...anything at all--you knew the ending to that phrase.
Community theatre groups work on their plays with passion and energy to put on the best production their time, space, and funds will allow. Actors and actresses will spend hundreds of dollars on just the right pair of boots, or a wig to make them look the part that they are playing.
Our town has a lot of community theatre groups. I seem to recall that my own mother and father met in a community theatre group. So maybe that's why I've always wanted to get involved in community theatre in some capacity.
Being a widow, with no one to complain how late I arrive home, I've had lots of chances to work with community theatre groups. You either have to be a single or have a very understanding spouse, or two theatre nuts have to be married to make this theatre commitment work. Many of the people I have met are in the same situation as I am, single. I've met couples involved in the work together. One lady who played Joanna in "Move Over Mrs. Markham" showed up at our opening night last week, unable to see her husband, who played Phillip in the same play in his opening night performance on another play. Compromises need to be made in this case.
Community theatre groups always think what they have done is the be-all, end-all to any production on the boards at that given time. When I put my heart and soul into making 120 costume pieces for a play, (like I did in "The Music Man"), I think it should get a good critical review. The review was not raving, not terrible, and definitely pointed out some chinks in the armor of that play. This opened my eyes to the role that local critics play in judging the quality of plays that they see.
Our local "critic's panel" works for a radio station that fosters the arts, KDHX-St. Louis. For our latest play that was revued, "Prelude to a Kiss" the lead actors were lauded, several of the side actors and actresses were mentioned, and I got a nod from a very picky critic. "Costumes (SewWhat) were appropriate." Now was that a ringing endorsement or a simple nod that they were OK?
When I costumed Oklahoma last summer, the critic mentioned that the pig farmer's shoes were too clean--no other mention of the costumes. I think for The Music Man, some mention of colorful costumes was made. So I guess the work appropriate may be a high compliment, according to these very picky critics.
I like to say something nice about each thing I critique, no matter how small it may be. When the critics say they yawned through the entire thing, or they had a bad attitude about even coming (Last summer's Oklahoma's critique started out, WHY DID THEY EVEN PICK THIS PLAY TO DO?) And this was for a show that had two sold out houses in a 600 seat theatre! Or they couldn't even muster up a laugh when the audience was cracking up, I say it's time to turn over the critic job to someone else, you are definitely overworked and have really become jaded.
But if you want a real true estimate of the merit and flaws of what the production value of your play, these critics seem to nail it. Maybe we don't like to see the warts, just the beauty. But we are learning our craft, and pointing out flaws helps us to know what needs to be changed the next time we do productions.
But as I said, if you can't say something nice, maybe you should just shut up.
Read critique of "Prelude to a Kiss" on KDHX-St. Louis website. Go to "Community" then to "Current Reviews" page through to Prelude... Jan. 23-Feb. 1, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Ordination 101
Do clothes make the man? Or in this case, do they make the cleric? I ask this question because of my experiences over the past few months.
Isn't it odd, in the past three plays which I've costumed, two of the actors I've had to costume played priests. I know there is a priest in "The Sound of Music", but he must already have his wardrobe collected. I've now been involved in learning about clerical garb in researching how to make these costumes.
Here's what I've learned:
It takes a $1.30 piece of plastic to make a roman collar.
When purchasing these pieces of plastic in advance of the play, you must put them in a safe place, or you will not be able to find them when you need them. Somewhere in this house is a nice roman collar piece hiding for future treasure finding. I'll find it the day all these plays are over.
The religious goods store that used to be 2 miles from my home has moved to 30 miles from my home. (Needed to go there to by the second set of plastic roman collar pieces after losing the first set.)
You can take a cheap man's shirt, sew down the collar points to make a shirt to accomodate a roman collar. Apparently, frugal clerics do this instead of spending $40 for a cheesy shirt with the $1.30 collar piece already installed.
A new cassock cost $150.
A cassock has deep cuffs. What do they store in those cuffs? Are the cuffs used for pockets? My cassock will not have cuffs.
