
1 fancy coat skirt made and attached to fancy coat body
2 sleeves to be used for both coats.
41, plus unknown quantity of headgear and sashes
We do have a way to go, don't we? We do have a few weeks to go, thank heaven! Will we make it? Sure! When? Who knows? By the third weekend? Absolutely (P.S., there is no third weekend!
Why don't you come to see the play? You'll really be entertained!
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, July 31, Aug 1, 7, 8, at 8:00 p.m. Aug. 9 at 2:00 p.m. Florissant Civic Center Theater, Parker Road and Waterford Drive. Florissant, MO. 63033 Box office 314-921-5678. Produced by Hawthorne Players.
it's "HAMMER TIME!"
In designing my costumes for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, I wanted the look of the baggy pants that is seen in many biblical films and plays. I had absolutely no concept of how to make them. I called them MC Hammer pants--remember him--"Don't Touch This.." That's about all I can remember of him, other than his gold lame pants always were a fascination for me when I saw him perform.
I was so happy to see that Kwik Sew Patterns had such a pattern available, and so I saw how the bags in baggy pants were constructed. Basically, they fill in the ordinary curved crotch seam of pants and make it shaped like a triangle instead of a curve. So simple, but my brain couldn't get the concept until I purchased this pattern.
I was right, they are easy to make. My colleague, Ms. Em, actually completed a pair in 10 minutes and was shocked! I told her they were as easy to make as boxer shorts. Here's the result of todays work--10 cut, and 9 sewn. Then we fell exhausted in the couch cushions after about 9 hours at the job. Even though they only take 10 minutes each to sew, they take longer than that to cut. I cut and she sewed, then I sewed some more. We make a good team
TIE DYE SHIRT AND HAMMER PANTS
THIS WAS THE CLOSEST THING TO THE CORRECT PATTERN THAT I COULD FIND. THIS PATTERN IS FEATURED ON THE COVER OF THE KWIK SEW PATTERN BOOK THIS MONTH. THEY LOOK COMFY, DON'T THEY?
Tomorrow, we'll make the tunics to go with the pants and shirts.
I was so happy to see that Kwik Sew Patterns had such a pattern available, and so I saw how the bags in baggy pants were constructed. Basically, they fill in the ordinary curved crotch seam of pants and make it shaped like a triangle instead of a curve. So simple, but my brain couldn't get the concept until I purchased this pattern.
I was right, they are easy to make. My colleague, Ms. Em, actually completed a pair in 10 minutes and was shocked! I told her they were as easy to make as boxer shorts. Here's the result of todays work--10 cut, and 9 sewn. Then we fell exhausted in the couch cushions after about 9 hours at the job. Even though they only take 10 minutes each to sew, they take longer than that to cut. I cut and she sewed, then I sewed some more. We make a good team
TIE DYE SHIRT AND HAMMER PANTS
THIS WAS THE CLOSEST THING TO THE CORRECT PATTERN THAT I COULD FIND. THIS PATTERN IS FEATURED ON THE COVER OF THE KWIK SEW PATTERN BOOK THIS MONTH. THEY LOOK COMFY, DON'T THEY?Tomorrow, we'll make the tunics to go with the pants and shirts.
Daring to count
When people ask me about my progress in costuming Joseph, they often ask how many costumes I had to make. Up until this time, I've refrained from counting. The number would be so large as to be scary. My finger does inch toward the "PANIC BUTTON" at times, but right now I am remaining cool.
Today I start on the men's costumes. I've finished the women's costumes, except for some hand sewing, which many people have promised me they would help with. The men's costumes are more numerous than the women's costumes, but they are much simpler. Instead of gathering and sewing 16 45" strips of muslin together to make a broomstick skirt, or a blouse with a collar and puff sleeves, the men's costumes are a loin cloth (wrap skirt) and MC Hammer pants (sewn like a pair of boxers, which take me 10 minutes each to sew, tunics (two shoulder seams, two side seams, and maybe a straight rectangle for sleeves. So, while they are more numerous than the women's costumes, they are much simpler. That is why I'm not pushing the panic button, YET!
So, I dared to make a count the other day. My estimate as to how many costumes I will be making is about 100. There is very little that is ready made that I can use for this show, not too many thrift stores carry Old Testament garb. My narrator has saved me by finding a lovely purple dress to wear, and I am going to use a couple of suit coats for three characters. I have one costume from a previous play, which I had to alter to fit the actress. But all in all, the number of costume pieces we are making is about 100. Pretty awesome number for a play that was supposed to be simple! Now that count doesn't include headwear and belts and scarves, I haven't even given that a thought. My highest count so far for plays was Music Man, in which I constructed 120 costume pieces. This one will probably outnumber that by the time we are finished.
