Saturday, February 11, 2012
Off to the races!
I finished blogging about the jelly roll race quilt last night at midnight. It's barely 7 a.m. the next morning, and I want to do it again today! Wonder if I can do a second one in a day? I'm off to the races! Will post results if they are good!
Friday, February 10, 2012
The Jelly Roll Race Quilt
Can you imagine having a race to finish a quilt? Well, on You Tube, they showed such a race, and the winner finished her quilt top in 35 minutes! Look at Heirloom Creations website for the 1600 Jelly Roll race video. (Tried to make a link, but I'm not good at this!)
The ladies in the race used jelly rolls, which are collections of 40 strips of fabric 2-1/2" wide that can be used to make many different types of quilt tops. I happen to have quite a few of these in my stash of fabrics.
The idea of making a quilt top in 35 minutes certainly sounded intriguing to me, so I had to try it. I've seen pictures of other quilters' jelly roll race quilts and they certainly look bright and cheerful, just right for a kid's bed. I like fast projects, so I gave up one of my less expensive jelly roll assortments to give it a go!
Needless to say, I didn't finish in 35 minutes, but here's how long it took:
1 hour to sew all the jelly roll strips into one long 1600" strip
90 minutes to sew the strips together to make a quilt top
about an hour to shop for the sashing and backing (oh, maybe to look at a few other things at the fabric store also!)
about 3 hours to sash, sandwich, quilt and bind.
And here is the finished product. This was a cheap jelly roll, only cost $15, where most cost near $40. So it had only 6 different fabrics in it, most jelly rolls have 20 different prints. I added a few plain ones from other jelly rolls to add a bit more variety. The print has little caterpillars, butterflies, dragonflies and lady bugs on it, I'm hoping it isn't percieved as being too girly, so maybe it could be used for a baby blanket for a boy or a girl. It certainly turned out larger than I thought it would. It is about 65" x 69"--pretty near twin bed size.
I used snuggly blue marble flannel for the backing. And because I used my Accufeed foot on my Janome Horizon machine (for the first time--just learned how to attach it last weekend!), the quilting went so well! I could never figure out how to install the foot, that is why I have never used it in the past. Thank you, Janome, for inventing that thing!
My church is having an auction in a month and they are looking for auction items. I wanted to commit to making a quilt to donate, but was afraid I'd not have time to do it. Now, I have something to donate, and I think it will be well receieved. I would bid on this, hope it brings in some money for the church!
The ladies in the race used jelly rolls, which are collections of 40 strips of fabric 2-1/2" wide that can be used to make many different types of quilt tops. I happen to have quite a few of these in my stash of fabrics.
The idea of making a quilt top in 35 minutes certainly sounded intriguing to me, so I had to try it. I've seen pictures of other quilters' jelly roll race quilts and they certainly look bright and cheerful, just right for a kid's bed. I like fast projects, so I gave up one of my less expensive jelly roll assortments to give it a go!
Needless to say, I didn't finish in 35 minutes, but here's how long it took:
1 hour to sew all the jelly roll strips into one long 1600" strip
90 minutes to sew the strips together to make a quilt top
about an hour to shop for the sashing and backing (oh, maybe to look at a few other things at the fabric store also!)
about 3 hours to sash, sandwich, quilt and bind.
And here is the finished product. This was a cheap jelly roll, only cost $15, where most cost near $40. So it had only 6 different fabrics in it, most jelly rolls have 20 different prints. I added a few plain ones from other jelly rolls to add a bit more variety. The print has little caterpillars, butterflies, dragonflies and lady bugs on it, I'm hoping it isn't percieved as being too girly, so maybe it could be used for a baby blanket for a boy or a girl. It certainly turned out larger than I thought it would. It is about 65" x 69"--pretty near twin bed size.
I used snuggly blue marble flannel for the backing. And because I used my Accufeed foot on my Janome Horizon machine (for the first time--just learned how to attach it last weekend!), the quilting went so well! I could never figure out how to install the foot, that is why I have never used it in the past. Thank you, Janome, for inventing that thing!
My church is having an auction in a month and they are looking for auction items. I wanted to commit to making a quilt to donate, but was afraid I'd not have time to do it. Now, I have something to donate, and I think it will be well receieved. I would bid on this, hope it brings in some money for the church!
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Story of Annie
I am going to tell the story of Annie, a show I costumed during the summer 2011. I got to work with a very talented cast and production staff. The show was very well attended (all those grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles and parents) filled the 600 seat theatre night after night!