None of the priests at my parish wear cassocks anymore. My dear pastor said once he got too fat for the one he wore as a young priest, he never replaced it. He is anything but fat! And we celebrated his 25th anniversary as a priest last summer. He's a peach of a guy!
Apparently, none of the priests that others know wear cassocks either, because we haven't found one to borrow.
Finding the old Butterick pattern for a cassock requires searching the back of the pattern drawer at at least 4 or 5 fabric stores. Finding out that Butterick pattern that I BOUGHT only put part of the pattern in the envelope was a big disappointment! Especially since I only have 3 days to make this costume, not 2 weeks to search for another pattern.
You can rig anything and cover your mistakes when making costumes. After I cut 4 back pieces out of the same piece (instead of 2) for the cassock, AND I had no extra fabric, I figured out how to use scraps to make the erroneously cut piece into the correct shape to make the back. Plunging open backs is not a look today's clerics, or even those from the 60's have/had adopted.
I can now advise Ty's Mommy from www.seventhlevelofboredom.blogspoot.com how to dress for her upcoming event as presiding minister at her friend's wedding in the spring. The Rev. Mrs. was ordained online and has her official certificate to prove it.
Why didn't I think of doing that? I could make a little money on the side, now that I know how to dress a cleric!
Isn't it odd, in the past three plays which I've costumed, two of the actors I've had to costume played priests. I know there is a priest in "The Sound of Music", but he must already have his wardrobe collected. I've now been involved in learning about clerical garb in researching how to make these costumes.
Here's what I've learned:
It takes a $1.30 piece of plastic to make a roman collar.
When purchasing these pieces of plastic in advance of the play, you must put them in a safe place, or you will not be able to find them when you need them. Somewhere in this house is a nice roman collar piece hiding for future treasure finding. I'll find it the day all these plays are over.
The religious goods store that used to be 2 miles from my home has moved to 30 miles from my home. (Needed to go there to by the second set of plastic roman collar pieces after losing the first set.)
You can take a cheap man's shirt, sew down the collar points to make a shirt to accomodate a roman collar. Apparently, frugal clerics do this instead of spending $40 for a cheesy shirt with the $1.30 collar piece already installed.
A new cassock cost $150.
A cassock has deep cuffs. What do they store in those cuffs? Are the cuffs used for pockets? My cassock will not have cuffs.
None of the priests at my parish wear cassocks anymore. My dear pastor said once he got too fat for the one he wore as a young priest, he never replaced it. He is anything but fat! And we celebrated his 25th anniversary as a priest last summer. He's a peach of a guy!
Apparently, none of the priests that others know wear cassocks either, because we haven't found one to borrow.
Finding the old Butterick pattern for a cassock requires searching the back of the pattern drawer at at least 4 or 5 fabric stores. Finding out that Butterick pattern that I BOUGHT only put part of the pattern in the envelope was a big disappointment! Especially since I only have 3 days to make this costume, not 2 weeks to search for another pattern.
You can rig anything and cover your mistakes when making costumes. After I cut 4 back pieces out of the same piece (instead of 2) for the cassock, AND I had no extra fabric, I figured out how to use scraps to make the erroneously cut piece into the correct shape to make the back. Plunging open backs is not a look today's clerics, or even those from the 60's have/had adopted.
I can now advise Ty's Mommy from www.seventhlevelofboredom.blogspoot.com how to dress for her upcoming event as presiding minister at her friend's wedding in the spring. The Rev. Mrs. was ordained online and has her official certificate to prove it.
Why didn't I think of doing that? I could make a little money on the side, now that I know how to dress a cleric!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
One more nail in the coffin...
Let's put this week to rest. Let's declare it dead and gone. Let's put it into the far back memory portion of our brains, and then quickly forgetaboutit.
So one more nail in the coffin of this week happened to me this afternoon. I began sewing my costumes for the third play of the month (the last in the three week continuous run of plays). I needed to make a priest cassock.
