The Play's the Thing - L

 Dress rehearsal.  A chance for these nuggets to try out their costumes, break stuff, and generally wreak havoc.  Here are some quick pictures.  They mostly don't like standing still.

Please note Betsy Ross in 'flag' dress.  Colonial boys in vests.

It was much more challenging than I expected (ain't it always the case??).  So many things to do in such a short time.  Given more funds and more time, I could have made AMAZING stuff (OK, at least better stuff) but I had constraints of time and money.
I have a much better understanding of what a costumer's job must be like.

Here is another colonial dress, along with the gold 'chain mail'. Also a 'Sears Catalog' pose from the silver 'chain mail.





And the next picture shows the back of a couple more colonial girl dresses.

The biggest challenge for the dresses was the expectations of the girls who are wearing them.

1 - they seemed to think 'colonial' = 'pioneer'
2 - they did NOT want poofy skirts
3 - they were uncomfortable with ties at their natural waist
     (but bothered when the ties 'rode up')

All in all, I'm pretty happy.  I got to take minimal measurements.  I had no fittings.  I'm sorta surprised they fit at ALL.
I've included pictures where I did some or all of the costume or props.  Including the kid who drove me nuts with constant changes.

And here was my evening:
Yesterday I scraped together some stuff for the ice wizard kid.  I stitched up the uber long legs on the white unicorn.  I sewed black ears on the laser sheep girl.  I sewed a tail on a pet leopard.  All in about 15 minutes and while I was passing out props.  Everyone needed me to tell them they looked great.  And I answered interminable questions.  ‘Yes, you can go to the bathroom’  ‘I don’t know which side of the stage you enter on’ ‘We don’t have a sword for you, but we can get one’, ‘I’m sorry you threw up all morning!  If you feel sick again and can’t make it to the bathroom, please don’t throw up backstage’, ‘I don’t know what they have for dinner’,  ‘We only have enough stick-on mustaches for the performances – you will have to pretend’, ‘Yes, your mom can cut off the parts that drag on the ground’.

Then, during their dinner break, I took the crooked wings OFF the unicorn girl and resewed them in 10 minutes.  Just after I changed the presidents from their purple tunics into their caveman suits for 10 minutes and then helped them change back.  Those kids are kindergarteners and cannot be trusted with safety pins.

There was dinner at rehearsal, but after I finished sewing the unicorn wings, there was nothing left.  One boy offered me 2/3’s of a taquito because it was too spicy for him.  Seriously.

AND I used the word 'testicles' and made a bunch of boys blush.

Cavemen - just for 10 minutes!  (Kindergartners)

Cheetahs keep forgetting their wings

Flying Pegasus Unicorns

Unicorns on stage

 Shadow Demon

Sand Witch

Couple of Kid Costume pictures

 Here are most of the vests. Yes, it's blurry but have you ever tried to get five 10 - 11 year old boys to hold still?  I took a bunch of pictures and this was the best.  They will wear white shirts under these for the performance.  And the Sand Witch wand.  Blurry yet awesome.  Styrofoam fulfills it's ultimate destiny.

Costumes for kids - Lisa

 I got down to work BIG time this weekend, making costumes for my son't play.  It's an improv group for kids where they get to write their own play (with guidance).  So the characters and costumes can get pretty wild.

Luckily the group has 20 years of costumes in storage, AND the parents do most of the work.

Here are some of the things I did this weekend.  I'll have more tomorrow.

Turned a black and silver metallic woman's shirt into the Shadow Demon.  Includes headwrap with red horn and flames.

 Flying unicorns, one black, one white.  Half of each wings is shown along with tails and horns.  I need to cover headbands with felt, add ears and horns, and a mane.  The parents are providing one piece footie pajamas.

Not shown - Heaven Boy.  A black cape with lightning bolts and red wings.  Parents providing 'flame halo'.

Not shown - the silver and gold crocheted chain mail for the knights. The gold knight is supposed to be REALLY fat.  I got a $1 neck pillow and stuffed it into the 'chain mail' which was built to hold up the big saggy stomach.