Our production staff was led by Ken Clark, who was directing for Hawthorne Players for the first time. He is an award winning set designer, and this year the show, the director, set design, sound, lighting, musical directors and costume designer were nominated for the ARTS FOR LIFE Best Performance Awards, as well as 4 actresses, three of them were orphans, including the lead actress Grace Robertson, who played Annie.
Here is my story, from a costumer's point of view.
Our production staff was led by Ken Clark, who was directing for Hawthorne Players for the first time. He is an award winning set designer, and this year the show, the director, set design, sound, lighting, musical directors and costume designer were nominated for the ARTS FOR LIFE Best Performance Awards, as well as 4 actresses, three of them were orphans, including the lead actress Grace Robertson, who played Annie.
Here is my story, from a costumer's point of view.
Annie Part I
I have costumed big shows, little shows, parts of shows, and mid-size shows. For the 4th summer in a row, I costumed Hawthorne Players big summer musical. So far, I've done Oklahoma, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Producers and Annie. They all have had their particular challenges, and they were all fun to do! Of course, the whole month of June and July is filled with fabrics, trims, thrift store finds, and every day had a plan to further along the gathering and building of costumes for the many characters.
This past summer's show, Annie, was different in its approach, because half the cast was dressed in rags, and the other half lived in a BILLIONAIRE'S mansion! The contrast was the big thing in this show. Here is Annie's journey from orphan to adopted daughter of one of the richest men in the world!
Here's the story as it was told on stage----
Annie runs away from the orphanage to find her parents. The local NYC officer wants to take the dog to the pound, but Annie convinces him that it is her dog, Sandy. Annie is dressed in her thin, raggy orphan clothes. Lt. Ward's officer's outfit was built from a man's double breasted suit, resplendent with $25 of gold buttons! Director distinctly wanted Lt. Ward's outfit to look authentic to the '30s. This is as close as I could come to authentic!
Grace, Oliver Warbucks' secretary, goes to the orhpanage to find an orphan for Oliver Warbucks to lavish his generosity on for Christmas. She picks Annie, who gives Miss Hannigan, the orphanage overseer, lots of trouble!
As Annie enters Warbucks' mansion for the first time, she reluctantly gives up the first coat she has ever owned, which reveals this cute little number. It is tan and grey plaid, with grey trim and a white sweater. Grace, Warbucks' secretary is wearing her Simplicity vintage pattern suit in this scene.
Annie appears on the "Hour of Smiles" radio show, hosted by Bert Healy. She sings "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile", and asks if her parents are listening, they should contact Oliver Warbucks.
Rooster and Lily plan to pretend to be Annie's parents, and convince Miss Hannigan to help them in their plot to try to get Annie, and of course, the reward for finding her!
This past summer's show, Annie, was different in its approach, because half the cast was dressed in rags, and the other half lived in a BILLIONAIRE'S mansion! The contrast was the big thing in this show. Here is Annie's journey from orphan to adopted daughter of one of the richest men in the world!
Here's the story as it was told on stage----
Annie runs away from the orphanage to find her parents. The local NYC officer wants to take the dog to the pound, but Annie convinces him that it is her dog, Sandy. Annie is dressed in her thin, raggy orphan clothes. Lt. Ward's officer's outfit was built from a man's double breasted suit, resplendent with $25 of gold buttons! Director distinctly wanted Lt. Ward's outfit to look authentic to the '30s. This is as close as I could come to authentic!Grace, Oliver Warbucks' secretary, goes to the orhpanage to find an orphan for Oliver Warbucks to lavish his generosity on for Christmas. She picks Annie, who gives Miss Hannigan, the orphanage overseer, lots of trouble!
As Annie enters Warbucks' mansion for the first time, she reluctantly gives up the first coat she has ever owned, which reveals this cute little number. It is tan and grey plaid, with grey trim and a white sweater. Grace, Warbucks' secretary is wearing her Simplicity vintage pattern suit in this scene.
Annie appears on the "Hour of Smiles" radio show, hosted by Bert Healy. She sings "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile", and asks if her parents are listening, they should contact Oliver Warbucks.Rooster and Lily plan to pretend to be Annie's parents, and convince Miss Hannigan to help them in their plot to try to get Annie, and of course, the reward for finding her!