The priest is the main character in this play, who is on stage throughout the entire show, so he should look somewhat authentic. At times, he tries to be Harry Houdini, and attempts to get himself out of a straight jacket, so he needs some room in his cassock to go through all this commotion.
Butterick still has a pattern for a priest's cassock in their pattern book. Most stores that I checked don't have the pattern because it is pretty old. But I did find it a couple of weeks ago at a pattern store far away. Confident as always that things were in order, I got ready to make the cassock.
Butterick, you have failed me for the first time. I love your patterns and your cut of patterns. I can rely on you for being true to what size you say the pattern is going to be. This doesn't always work out that way with other pattern companies. But as I unwrapped the tissues in the pattern, I discovered that a big chunk of the pattern was missing, including the sleeves, collar and entire back.
I discovered the sleeve issue right away, but thought I had the back issue solved. Not so, as I tried to put it together, I found that I had cut two sets of side backs and no real back! This would have made the equivalent of a strapless back gown for the priest! I'm thinking this isn't the look we're going for! I could fake the sleeves, but how to fake the back?
So I was lucky and did find the same pattern at the closest fabric store. I am going to try to rig the back by piecing that part that is incorrect, and hope it works out OK. If not, then I bought another piece of black to make another cassock.
Could anything more go wrong this week? Unfortunately, I have two more days to live through, so the answer is "yes". I'm wishing I could stay beneath the covers until Sunday, to try to ward off any more evil spirits. I'd better watch what I wish for, because I could end up in bed with the flu or something dastardly like that.
Tell that black cloud to move on to someone else's house, OK?
So one more nail in the coffin of this week happened to me this afternoon. I began sewing my costumes for the third play of the month (the last in the three week continuous run of plays). I needed to make a priest cassock.
The priest is the main character in this play, who is on stage throughout the entire show, so he should look somewhat authentic. At times, he tries to be Harry Houdini, and attempts to get himself out of a straight jacket, so he needs some room in his cassock to go through all this commotion.
Butterick still has a pattern for a priest's cassock in their pattern book. Most stores that I checked don't have the pattern because it is pretty old. But I did find it a couple of weeks ago at a pattern store far away. Confident as always that things were in order, I got ready to make the cassock.
Butterick, you have failed me for the first time. I love your patterns and your cut of patterns. I can rely on you for being true to what size you say the pattern is going to be. This doesn't always work out that way with other pattern companies. But as I unwrapped the tissues in the pattern, I discovered that a big chunk of the pattern was missing, including the sleeves, collar and entire back.
I discovered the sleeve issue right away, but thought I had the back issue solved. Not so, as I tried to put it together, I found that I had cut two sets of side backs and no real back! This would have made the equivalent of a strapless back gown for the priest! I'm thinking this isn't the look we're going for! I could fake the sleeves, but how to fake the back?
So I was lucky and did find the same pattern at the closest fabric store. I am going to try to rig the back by piecing that part that is incorrect, and hope it works out OK. If not, then I bought another piece of black to make another cassock.
Could anything more go wrong this week? Unfortunately, I have two more days to live through, so the answer is "yes". I'm wishing I could stay beneath the covers until Sunday, to try to ward off any more evil spirits. I'd better watch what I wish for, because I could end up in bed with the flu or something dastardly like that.
Tell that black cloud to move on to someone else's house, OK?
Ah, to be a kid again!
Snowstorms have different effects on people, and it usually depends on your age as to whether you are excited or furious! People who must get to work on time each day surely hate the white stuff, but if you are a kid, snowstorms mean a lot of good things to you!
We had a 36 hour precipitation event in our city. It started with freezing rain and sleet on Monday night. Then it continued all night long, and some snow fell in between sleet events. For most of the day Tuesday, it sleeted, and didn't seem to pile up significantly despite the fact that it was pretty continuous all day. Then Tuesday evening, it started to turn to snow, and by Wednesday morning, we had a 5" pile on our lawns and streets.
