I Keep Movin'

So as my summer internship winds to a close, I am both relieved and saddened to be leaving the theater I worked at. Yes, it was a lot of work, but I actually really enjoyed it (despite a couple blips along the journey). I am definitely a lot more confident in both my costuming and people relation skills, as well as quick thinking and fast dressing (for both myself and others). Of course, with the close of this comes some great memories and experience I can use to move forward hopefully professionally and recreationally too.

Now that I am finished, it's time to finish up those remaining projects before I start school in three weeks. During my time off between the shows last week, I managed to make a lot of progress on my 30's blouse - I managed to line the front and back bodice pieces and stitch them to the sleeves and together at the side seams. I also hemmed the bottom edge. All I really have left is to attach the collar (which has proven very difficult for some bizarre reason - it must be the disintegrating instruction sheet that confuses me), hem the front edges, finish the sleeve cuffs, and work on the buttons and button holes. I don't estimate it to be more than a few hours. I am truly pumped to finish this so I can wear this fall!! I have also sketched out a couple of the designs for Reefer Madness which may or may not go up on here after reviewing them with the director.

My neighbor also asked me to make some curtains for her, which I am about halfway through (but am reluctant to finish because of the massive ironing and straight seams. hehe). I'll have to finish those in the next few days before I leave for vacation.

Watch for photos of the finished projects soon!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It's been a very very long week as my supervisor and I have slogged through the immense process of organizing (but first washing, drying, dry cleaning, ironing and steaming everything to perfection) the costumes for shipment in the 28 cardboard wardrobe boxes we received them in. Gladly, all of the boxes were packed and sealed at 2 pm on Saturday and loaded into a giant truck yesterday morning at 8:00 along with the party lights and the surrey. Thank goodness - I am so glad they are gone.

I'm really ready to move on from Oklahoma! purely because of the massive cast and amount of costumes, even though I know that Sound of Music will probably not be any better (read: all the children and Maria have about 9 costumes EACH). This means lots and lots of costume changes, which will be both stressful and fun.

It's also very hard to believe that my summer is about 2/3rds over. I received an email a couple days ago that key pick-up is on Sept. 6th and 7th, with us starting on the 8th. Holy cow! I'll be glad to go back to school where I won't have to deal with massive rental orders and can make my own designs. Don't get me wrong, this has been a wonderful experience and it affirms that I love what I do, but I tend to like independence - a lot. 

Plaid Ruffles and Polka Dots

I realize I've taken quite a break from blogging recently (considering I was able to crank out a post almost everyday in may), but it is because I've been busy with lots of fun crafty things which you'll read about in the next few posts.

My biggest news is that we have finished a couple really important pieces for Oklahoma!. There are 6 dresses we had to make for female leads and we have about two thirds of them in working (ok, fittable) condition. One difficult thing about Oklahoma! is that there are several costume changes for the leads, all of which are very distinct and absolutely crucial for the story. Thus lots of work for the sewers.

Think of…the Tony!!

As some of you may know, the Tony Awards are tonight. This celebration of broadway is my absolute favorite award show of the year and I tend to plan my night around the ceremony so I can watch it live. Now in the age of Twitter, Facebook, and other online networking sites, information about the nominees is widely available, with lots of updates from sources like Playbill.com and Broadway World. While browsing the Playbill twitters, I found two gems that represent my favorite parts of theater: the spectacular costumes and the actors off stage.

First up is a video and interview of Elmo and Sutton Foster (nominated for Best Actress in a Musical) singing on Sesame Street. It's very fun and energetic (very Sutton).

Second is a sneak peek photo gallery of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark which will be performing tonight  and opened May 12th at the Foxwoods theater. I saw a couple of the featured costumes up close while in New York in April and am excited to see them finally in use on stage. The show also features Jennifer Damiano of Spring Awakening and Next to Normal fame. I've never seen her live, but her voice is incredible.

Oh yeah, that project...

While I was at JoAnn’s on Thursday, I picked up a Butterick apron pattern since all Butterick patterns were $2.00 a piece. It is quite versatile and has multiple sizes and styles (plus it only requires less than 2 yards of fabric!), which will be great if I need to make other aprons in the future.

I personally really like View C (the one with the cherry fabric) because it reminds me of the fancy aprons I see around town near my school. It is also quite reminiscent of a 50’s apron. It will probably be made out of a fun novelty cotton (which my cousin and I will figure out somehow this summer) with her choice of apron style.