Annie Part II
Oliver Warbucks is invited to the White House to talk with President Franklin Roosevelt about what to do about the Depression. He brings Annie with him to meet the President. She gets all the sad cabinet members singing and harmonizing in a rousing rendition of "Tomorrow"! Annie's little blue sailor dress was made from a vintage pattern, cost me $30, but it turned out soooooo cute!
Getting ready for the Christmas celebration at Warbucks mansion, Oliver tells the wait staff to "gussie her up!" She was gussied up in a thrift store find I bought for $3.75! I lucked out and was shopping on half price day! It fit her perfectly, and she sure did look gussied up!
Finally, as Oliver and Grace become a couple, and Oliver decides he wants to adopt Annie, she is dressed in her famous red dress--this one velveteen and lace, truly a little BILLIONAIRE'S daughter!
Annie makes her journey from rags to riches, and spreading her love all the way. Grace Robertson played Annie, with charm, and grace befitting her name. She was nominated for an ARTS FOR LIFE Best Performance Award, along with two of her fellow orphans in the best juvenile performer in an adult musical.
Getting ready for the Christmas celebration at Warbucks mansion, Oliver tells the wait staff to "gussie her up!" She was gussied up in a thrift store find I bought for $3.75! I lucked out and was shopping on half price day! It fit her perfectly, and she sure did look gussied up!
Finally, as Oliver and Grace become a couple, and Oliver decides he wants to adopt Annie, she is dressed in her famous red dress--this one velveteen and lace, truly a little BILLIONAIRE'S daughter!
Annie makes her journey from rags to riches, and spreading her love all the way. Grace Robertson played Annie, with charm, and grace befitting her name. She was nominated for an ARTS FOR LIFE Best Performance Award, along with two of her fellow orphans in the best juvenile performer in an adult musical.
Annie, Part III
In the story, Oliver Warbucks, the BILLIONAIRE, has a full wait staff ready to fulfill his every wish and whim. The waitstaff of men and women looked crisp and ready to do Oliver's bidding in their sharp uniforms. The women's costumes were recycled in part from last year's show, "The Producers", where I made 15 old lady outfits out of sheets I found at the local Old Time Pottery store. I had left overs, and had enough to make matching blouses to the skirts, we put an apron and a ruffled cap on them, and voila, female servants were dressed. The men were dressed in formal attire, thanks to the generosity of a local tuxedo shop!
Miss Hannigan, the overseer in the orphanage, and her sleazy brother Rooster dance with his girlfriend Lily, and sing "Easy Street", their dream of striking it rich by tapping into Oliver Warbucks' generosity. A ruse, of course, which in the end, turns back on them and lands them in jail! Lily's dress was fun to make, a Vogue pattern, sleazed up by picking the loudest fabric in the fabric store! The director was pleased with this costume! Very pleased!
The beautiful Boylen Sisters and Bert Healy, part of the radio show cast that Annie sings on and requests that anyone who might be her parents to please contact Oliver Warbucks. That brings the golddiggers out of the cesspools of society in NYC, and proves that they are all after Warbucks' money, INCLUDING HANNIGAN, ROOSTER AND LILY! The dresses were made from a vintage Butterick pattern, and the little hats were thrown together during tech week, but they turned out very darling! Blondes do have more fun, so they say. Bert Healy's suit was a plaid sportwear, he loved it, along with his little vintage skimmer hat.This was a fun show to costume, there are so many more scenes that I could share, but these were the ones where the costumes were built by me. We bought a lot of old coats and cleaned out a lot of closets to costume many of the scenes. Do you know how hard it is to find a wool coat at a thrift store in July? Not an easy task!
Jean Sewing Machine--why that name?
For people who just started reading my blog, I want to explain my nickname "Jean, Jean, Sewing Machine".
In 2007, I began a new "hobby--career" as a costumer for local community theatre groups. A friend of mine, whose mom I had worked with years earlier, was an assistant director for a play, and she was talking to her mom about looking for someone who could costume the show she was working on. Since I sewed a lot while I was working with her mom, I was recruited. It was an easy show to costume, only 8 cast members, but it had some cute things that I needed to make. During this show, I met another theatre woman, who is now one of my dearest friends. She was cast in the show, and made her own costume. Little did I know that this wonderful talented lady had been costuming and directing and acting for over 30 years. We had another thing in common, which we discovered one day when we ran into each other at Hancock--we both had become widows in the same month in 2006.