Here's what is finished so far.
Men's tunics, pants and shirts--only three completed out of 17 sets, all shirts are tie dyed
Egyptian collars--there are 6 of these--all finished except for edge trim
10 White Egyptian ladies dresses all finished, 5 need elastic pulled, all need hem adjustment
10 Women's skirts and blouses, skirts need elastic waists and some blouses need sleeve finishing
I'm down to a couple more weeks of work, I'm sure it will become a round the clock marathon. This is my last weekend to really work non-stop, so I hope I get a lot done this week.
Wish me luck!
Today I start on the men's costumes. I've finished the women's costumes, except for some hand sewing, which many people have promised me they would help with. The men's costumes are more numerous than the women's costumes, but they are much simpler. Instead of gathering and sewing 16 45" strips of muslin together to make a broomstick skirt, or a blouse with a collar and puff sleeves, the men's costumes are a loin cloth (wrap skirt) and MC Hammer pants (sewn like a pair of boxers, which take me 10 minutes each to sew, tunics (two shoulder seams, two side seams, and maybe a straight rectangle for sleeves. So, while they are more numerous than the women's costumes, they are much simpler. That is why I'm not pushing the panic button, YET!
So, I dared to make a count the other day. My estimate as to how many costumes I will be making is about 100. There is very little that is ready made that I can use for this show, not too many thrift stores carry Old Testament garb. My narrator has saved me by finding a lovely purple dress to wear, and I am going to use a couple of suit coats for three characters. I have one costume from a previous play, which I had to alter to fit the actress. But all in all, the number of costume pieces we are making is about 100. Pretty awesome number for a play that was supposed to be simple! Now that count doesn't include headwear and belts and scarves, I haven't even given that a thought. My highest count so far for plays was Music Man, in which I constructed 120 costume pieces. This one will probably outnumber that by the time we are finished.
Here's what is finished so far.
Men's tunics, pants and shirts--only three completed out of 17 sets, all shirts are tie dyed
Egyptian collars--there are 6 of these--all finished except for edge trim
10 White Egyptian ladies dresses all finished, 5 need elastic pulled, all need hem adjustment
10 Women's skirts and blouses, skirts need elastic waists and some blouses need sleeve finishingI'm down to a couple more weeks of work, I'm sure it will become a round the clock marathon. This is my last weekend to really work non-stop, so I hope I get a lot done this week.
Wish me luck!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Exploring my inner "wild child"
What were you doing in the 60's? It was the decade of love, peace, halucenogenics, free love, the Dead, Beatles, burning bras, protest...you name it! What were you doing? For me, I graduated from an all girls "convent" school, went to college for a year and a half, got married, and spent the rest of the decade "birthin' those babies!"
No wild parties for me, smoking made me throw up, I did have a few too many drinks at times, but once I became a mother, the wild life was given over for Sunday School classes and bridge games. B-O-O-O-R-I-N-G!
Now many know the 60's by several iconic symbols. One was the peace symbol, the circle with the upside down Y in it. The other was tie dyed t-shirts! The Grateful Dead were popular (or was that the 70's? Bro, help me out here!) and with them came the tie dye phenomena. The wild child usually was wearing one of these icons to identify them as someone VERY DIFFERENT.
So, in costuming Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, I chose this iconic color scheme to camp up the Canaan scene, circa 1000 BC.
First I had to make the clothing to be tie dyed. It took 40 yards of white muslin to make the skirts. The shirts were easier to come by, 5 for $10 at Walgreens! They were all 100% cotton, just what we needed and at a price we couldn't pass up.
Then we needed to plan the tie dyeing session. What fun that was! The one thing I knew I didn't want is dye all over my house. So we did it in the back yard, where we could use the hose to wash things off, and we just dumped our rinse water on some plants to make them extra colorful. We laid them all out on the lawn to dry off a little and stop dripping then hung them up to dry. They turned out very nice, and we got so enthused about the project that we went back to Walgreens for 5 more shirts, so we could make some for ourselves. What fun.
Beautiful skirt for some lucky Canaan lady
My neighbors wanted to see what we were doing when they saw this array laying on the lawn!
The only thing that is problematic about this whole process is that the cheesy rubber gloves we used were less protection to our hands than we wanted. So I'll have to wait for a week or two before the evidence of my tie dyeing session wears off my hands. Oh, and my feet are decorated also! But it was a lot of fun exploring my INNER WILD CHILD!