Just a list...

to figure out exactly how many projects I have started in the last couple days.

- Drafted [or maybe purchased pattern] Apron for my cousin (and maybe myself too)

- Dotted blouse (lined)

- Green Skirt to match

- Baby bibs (2) and burp clothes (a few) for my mom's coworker [These can't be that hard, and should be pretty quick] finished 5/14
- Dotted Skirt to match (lined) finished 6/10

Oh, and maybe any other things that decide to pop up.

Pretty Polka Dots and Silky Cottons

Finally home after a long and hot day of work. I'm a bit exhausted from today's travels, but I'll do my best to update you all about my crazy - but very productive day!

Yesterday I met the other three interns who will be working alongside the other crew members - two are college seniors (one of which goes to the same college as me and works in the theater department!) and a sophomore like me. We figured out that the costumes will be rented from UNCSA…well, about half of them. We have multiple actors (say, 20) who are larger than costumes that UNCSA can provide (including several of the leads), so we have to create alternative methods of acquiring costumes and it looks like it will be in the form of building lots and lots of fitted prairie blouses and ruffled skirts, as well as digging through jam-packed racks in an overcrowded basement for cowboy shirts, pants, and a pair of size 15 EEE cowboy boots. So we definitely have our work cut out for us. It looks like we'll be racing until the final bell. 

My biggest news is that today my supervisor and I went fabric shopping for suitable fabrics for the various costumes. As of present, our Ado Annie and Aunt Eller, will not fit the rental costumes, so we are building those from scratch, as well as a couple female ensemble members. The tricky thing is trying to find fabric that will fit in with the costumes that are being shipped to us - ones that are bright primaries and plaids. Surprisingly, our trip was very successful.

Stylin' at the Five 'n Dime - part 2

After much anticipation, I present final photos of my first set of 1930's blouses and skirts. Both are about 95% finished, but completely wearable. I need to readjust the back placket on the skirt, once I purchase a zipper and wash the white blouse to get out any remaining marks, but beyond that, they are beautiful.

TaDa! A nicely hemmed (and horsehaired) skirt and finished blouse. You can really see how the horsehair braid holds out the skirt hem.

The blouse alone. The top of the button holes and buttons are tacked down to create a mock collar. It looks nicer than just a flat front (which is my intent for a second blouse, but that will have a real collar).

The skirt alone. As you can see, it falls to about low calf, which is lower than I'm used to ever wearing, but I think it will prove nice. I plan to wear it out to dinner tonight.

My next set of plans (which I have been hinting at) is to create a short sleeved blouse out of the remaining dotted fabric, as well as a lime green skirt for extra options when costuming this fall. Now, to leave you all with an artsy photo - just me playing around in Iphoto with one of the better shots in my mock photo shoot.

Stylin' at the Five 'n Dime - part 1

I finally hunkered down and got a lot done on my blouse and skirt set - and have something to show for it! The last two nights I sewed together the seams on the spotted skirt and ripped a few seams to make the lining (or my skirt muslin) fit inside the spotted skirt. I sewed them together at the back placket (where the skirt closes in the back, for those of you non-sewers) and then basted them together at the top (so they would stay together until I could get the waistband on. It looks really nice. All I have left to do is sew some closures in the back (snaps, hooks and eyes, skirt hooks, whathaveyou), sew on the waistband, and hem both skirts. One of the hems will have a length of crinoline or (plastic) horsehair braid to help keep its shape. I'm thinking it will be the lining so the spotted skirt will stand out nicely.

I also decided to use my muslin as an actual blouse (I put so much time into it anyway that I might as well use it) and mostly finished it last night. The sleeves and blouse edge are both hemmed, with the buttons sewn on, the only (REALLY MAJOR) thing I am missing is the button holes which will hold the blouse together. Kinda important. I've been trying to get the sewing machine to make the correct sized buttonholes for my 5/8" buttons, but it doesn't want to cooperate. I'm waiting for my mom to help me figure out the machine so I can have a beautifully finished blouse (that is, after I wash it to get rid of any wax paper marks or such). I'm really excited to have made a nice dent in both pieces, but I still have an entire skirt and blouse to go (yay for mix-and-match separates), which I hope to start before Reagle eats my summer away.

So drumroll please….