She was costuming a large show in the summer of 2007 "Man of La Mancha", and I helped her build some of the costumes. Then I was on tap to costume "The Music Man" in October of that year. That show had 55 cast members in it! I started with all those Pick-A-Little Ladies, and each had her own unique beautiful suit and hat for their roles. Then we had about 20 kids, and a bunch of teen--age dancers (EEE-GADS!), little girl and boy stars, and of course the Music Man and his lady! It was the biggest show in terms of cast members, and quite an undertaking for my first show as head costumer. I about lost my mind finishing this one. Luckily, we recruited the local high school bands for our 76 Trombones!
As we were sitting in the theatre getting "notes" from the director during tech week, one of the members of the Barbershop Quartet came over, put his arm around me and dubbed me "Jean, Jean, the Sewing Machine"! I've borne that wonderful title ever since then! He greets me in the same way every time I see him!
I started blogging in 2008, and have posted some of the pictures of the shows I've costumed on this blog. I'm over 30 shows now, somehow have lost count. Some were big shows, the biggest was "The Producers" in the summer of 2010. That was probably the biggest job, we counted over 500 costume pieces for that show. We built over 300, and luckily, I had help, but I personally built over 150 pieces. We were nominated for 13 categories in our local ARTS FOR LIFE Best Performance Awards for 2010. We won 8 awards, I was nominated but didn't win. For the summer of 2011, we did "Annie", and we've been nominated for 12 awards. I was nominated again, but if the sequins and showgirls didn't win, what chance to orphans in rags have?
I love sewing costumes, but making quilts has been a long-time dream of mine. I've had a short break from costuming during the past few weeks, and have used this time to create several bed size and lap quilts. I have two shows to do in April, so the break will be short lived.
Jean, Jean the Sewing Machine will continue with her craft as long as the sewing machines stay happy, the thread holds out and she can lift a scissors. This is a great tradition passed on to me by my own mom, her sister, and cousins. We were all sewing machines, and love the craft.
In 2007, I began a new "hobby--career" as a costumer for local community theatre groups. A friend of mine, whose mom I had worked with years earlier, was an assistant director for a play, and she was talking to her mom about looking for someone who could costume the show she was working on. Since I sewed a lot while I was working with her mom, I was recruited. It was an easy show to costume, only 8 cast members, but it had some cute things that I needed to make. During this show, I met another theatre woman, who is now one of my dearest friends. She was cast in the show, and made her own costume. Little did I know that this wonderful talented lady had been costuming and directing and acting for over 30 years. We had another thing in common, which we discovered one day when we ran into each other at Hancock--we both had become widows in the same month in 2006.
She was costuming a large show in the summer of 2007 "Man of La Mancha", and I helped her build some of the costumes. Then I was on tap to costume "The Music Man" in October of that year. That show had 55 cast members in it! I started with all those Pick-A-Little Ladies, and each had her own unique beautiful suit and hat for their roles. Then we had about 20 kids, and a bunch of teen--age dancers (EEE-GADS!), little girl and boy stars, and of course the Music Man and his lady! It was the biggest show in terms of cast members, and quite an undertaking for my first show as head costumer. I about lost my mind finishing this one. Luckily, we recruited the local high school bands for our 76 Trombones!
As we were sitting in the theatre getting "notes" from the director during tech week, one of the members of the Barbershop Quartet came over, put his arm around me and dubbed me "Jean, Jean, the Sewing Machine"! I've borne that wonderful title ever since then! He greets me in the same way every time I see him!
I started blogging in 2008, and have posted some of the pictures of the shows I've costumed on this blog. I'm over 30 shows now, somehow have lost count. Some were big shows, the biggest was "The Producers" in the summer of 2010. That was probably the biggest job, we counted over 500 costume pieces for that show. We built over 300, and luckily, I had help, but I personally built over 150 pieces. We were nominated for 13 categories in our local ARTS FOR LIFE Best Performance Awards for 2010. We won 8 awards, I was nominated but didn't win. For the summer of 2011, we did "Annie", and we've been nominated for 12 awards. I was nominated again, but if the sequins and showgirls didn't win, what chance to orphans in rags have?
I love sewing costumes, but making quilts has been a long-time dream of mine. I've had a short break from costuming during the past few weeks, and have used this time to create several bed size and lap quilts. I have two shows to do in April, so the break will be short lived.
Jean, Jean the Sewing Machine will continue with her craft as long as the sewing machines stay happy, the thread holds out and she can lift a scissors. This is a great tradition passed on to me by my own mom, her sister, and cousins. We were all sewing machines, and love the craft.
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