No wild parties for me, smoking made me throw up, I did have a few too many drinks at times, but once I became a mother, the wild life was given over for Sunday School classes and bridge games. B-O-O-O-R-I-N-G!
Now many know the 60's by several iconic symbols. One was the peace symbol, the circle with the upside down Y in it. The other was tie dyed t-shirts! The Grateful Dead were popular (or was that the 70's? Bro, help me out here!) and with them came the tie dye phenomena. The wild child usually was wearing one of these icons to identify them as someone VERY DIFFERENT.
So, in costuming Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, I chose this iconic color scheme to camp up the Canaan scene, circa 1000 BC.
First I had to make the clothing to be tie dyed. It took 40 yards of white muslin to make the skirts. The shirts were easier to come by, 5 for $10 at Walgreens! They were all 100% cotton, just what we needed and at a price we couldn't pass up.
Then we needed to plan the tie dyeing session. What fun that was! The one thing I knew I didn't want is dye all over my house. So we did it in the back yard, where we could use the hose to wash things off, and we just dumped our rinse water on some plants to make them extra colorful. We laid them all out on the lawn to dry off a little and stop dripping then hung them up to dry. They turned out very nice, and we got so enthused about the project that we went back to Walgreens for 5 more shirts, so we could make some for ourselves. What fun.
Beautiful skirt for some lucky Canaan lady
My neighbors wanted to see what we were doing when they saw this array laying on the lawn!
The only thing that is problematic about this whole process is that the cheesy rubber gloves we used were less protection to our hands than we wanted. So I'll have to wait for a week or two before the evidence of my tie dyeing session wears off my hands. Oh, and my feet are decorated also! But it was a lot of fun exploring my INNER WILD CHILD!
Monday, June 29, 2009
An Artists Palette
An artist develops her (I will use the feminine pronoun in this piece not to be exclusive, but to be brief) palette by mixing colors. She uses the paint either sparingly or liberaly to create the exact boldness or subtlty that
the creation dictates. A little touch of red, a smudge of blue, dull it with some black or ochre, and you get the look that you want.
A fiber artist has a more challenging road to develop palette. For one thing, she cannot (or most do not) create her own fabric colors. She relies on retailers to sell the fabric that meets her needs. For most fiber creations, getting something in the correct color range is adequate to creating as she wants. I think this works well for clothing. Quilters get much more particular when they are creating their quilts. If one goes into any store that caters to quilters, you will see quadruple the amount of fabric to choose from, because quilters use color matching as their key to what they purchase.
So in creating my Joseph coat of many colors, I needed to have a broad palette! Here is some of it as raw materials.
Creating the coat has been a challenge, because sometimes concepts and actual fabric choices are elusive in putting them together. One of my palette days required 100 miles of travel to 7 different fabric stores to complete the quest for just the right fabric. Last summer, I had a concept for Oklahoma. I wanted purple gingham for the dress for Laurey, and a sheer purple gingham for Dream Laurey's dress. I was so lucky, because as soon as I walked into the fabric store 1 mile from my house, there my fabrics were, right on the first table! This year, I've had to travel far and wide to put together my palette.
And then there is the expense of the palette. What if it doesn't work out? Then someone is out the money for the purchase of the fabric that doesn't turn out to work. This last palette choice was like that, it cost me $80 to purchase what I needed. I sure hope this one works out. Here is the concept.
I made the basic coat part last week, and have been conceptualizing (mostly at night when I'm trying to get to sleep) what the rest of the coat will look like. I purchased the lame pieces this week, mainly because they had all the colors together on one table (not on sale, darn it!) I'm going to make this concept somehow work. I'll show you the results when it gets finished.
the creation dictates. A little touch of red, a smudge of blue, dull it with some black or ochre, and you get the look that you want.
A fiber artist has a more challenging road to develop palette. For one thing, she cannot (or most do not) create her own fabric colors. She relies on retailers to sell the fabric that meets her needs. For most fiber creations, getting something in the correct color range is adequate to creating as she wants. I think this works well for clothing. Quilters get much more particular when they are creating their quilts. If one goes into any store that caters to quilters, you will see quadruple the amount of fabric to choose from, because quilters use color matching as their key to what they purchase.
So in creating my Joseph coat of many colors, I needed to have a broad palette! Here is some of it as raw materials.
Creating the coat has been a challenge, because sometimes concepts and actual fabric choices are elusive in putting them together. One of my palette days required 100 miles of travel to 7 different fabric stores to complete the quest for just the right fabric. Last summer, I had a concept for Oklahoma. I wanted purple gingham for the dress for Laurey, and a sheer purple gingham for Dream Laurey's dress. I was so lucky, because as soon as I walked into the fabric store 1 mile from my house, there my fabrics were, right on the first table! This year, I've had to travel far and wide to put together my palette.