Spending Habits Now and Then

I just found the most excellent article featured on Etsy's front page - it is about "The History of the Cheap Dress." After reading it, I thought about my own closet and what it consists of. In an attempt to be cost effective, I try not to buy anything full price, unless it is impossible to do so. Most of the solid cotton t-shirts I wear are sale rack finds or from the closing sale of a store. My sweaters are a mixed bag, some from Nordstrom's preview sale in the fall or their sale section as well as Target or Kohl's. Only when I get to the other items does it get tricky. As I type, I am wearing shorts from American Eagle last season (which were on sale), a yellow Aeropostale shirt (that was free when presenting a magazine cover a couple years ago), and a pair of silver Havaiana's flip flops (which I bought full price at school the day we made a trip into town and my shoes were giving me blisters). So it does tend to depend on my circumstance. I also frequent TJMaxx and Marshalls (but have much better luck at the former), and have had great luck. My best finds were two past season Nanette Lepore pieces - an eggplant textured boiled wool coat (which I wear all winter) and a navy semi-formal dress (that I wore to my high school graduation). Although my wallet seems to hate the prices, I know that an investment (especially in an expensive piece that was marked down) will help my wardrobe in the long run.

Back to the article, I am a bit appalled by the number of people who shop at places like Forever 21. Their clothing is made horribly and out of cheap fabric, then marked up for people at "cheap prices." I just don't understand it. My bitterness could be a result of the clothes hardly fitting me, but also looking quite sad in comparison to anything more expensive. I do realize that this store is supposed to be good for those trying to cut costs, but I suggest trying another store.

This way of thinking is far from what drives my love of retro and historical clothing and my passion for sewing. No, that is driven by my urge to create beautiful things for others to view both onstage and in my everyday wear (this much less so as I trend towards fanciful costumes). If I had the confidence, I'd wear retro clothes everyday, but I haven't worked up to that yet. Maybe sometime soon.

Charity Begins at Home

In light of the recent tornadoes in other parts of the country, my mom's company was asked to help one of their software clients by donating any extra items they could. The clients are a company that currently has 300 employees without homes or a place to work. Very distressing. So in the spirit of giving, my mom and I went up to the attic and purged any old clothing we no longer wore. After pulling down boxes, I managed to empty 2 whole boxes of old t-shirts. My mom also added to the pile a number of cotton "Fresh Produce" dresses and some other shapeless late nineties outfits. I personally am really glad I got rid of all the shirts, because I am constantly telling myself that I don't need anymore clothing (yet I insist on making more costumes to wear - you can NEVER have enough, in my opinion). Letting go of all the memories attached to the clothes is a bit hard, but good to do.

The massive pile of clothes getting ready to go to new homes!

As well as pulling clothes down to donate, my mom also showed me a couple dresses she wore in the late eighties/early nineties. One was a mock Laura Ashley dress made of blue corduroy and trimmed with lace at the collar and cuffs. The skirt was full with tucks adorning the lower half. It almost reminded me of a prairie dress, but was way too strange to wear. The other was a black floral dress with a hint of fifties (crinolined skirt) and a shawl collar on the back. If the dress had had a shawl collar on the front or been smaller at the bust, I might have liked it better.

My mom also pulled down from the attic a number of short, narrow scarves that she used to wear to work with her blazers and button down shirts. Most of them were darker mauves and muted blues, but I managed to save a couple colorful and neutral colored ones for use in future costumes (the bright blue one might make a great sash to match my 1930's dress or the red one might work well as a headband in Godspell). Hopefully you'll see them in future photos!

Spotty Dots

Finally some progress on my 1930's blouse set. I finished the muslin mockup (after making about a dozen silly mistakes including sewing darts and tucks on the wrong sides, sewing the neck fabric to the wrong sides, forgetting the collar after cutting it wrong, puckering on the shoulder, etc, etc.) and it looks good. The sleeves are currently three quarter length and I intend to make them in the short sleeve length. The shoulders are very puffy (which is the style, despite the blouse being a button down shirt), which are helped out by a cut of silky taffeta sewn into the armband (I think). Like most mockups I've done, I've yet to figure every detail out before starting the final project, so that will be one thing I'll do when I make the final blouse.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue..