And a gold knight's helmet with moving visor.  I'm still sealing it prior to painting.

The visor is actually a functional safety measure since the fat knight will have suction cup arrows shot at him during the play.  Sure they're aiming for his stomach, but kids.....
Craft foam armor should deflect any stay missiles.  I just hope it survives all three performances, since the knight will conquer the monsters by rolling into them like a bowling ball.

I also made (OK, still finishing) 6 colonial style vests.  4 brown and 2 red and am barely started with 4 colonial girls dresses (NOT historically accurate) including one for school age Betsy Ross that will be brightly red, white and blue.

I got help making the flying cheetah costumes.  I drafted and cut, and some volunteer moms did the actual sewing and wing making.

I still have 5 wands to do too!

Here's the patterns I used to scale up the vests and the cheetahs.  It was a great learning experience.

New Doublet muslin

Had to make a new muslin for Boyfriend's doublet because, after I made the pants, I found the original one would've been too small. Margo Anderson advises making the pants first and she is SO RIGHT! Those pants added two inches to his waist!
Now I'm working on the interlining (canvass) with the interfacing sort of "quilted" to it.  When this is done, I get to cut on the hated velvet. I'll have to be sober for that....

I had to approximate what these pieces looked like as my dog has taken quite a liking to eating pattern pieces, the more expensive or important, the better.  We now call him "Repository" or "The Vault". He did eat all of the Laughing Moon Frock Coat, but I hated that pattern anyway...

Next up, Velvet Cutting!  Wish me luck.

The Ren chemise is finished at last!-Robin

 Well, it took me long enough.  This has sat, cut out, in it's bag for almost a year but after sewing petticoats and other white things, my brain just wanted color, so this had to wait.
Here it is. Haven't tried it on, don't care, it's done.
Boyfriend's comment was "Your not really that big are you?"
I think I may have to shoot him.

Here's a link to where it all started:
Renaissance Dress

Close up of the machine embroidery. That was truly a learning experience!  They make it sound so EASY!

Finished the jacket - L

This is the Truly Victorian pattern TV 464 Riding Habit Bodice.  This is not designed to be a 'properly tailored' jacket.  But it looks like one.  And it's all me.  I love all menswear inspired stuff, and am not generally a frilly kind of girl.  Then again, a peek of ruffle or lace is always awesome.

It's just a quick phone-pic.  The fabric is grey wool lined with black satin.  The lapels are black wool and the collar is black velveteen.  The shiny things at collar and cuff are the pins I made for my skirt.  As skirt decorations, they were a disaster.  They caught on things, snagged the skirt, and fell off.  Please note the small bit of cat in the upper right corner.  The fur is beautifully coordinated.

(prior post with the decorations and the skirt is here)
And a poor quality mirror picture actually wearing it:

RELEASE the....yeah, you know - Lisa

IT'S DONE!  Sure I have some wires to trim.  I still haven't decided if I want to glue washers to look like suckers.  I hope to actually put it on and take pictures very soon.  And of course I'll be wearing it this weekend at Nova Albion.  

It is big.  It is heavy.  I am happy.  

You really can't see the butterfly bustle in this picture. And I forgot to buy batteries.  So I'll have to post another picture tomorrow.  Thing is, it hung like this all night and NOTHING FELL OFF!

What you can't see is that the eyeball casing opens and closes to allow access to batteries and to turn the eyes off and on.  And the latches I bought to keep it closed were too big.  So right now it is help closed with masking tape.  Worst case I will use clear packing tape to keep it closed.

Here is a side view.  See how the belt is pulling away?  This is what had me concerned.  This will pull my waist bands every which way and look crummy.  THIS is why I made the swiss waist.  And a butterfly bustle made with window screening.

Now I can wear the kraken with impunity.  Things can pull any which way an no one will see.  Everything will be stable and hidden underneath. 

I finished that last night too!  See the clever elastic sides?  Easy to hook and the hooks stay taut.  It also has clever little rings hanging in the front.  For gear.