In our city, this means one thing "SNOW DAY". Schools close, parents grumble and kids are ecstatic! Not all schools were closed on Tuesday, but Wednesday most of the elementary and secondary schools and districts were closed, as well as my community college! So we all got a SNOW DAY.
Little Boy M and Little Girl M were supposed to have preschool, but that was closed. So my usual trip to get them on Wednesday meant we went to the babysitter instead of school (which is right behind my house.) They had looked at the snow all day, but the babysitter didn't take the crew outside to play in it. As we were going home, they began planning their first romp in the snow for this snow event....Grandma, can we run in the snow?.... Grandma can we have a snow fight?.... Grandma, do you have hot chocolate?....Grandma, does your hot chocolate taste like mommy's?....Grandma..... Grandma.....Grandma...
By the time we got to my house, the snow romp was planned! Yes, we would run in the snow and have a snow fight. Yes, Grandma does have hot chocolate, and hopefully it will taste like mommy's (whew!) Grandma was not looking forward to bring two cold snowcovered snow bunnies inside and drying them out, but I have reserve clothes at my house, so I figured--WHAT THE HECK, LET'S ALL BE KIDS AGAIN AND PLAY IN THE SNOW!
It wouldn't have done me much good to plan anything else, because as soon as I released one M from the car seat, he was in the snow, same for his sister. They had a ball, running, throwing, digging, burying their faces, making snow angels...it lasted for all of 20 minutes til little toes started to tingle, and the thin gloves I could find for Boy M became totally caked with snow and his fingers got very cold.
As we went in the back door, we stripped down, taking all our snowy clothes off, and they moved into the bedroom to find new socks and slippers that I had bought for them to wear while at Grandmas. We got out the hot chocolate, the drippy clothes went into the dryer, and the evening went very well.
As messy as it is, and as inconvenient as snow can be for adults, it was fun to be a kid again, and take joy in playing in the fluffy white stuff. I'm glad I could enjoy it with the M & M's, because they had such fun at Grandma's house yesterday.
FLASHBACK: I remember a snowy day when I was about 5--I think I was already in Kindergarten. There was a very deep snow, and we were playing in it. I was at a friend's house that was about 3 blocks from my own home. I stepped into a very deep drift of snow, at least up to my --- well, you know what, and my boot came off. The friends couldn't find the boot, so I had to walk home 3 blocks in one boot and one sock! My foot knew the meaning of cold on that day!
We had a 36 hour precipitation event in our city. It started with freezing rain and sleet on Monday night. Then it continued all night long, and some snow fell in between sleet events. For most of the day Tuesday, it sleeted, and didn't seem to pile up significantly despite the fact that it was pretty continuous all day. Then Tuesday evening, it started to turn to snow, and by Wednesday morning, we had a 5" pile on our lawns and streets.
In our city, this means one thing "SNOW DAY". Schools close, parents grumble and kids are ecstatic! Not all schools were closed on Tuesday, but Wednesday most of the elementary and secondary schools and districts were closed, as well as my community college! So we all got a SNOW DAY.
Little Boy M and Little Girl M were supposed to have preschool, but that was closed. So my usual trip to get them on Wednesday meant we went to the babysitter instead of school (which is right behind my house.) They had looked at the snow all day, but the babysitter didn't take the crew outside to play in it. As we were going home, they began planning their first romp in the snow for this snow event....Grandma, can we run in the snow?.... Grandma can we have a snow fight?.... Grandma, do you have hot chocolate?....Grandma, does your hot chocolate taste like mommy's?....Grandma..... Grandma.....Grandma...
By the time we got to my house, the snow romp was planned! Yes, we would run in the snow and have a snow fight. Yes, Grandma does have hot chocolate, and hopefully it will taste like mommy's (whew!) Grandma was not looking forward to bring two cold snowcovered snow bunnies inside and drying them out, but I have reserve clothes at my house, so I figured--WHAT THE HECK, LET'S ALL BE KIDS AGAIN AND PLAY IN THE SNOW!