And a silver sixpence in her shoe…On occasion I do like to repost some fun photos I find while looking through various tumblrs because I refuse to create another blog account (why should I make another when I have a perfectly fine blogger account, even though I could then follow some of my college friends that way) just to repost pictures. Anyway, I've always had a craving for oogling at fancy dresses (does it surprise you readers that I bought my junior prom dress in January, before I even had a date and tickets went on sale?), especially wedding dresses. So here I present some of my favorite dress findings (below the cut):

1930's Hair and Makeup Tutorials

I've started looking into makeup and hair tutorials for the 1930's so I have lots of inspiration for Reefer Madness come fall. I've done a lot of googling and found a reasonable amount of information about makeup recreating, but less detailed info about how to recreate the styled, curly and slim hairstyles. I have to admit that I have never been great with hair (every time I've curled my hair it turns out lumpy and strange - perhaps due to lack of correct tools) and I need specific instructions to create complex styles (which is why I ordered the Vintage Hairstyling book which should arrive soon). Anyway, I am creating this post for use as a basic tool and reference guide for those wishing to get a perfect 1930's look (and also for use during Reefer Madness this fall).

Broadway Antics

A couple weeks ago, the Tony Award nominees were announced, but I didn't recognize most of contenders for best play and musical. I haven't really kept up with the last couple potential Tony Awards nominees, which probably explains why I only recognize the revivals of Anything Goes (starring Sutton Foster - which I would love to see. She is an amazing actress.), How to Succeed…Trying (starring Dan Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame and with costumes I saw in my trip to New York in April), and The Importance of Being Earnest (starring Brian Bedford). Every year when I watch the Tonys, I revel in watching all the clips and performances put on by all the nominees, partly because they are more interesting than the suspense of waiting for the winners to be announced, but mostly because I love the spectacle of the elaborate sets and costumes.

Monday was the Drama Desk Awards Ceremony, with a number of important awards handed out to very deserving awardees. I didn't get the chance to watch it (I'm not even sure if it was televised), but I did look over the winners and nominees and they were quite satisfactory. Sutton Foster won the award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for Anything Goes (not surprising and definitely deserved) and the designer for Priscilla: Queen of the Desert won best costumes (SOOO glad - I've seen photos and they are amazing and swathed with detail. I used the movie as inspiration for my Midsummer Night's Dream/Costume Design 1 Final first semester)

Some of the nutty Priscilla costumes

Outstanding Music in a Play went to Peter and the Starcatcher, the play I was supposed to see when I was in NYC for my costuming trip (but didn't because an actor was sick); Sleep No More, an award winning theatrical experience, also won an award. I never had the opportunity to see the show, but it had a very cool premise. It was Macbeth, only set in an old high school and you walked through and watched the story unfold before your eyes. A complete list of winners can be found here.

A plus is that the Tony Awards are on June 12th! I can't wait to see what happens. In the meantime, I'll start doing some research about the nominated shows. Also Neil Patrick Harris is hosting. I love him (especially in Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog).

I also have task for you readers - if you are in the area, get tickets to come see Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music at Reagle Music Theater! I can assure you that both will be fantastic shows and won't disappoint!

"I think it's pretty, I reply."

Yep, another blog revamp. I was getting a bit tired of the older dull blue. I wanted something with a bit more pop (plus the header was out of date and I couldn't find the right file to fix it).

Haven't done all that much over the past couple days - measurements on Monday went well but were quite long and tedious. I got there at 9 and left at 7pm because we had appointments scattered throughout the day. There were a couple points when I had nothing to because of such a gap in appointments.

Still have made little progress on the 1930's dress. I need to work on the sleeves and sides and the collar before I can move on to making the skirt. I also need to get buttons for the blouse and a closure for the skirt, so it looks like a Joann's run is in order today.

Midnight Sewing Madness

Sew (sorry, bad pun), as most of you know, I've had started a lot of different projects over the 2 week span I have been home - most of these are quite far from finished (my 30's ensemble, the apron for my cousin…). Last night I decided to embark on another (quick) project. At the end of the school year, my theater group was enlisted to clean our stuff out of the basements of the houses we were storing stuff in, and move it to another basement. We split up and conquered two houses and each took a box containing varying props, costumes, and other really random knick-knacks (a ceramic duck? body parts? I think you get the idea). In the process we found a few really old t-shirts that were printed before any of us were even involved with the group - of course they were all size large and extra large, but I managed to get a large, figuring I could do something to make it fit. And I did.

I lay the shirt out and measured the front and back and cut it so the width of the shirt was slightly larger than my bust measurement and then zig-zagged the edges to prevent any fraying (I've never used or had any interest in using pinking shears). I stitched the two sides together, adjusting the arm holes a couple times until they fit right. I then folded over the armhole seams so they sat on my shoulders better and voila - I now have a nicely fitted sleeveless shirt! I was hoping it would be a little longer because I can't wear it without shorts or pants to bed, but with bottoms it will make a nice rehearsal shirt. It took me a couple of hours, plus I also sewed another part of my 30's blouse muslin. Yay!

