Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Zippers Won!

The upcoming/present costuming job that SewWhat? is working on is for the musical "The Sound of Music". Anyone who knows this play knows that costumes for the vonTrapp kids comes in sets of 7. So I have completed the first of about 4-5 sets of 7 things I need to make for my part of this costume gig.

Part 1: 7 sets of "bottoms" of a nautical outfit. That translates to 4 navy blue skirts and 3 navy shorts. Once I figured out how to cut them out, it wasn't that hard to sew them. I made circle skirts for the girls, which were so easy to make, just 2 seams, a zipper and a waistband. The shorts are made using my super fast boxer short pattern, takes all of 10 minutes to sew them up, once they are cut out.

In my past life as grade school principal/teacher/music teacher/play director/ costumer, I once made the entire school boxer shorts of various colors for our annual school play. The play was "God's Rainbow of Angels" (or something like that), each class had a different rainbow color of shorts, shirts, wings and halos to wear. They were darling. Sister and I worked together as a team, I cut out and sewed up the basic shorts, and she finished by putting in the elastic and hemming the legs. We got it done in about a week and a half, because I could make a whole class set in an evening. Caveat.....we had small classes, 9 was our biggest group.

So this boxer short production line is nothing new to me. At one time, I made boxers we called "Couch Potato Shorts", made for lounging around the house. They were made from fabric in which Warner Brothers characters were shown playing various sports, so they appealed to the "couch potato" crowd as they lounged and watched sports on TV. I even made hang tags for my creations, in the shape of a potato. I made one of my famous pairs for Allister in "Move Over, Mrs. Markham", including the hang tag. He properly appreciated them and the message on the tag, "wear the X in the back (over the place where I sewed the elastic) for NO WEDGIES!" That's what made those shorts so comfortable.

Today I will begin cutting out the middy tops for this costume. Once I get on a roll, it shouldn't take long to make them. I made middy tops for my "goon girls" in Oklahoma, they turned out very cute, so I think these will not take that long.

Then I think I am going to make jackets for this costume combination, to change it a little, and make it work for one more scene in the play. Nice simple v-neck, no collar style, making it easy to make and easy to wear with the middy tops or a white shirt.

The next set of 7 involves the curtain fabric. I thought that part of the costuming might be fun. so I requested being assigned that part. I just hope I have time to do it while it is still fun.

When this is done, I have 2 more plays that are upcoming in Jan./Feb. to work on. One director has yet to contact me, I guess she still wants my help. Until then, I'll work on what I know I have to do, and do the other one when I find out what she wants. Then one in April, then one in July, then one in December....whew!

"I'm just a girl who can't say no..."

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