It wouldn't have done me much good to plan anything else, because as soon as I released one M from the car seat, he was in the snow, same for his sister. They had a ball, running, throwing, digging, burying their faces, making snow angels...it lasted for all of 20 minutes til little toes started to tingle, and the thin gloves I could find for Boy M became totally caked with snow and his fingers got very cold.
As we went in the back door, we stripped down, taking all our snowy clothes off, and they moved into the bedroom to find new socks and slippers that I had bought for them to wear while at Grandmas. We got out the hot chocolate, the drippy clothes went into the dryer, and the evening went very well.
As messy as it is, and as inconvenient as snow can be for adults, it was fun to be a kid again, and take joy in playing in the fluffy white stuff. I'm glad I could enjoy it with the M & M's, because they had such fun at Grandma's house yesterday.
FLASHBACK: I remember a snowy day when I was about 5--I think I was already in Kindergarten. There was a very deep snow, and we were playing in it. I was at a friend's house that was about 3 blocks from my own home. I stepped into a very deep drift of snow, at least up to my --- well, you know what, and my boot came off. The friends couldn't find the boot, so I had to walk home 3 blocks in one boot and one sock! My foot knew the meaning of cold on that day!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Snow Blower Blues
For an old woman, getting snow off the driveway can be an issue. So, as an old woman, I've had to deal with this issue, and have done it in various ways.
The idea of a "lady" snowblower was hatched when my mother bought a small, lightweight Toro snowblower for her driveway. She was definitely in the "old lady" category at this time of her life, because I'm sure she got it in her late 70's. She was a very vigourous lady until her last year at 83 when she passed away. So the snowblower was passed on as a legacy. I got it.
It got many a workout at my one country home in the lake subdivision. It even worked better on my neighbor's "snow over ice" driveway, because it was the paddle type, which got down to the pavement better than the bigger auger type that her other neighbor had.
Then we moved to a house with a gravel driveway, so there was not use in even trying to use it there. We needed a blade, and had several to choose from. One for the tractor, and one for the brush mower. I think the late Mr. figured out the tractor one, but the brush mower one never was used. I gave the "lady" snowblower to my brother, who moved into my mothers old home after she passed away.
So when we moved from there, back to the city, our son inherited the whole mess (tractor, blade, brush mower, blade). He felt he owed us something, so he bought a monster snowblower from a friend for our new house with the 20 foot long driveway. This thing was so huge, you could have done Wal-Mart's parking lot with it! Way too much for our little driveway.
The first time I had a chance to use it, it was locked in my under-deck shed. Snow had been preceeded by about 12 hours of wind-driven freezing rain, so the deck door was tightly frozen shut by about a 1/2 inch of ice. We just let nature take its course until the stuff melted off. That year, several other snow events happened, and often my driveway miraculously was cleaned off by well-meaning neighbor children and family members.
The next year, things weren't quite as smooth-running, so I got the snow shovels out, with a very aching back as a result. One day, I decided to try to snow-blower my son gave us, and after a 1/2 hour of pulling the rope, I gave up. I called my son, and he said, "Oh yes, there is a little problem with the starter, you just jiggle this and wiggle that and poke a screwdriver here and there, and it will start". NOT HAPPENING, SON, YOU ARE TALKING TO AN OLD LADY WHO DOESN'T DO MOTORS!
Last year, after a couple bouts with the shovel and ensuing aches and pains, the frustration of trying to start the monster snowblower, I bit the bullet and bought another "lady" snowblower. Of course, doing this just prior to a predicted monster storm meant the price was high, but it got to my house before the first flake flew, and was quite easy to start, easy to use, and it did a good job.
This week, we've been hit by about 3 continuous days of off and on snow, sleet, freezing rain, little pellets that look like styrofoam beads. The stuff really started accumulating yesterday afternoon. Aha, I have a new snowblower! NO PROBLEM!