Retro Styling

I finally broke down and bought the Vintage Hairstyling book from the publisher. I was growing impatient with Amazon for not having it back in stock and was having cravings for vintage hair and makeup (for some reason I have had this huge craving to go to the MAC store at the mall and play with all the different lipsticks and eye shadows to create a fancy vintage look). It should come in the next week or so.

I have made little progress on my 1930's dress ensemble. I whipped out the muslin of the skirt in about 2 hours and would just need to put a waistband on it. The shirt is proving more difficult; it is 5 pieces with the front and back pieces connecting and gathered to empaulets on the shoulders. It doesn't sound that difficult, but the pattern also calls for some really funky darts at the shoulders(?!?) and elbows (which will probably disappear when I turn them into short sleeve) which makes for some tricky maneuvering while sewing on the machine. Once I finish this muslin, I'll take apart the skirt muslin and try to line my fashion fabric with it, so I'm not flashing the audience, while dancing.

I also just learned my brother took the car for the weekend, so I'm back to my mom driving me places until they come back tomorrow afternoon. So much for my leisurely excursion to the mall tomorrow.

I also officially start my internship bright and early Monday morning at 9:00. I'll be there all day helping with measurement appointments (which I am very good at ;)) for Oklahoma, so that could get tedious. Good news is that I saw the cast list and I recognize a couple of the names, so it will be good to see those people again.

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow...

I've known for a couple days now, but it's now officially official - I've been hired as a wardrobe intern! I'll be helping with the construction and fitting of their two shows this summer - Oklahoma and The Sound of Music. I went to the theater and met with the producer and he mentioned that recently the University of North Carolina School of Arts put on a (practically) award winning production of Oklahoma and we would be renting the costumes from them. But the REALLY big deal with this is that they recreated the entire production to look like the original 1943 production - right down to the exact fabric choices and specks of paint on the backdrop. The production was absolutely stunning. Plus, they were blessed to have one of their alums (Terrance Mann - right after his stint on Broadway in The Addams Family) come back and direct, along with original Agnes De Mille choreography by Gemze de Lappe (who was Agnes de Mille's protegee). Anyway, long story short, it looks like we will be renting as many of UNC's "restored" costumes and I'll be helping with construction for any extra (larger) costumes they may need.

I realize this is a lot, but gets even better. Gemze de Lappe is choreographing the show. Readers, you have NO IDEA how excited I am about this. Gemze was in the original 1943 production and later was cast as Dream Laurey and continued on to work with Agnes de Mille. She currently travels the country teaching the choreography to various companies - and she is 89. Still not convinced? If you want to watch (a much younger version of) her work, she danced the part of "Simon of Legree" in the movie of The King and I with Yul Brunner.

So it looks like I will be kept busy with that (aka. making costumes) for a while. I rented the movie version this afternoon and finished it. After watching it, I don't really understand the appeal of the show (except for a couple fantastic dance numbers and famous songs) and truly prefer some of the other Rodgers and Hammerstein works. This is probably because I grew up with Cinderella, The Sound of Music, and The King and I (of which I have been in two out of three). However, I am very glad for Oklahoma's advancement of the musical theater genre.

Something I'm considering

I've been eyeing two different retro books for a while, both of which would help with costumes and such for Reefer Madness (and also fulfill my need for Retro styles for dances and such). The two books are actually both modern and written by Lauren Rennells of The Bobby Pin Blog and Vintagehairstyling.com, two fantastic resources for anything related to Retro Styling. Anyway, I came across the first book Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles with Step-by-Step Techniques a couple of years ago and found that it is practically the bible for vintage hairstyling. It goes into detail about how to create the exact look you want and what tools to use, plus also contains dozens of easy step-by-step tutorials about how to create vintage hairstyles. Lauren also recently published a companion book on how to create vintage makeup styles. Like the previous book, I've done my research and it also is very thorough with the history of vintage makeup. Both books look really interesting and useful, but I'm not sure if I really want to spend that much on books. Currently, they are both available on the publisher's website (that includes a shipping fee) and on Amazon (where only one is currently in stock, but includes free shipping). Any Leading Ladies want to weigh in on which whether the makeup book would be any use for Reefer Madness?