And then there is the expense of the palette. What if it doesn't work out? Then someone is out the money for the purchase of the fabric that doesn't turn out to work. This last palette choice was like that, it cost me $80 to purchase what I needed. I sure hope this one works out. Here is the concept.
I made the basic coat part last week, and have been conceptualizing (mostly at night when I'm trying to get to sleep) what the rest of the coat will look like. I purchased the lame pieces this week, mainly because they had all the colors together on one table (not on sale, darn it!) I'm going to make this concept somehow work. I'll show you the results when it gets finished.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Evolve Disolve
I had my new Evolve exactly one week. It sewed very nicely. The lure of the exotic stitches it would do got to me on Friday night, after a day of sewing peasant blouses for the play. I needed to play!
In the play Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the coat is the main object of affection throughout the whole show. It starts off as a gift from father to favorite son. It causes green hideous envy among the brothers, who rip it off their brother and sell him into slavery. Joseph finally emerges at the end of the play, victorious, loved by all, and resplendent in the coat of many colors.
This is why I wanted to costume this play, just so I could make the coat! So, I was working on it Friday night, making the sleeves of many colors. The cover stitch that the Evolve does worked perfectly. I bought some very pricey multicolored serger thread, and sewed lines of rainbow colors across the sleeve parts, which are made of three colors and patches of contrasting colors. The sleeves were working out very well, and looked good.
On my second sleeve, the Evolve disolved!
It just wouldn't move. Something was causing the mechanism to just lock up, and nothing moved. I panicked! I have only about 30 days to go on my costuming, about 100 pieces to sew, and my new serger won't move!
So, I tried to remain cool, glancing at the forlorn 17 year old Eclipse sitting on the table for the helper. Well, I guess I could use that one.
Took the broken Evolve back to the dealer the next day, and they very nicely offered to let me have a loaner while mine went to the shop. The saleslady was very meticulous in off-loading all my tools out of the tool bin in my Evolve, and also doing the same with the loaner.
Here lies the rub. The needles go in the Evolve using a very specific set screw, with a very specific allen wrench provided to tighten the screw. The saleslady was so careful to get that out of my machine. However, she was also very careful to FORGET TO GIVE IT TO ME! So I got home with a loaner machine which has no needles and no way to put them in.
Thank heaven for that old machine. I sewed 10 peasant skirts today, and it worked great. Maybe even better than the Evolve.
It is forlorn no more! Saved the day. Sews great after its tune up 2 months ago? Why did I bother buying a new machine?
Relegated to the floor, no place of honor for this piece of useless junk!
In the play Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the coat is the main object of affection throughout the whole show. It starts off as a gift from father to favorite son. It causes green hideous envy among the brothers, who rip it off their brother and sell him into slavery. Joseph finally emerges at the end of the play, victorious, loved by all, and resplendent in the coat of many colors.
This is why I wanted to costume this play, just so I could make the coat! So, I was working on it Friday night, making the sleeves of many colors. The cover stitch that the Evolve does worked perfectly. I bought some very pricey multicolored serger thread, and sewed lines of rainbow colors across the sleeve parts, which are made of three colors and patches of contrasting colors. The sleeves were working out very well, and looked good.
On my second sleeve, the Evolve disolved!
It just wouldn't move. Something was causing the mechanism to just lock up, and nothing moved. I panicked! I have only about 30 days to go on my costuming, about 100 pieces to sew, and my new serger won't move!
So, I tried to remain cool, glancing at the forlorn 17 year old Eclipse sitting on the table for the helper. Well, I guess I could use that one.
Took the broken Evolve back to the dealer the next day, and they very nicely offered to let me have a loaner while mine went to the shop. The saleslady was very meticulous in off-loading all my tools out of the tool bin in my Evolve, and also doing the same with the loaner.
Here lies the rub. The needles go in the Evolve using a very specific set screw, with a very specific allen wrench provided to tighten the screw. The saleslady was so careful to get that out of my machine. However, she was also very careful to FORGET TO GIVE IT TO ME! So I got home with a loaner machine which has no needles and no way to put them in.
Thank heaven for that old machine. I sewed 10 peasant skirts today, and it worked great. Maybe even better than the Evolve.
It is forlorn no more! Saved the day. Sews great after its tune up 2 months ago? Why did I bother buying a new machine?
Relegated to the floor, no place of honor for this piece of useless junk!
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