Confidently, I went out to start the snowblower up for an attack on this most recent snow event. It had been strategically placed near the front of the garage, easy to get to. The gas cans were close at hand, and so were the electic cords for the electric start. Confidence was soon dashed as the thing in no way would start up. After 15 minutes of cranking and not an inkling that the wonderkind machine would start, I gave up. I'll just wait until the spring thaw.
This has been a week of frustrations in many areas of my life. Cell phone wouldn't charge up, bookstore didn't have my students' books and wouldn't be getting them for weeks. Social Security wants to take away my pension, and I can't get into see the doctor I want to start going to until April. I was beginning to really feel star-crossed. The dead snowblower was just another frustrating effort that got me nowhere. Don't know what's going on that all of this is messed up.
Fates, give me a break for once!
The idea of a "lady" snowblower was hatched when my mother bought a small, lightweight Toro snowblower for her driveway. She was definitely in the "old lady" category at this time of her life, because I'm sure she got it in her late 70's. She was a very vigourous lady until her last year at 83 when she passed away. So the snowblower was passed on as a legacy. I got it.
It got many a workout at my one country home in the lake subdivision. It even worked better on my neighbor's "snow over ice" driveway, because it was the paddle type, which got down to the pavement better than the bigger auger type that her other neighbor had.
Then we moved to a house with a gravel driveway, so there was not use in even trying to use it there. We needed a blade, and had several to choose from. One for the tractor, and one for the brush mower. I think the late Mr. figured out the tractor one, but the brush mower one never was used. I gave the "lady" snowblower to my brother, who moved into my mothers old home after she passed away.
So when we moved from there, back to the city, our son inherited the whole mess (tractor, blade, brush mower, blade). He felt he owed us something, so he bought a monster snowblower from a friend for our new house with the 20 foot long driveway. This thing was so huge, you could have done Wal-Mart's parking lot with it! Way too much for our little driveway.
The first time I had a chance to use it, it was locked in my under-deck shed. Snow had been preceeded by about 12 hours of wind-driven freezing rain, so the deck door was tightly frozen shut by about a 1/2 inch of ice. We just let nature take its course until the stuff melted off. That year, several other snow events happened, and often my driveway miraculously was cleaned off by well-meaning neighbor children and family members.
The next year, things weren't quite as smooth-running, so I got the snow shovels out, with a very aching back as a result. One day, I decided to try to snow-blower my son gave us, and after a 1/2 hour of pulling the rope, I gave up. I called my son, and he said, "Oh yes, there is a little problem with the starter, you just jiggle this and wiggle that and poke a screwdriver here and there, and it will start". NOT HAPPENING, SON, YOU ARE TALKING TO AN OLD LADY WHO DOESN'T DO MOTORS!
Last year, after a couple bouts with the shovel and ensuing aches and pains, the frustration of trying to start the monster snowblower, I bit the bullet and bought another "lady" snowblower. Of course, doing this just prior to a predicted monster storm meant the price was high, but it got to my house before the first flake flew, and was quite easy to start, easy to use, and it did a good job.
This week, we've been hit by about 3 continuous days of off and on snow, sleet, freezing rain, little pellets that look like styrofoam beads. The stuff really started accumulating yesterday afternoon. Aha, I have a new snowblower! NO PROBLEM!
Confidently, I went out to start the snowblower up for an attack on this most recent snow event. It had been strategically placed near the front of the garage, easy to get to. The gas cans were close at hand, and so were the electic cords for the electric start. Confidence was soon dashed as the thing in no way would start up. After 15 minutes of cranking and not an inkling that the wonderkind machine would start, I gave up. I'll just wait until the spring thaw.
This has been a week of frustrations in many areas of my life. Cell phone wouldn't charge up, bookstore didn't have my students' books and wouldn't be getting them for weeks. Social Security wants to take away my pension, and I can't get into see the doctor I want to start going to until April. I was beginning to really feel star-crossed. The dead snowblower was just another frustrating effort that got me nowhere. Don't know what's going on that all of this is messed up.
Fates, give me a break for once!
Let's keep it a family show!
Ordered Sunday night--4 pairs of bloomers.
No pictures of these, because they were cut out, sewed up and out the door in about an hour!
The Sound of Music play put on by our local Catholic high school alumni association will start tomorrow. This is the play that I worked on for the past few months making various costume pieces. Here was my part of the contribution:
Made 8 vonTrapp kids sailor outfits. Why 8? Well, I had to make a top and shorts over because they didn't fit right. These were light grey sailor tops, ties, and navy skirts/shorts.
Made 7 vonTrapp "curtain outfits" Blouse/weskit combo tops, gathered waist skirts for the girls, and brown "leiderhosen" type shorts with suspenders for the boys.
Sad note: One student had to drop out of the show family, so there will only be 6 vonTrapps in this version of the show!
Then I altered Maria's vintage wedding dress so she could change into it and button up the 36 buttons quickly. This required me to remove 24 of the buttons and sew them back on over the button loops, and then put velcro underneath so she could just slap the opening shut after she wiggled into the dress.
I altered the Baroness vonTrapp's dress for the wedding. I hadn't heard how that turned out, so I hope it worked.
I altered one of the wedding guest's formal dress, making a rather permanent shoulder wrap out of one she had to hold on to.
Fixed the suspenders on a pair of shorts for a contestant in the music contest, who has a 3 second on-stage appearance. They all hooted and hollered when she tried on her costume, because she is a mom, and is playing the part of a Tyrolean gentleman. The little green hat with a red feather really made the outfit!
Then the reality of the staging became an issue. This stage is built at the end of a gym, and is about 3 feet off the ground. This means that any person sitting within about 30 feet of the front of the stage will see UP the skirts of the female vonTrapp family members. We must have proper undergarments for this to remain a family show! So, an order was put in for 4 pairs of bloomers for the girls to wear under their costumes.
In my mind, bloomers are a must for any family show where a girl or woman is wearing anthing above ankle length skirts. This is especially true for stages above the eye level of the audience, even it if it only the front rows. So I've made my share of bloomers for shows. One day, while I was sewing for "The Music Man" I made 15 pairs in a day, this style included a double row of lace edged ruffles at the bottom. So I'm an expert at churning them out quickly.
So I whipped up the 4 pairs of bloomers Monday afternoon during the Oprah show! I didn't get a chance to thread the elastic through the waist casing, that was for some mom who was sitting there at play practice with nothing to do. Using a serger, the sewing takes absolutely no time at all (less than 10 minutes per pair.) And I have a package of various size of shorts patterns, which I made when I was making the 60 boxer shorts for my rainbow angel play about 5 years ago. I've used that package for many, many things! They sure come in handy for making bloomers of various sizes.
Now, the Sound of Music will remain a family show, not a strip show! The only issue now is the 3 day snow storm that has closed the school today, and probably tomorrow, when the first show was scheduled to be performed for elementary school kids. The director, who is short on hair as it is, doesn't even have much to pull out, but he has had his share of challenges this year. Hopefully, by Friday night, the show will go on, and it will turn out well! And I hope they all look great.
No pictures of these, because they were cut out, sewed up and out the door in about an hour!
The Sound of Music play put on by our local Catholic high school alumni association will start tomorrow. This is the play that I worked on for the past few months making various costume pieces. Here was my part of the contribution:
Made 8 vonTrapp kids sailor outfits. Why 8? Well, I had to make a top and shorts over because they didn't fit right. These were light grey sailor tops, ties, and navy skirts/shorts.
Made 7 vonTrapp "curtain outfits" Blouse/weskit combo tops, gathered waist skirts for the girls, and brown "leiderhosen" type shorts with suspenders for the boys.
Sad note: One student had to drop out of the show family, so there will only be 6 vonTrapps in this version of the show!
Then I altered Maria's vintage wedding dress so she could change into it and button up the 36 buttons quickly. This required me to remove 24 of the buttons and sew them back on over the button loops, and then put velcro underneath so she could just slap the opening shut after she wiggled into the dress.
I altered the Baroness vonTrapp's dress for the wedding. I hadn't heard how that turned out, so I hope it worked.
I altered one of the wedding guest's formal dress, making a rather permanent shoulder wrap out of one she had to hold on to.
Fixed the suspenders on a pair of shorts for a contestant in the music contest, who has a 3 second on-stage appearance. They all hooted and hollered when she tried on her costume, because she is a mom, and is playing the part of a Tyrolean gentleman. The little green hat with a red feather really made the outfit!
Then the reality of the staging became an issue. This stage is built at the end of a gym, and is about 3 feet off the ground. This means that any person sitting within about 30 feet of the front of the stage will see UP the skirts of the female vonTrapp family members. We must have proper undergarments for this to remain a family show! So, an order was put in for 4 pairs of bloomers for the girls to wear under their costumes.
In my mind, bloomers are a must for any family show where a girl or woman is wearing anthing above ankle length skirts. This is especially true for stages above the eye level of the audience, even it if it only the front rows. So I've made my share of bloomers for shows. One day, while I was sewing for "The Music Man" I made 15 pairs in a day, this style included a double row of lace edged ruffles at the bottom. So I'm an expert at churning them out quickly.
So I whipped up the 4 pairs of bloomers Monday afternoon during the Oprah show! I didn't get a chance to thread the elastic through the waist casing, that was for some mom who was sitting there at play practice with nothing to do. Using a serger, the sewing takes absolutely no time at all (less than 10 minutes per pair.) And I have a package of various size of shorts patterns, which I made when I was making the 60 boxer shorts for my rainbow angel play about 5 years ago. I've used that package for many, many things! They sure come in handy for making bloomers of various sizes.
Now, the Sound of Music will remain a family show, not a strip show! The only issue now is the 3 day snow storm that has closed the school today, and probably tomorrow, when the first show was scheduled to be performed for elementary school kids. The director, who is short on hair as it is, doesn't even have much to pull out, but he has had his share of challenges this year. Hopefully, by Friday night, the show will go on, and it will turn out well! And I hope they all look great.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
What to Wear? Why, something new, of course!
Well, my dilema of what to wear to the awards banquet was resolved because a package was delivered to my house Saturday afternoon containing the bargain dress I had purchased online from ColdWater Creek earlier in the week.
It was a lovely shade of purple, an embroidered and beaded jacket, with 3/4 length sleeves, loop button closures on the front of the jacket. Underneath was a very beautiful plain shantung purple sheath dress.
I tried it on, and the dress sort of fit, but the jacketfit very nicely. The dress was too long, gapped under the arms, and definitely needed some alterations. I played with ideas for how to alter it, and it seemed that pulling up the skirt and tucking it under a pleat across the middle to make it look like a 2 piece dress. This might be the way to go to do a quick alteration.
Now, I've altered a lot of costumes lately, and this is what I would do to a costume. So, I bravely forged ahead, measured TWICE and cut once, and cut the dress in two pieces for a top and a bottom. I was a little bit scared of this move, but I liked the jacket so much by itself, and it would go with black underneath, so I figured I didn't have that much to lose.
In about an hour, I had a nice three piece outfit instead of a two piece outfit. And it fit well and looked nice. I got plenty of compliments on the outfit while I was at the banquet.
The only modifications I need to make is to tighten the elastic at the waist, because it slipped down in the back as I sat around listening to the awards. If I had had more time, I would have made a fitted skirt out of it, sewing in darts and inserting a zipper. With the loose elastic, I had to make sure I wasn't showing anything untoward as I got up to give my presentation.
As I was ironing it in the final finishing, I had a flashback to the time I ironed my actress's jacket (made of the same fabric as my outfit) and burned a hole in it! I kept checking the iron's setting to make sure it wasn't too hot. A hole in the fabric would have been difficult to repair! Luckily, that didn't happen to me, the fates of the steam iron were with me on this day!
So my dilema has been solved, and now I will be looking for another special event to go to in order to wear my new three piece purple outfit.
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