Renaissance costume pieces -- Glen Eyrie Madrigal Banquets -- scattered times, since 2007

  One of the first mentored costuming projects I ever did was back in 2007, for the local Christmas Madrigal Banquets, under a fantastic woman named Karin, whom I admire and try to work with whenever I can to this day.  She taught me so very much, mentoring my early teenage self out of the how-to-sew-class style I 'd worked with since I was very small, into actual costuming and building. (And embracing what I thought was me cutting corners or "cheating", but was actually practical, real sewing, just not taught in classes. Who knew??) 

  Now, Karin's magic extended far and above the servant costumes for all of us servers, which have to be streamlined and fit the Renaissance style, while being enormously flexible, able to fit an almost entirely different set of serving staff each night of the annual 14 banquets.  An incredible feat in itself.  On top of that, Karin was costuming approximately 12-16 singers in grand Renaissance dress, plus the Lord and Lady, Castle Page and Honor Guards, Ladies in Waiting, Steward and his Second, and a few others.  All on a shoestring budget and with never enough fabric yardage.

The bodices and short chemises on the 2 of us on each end are pieces I made in my teens.

  Over the years, I worked on things like cutting slashes in a leather slash-and-puff German men's doublet, adding decorative cord to a lady's French hood, cutting and building many, many servant's bodices in different cuts and sizes, finishing and embellishing hats, and on the list goes.  Here's where I started to realize that my affinity for hand sewing when I could was not a common skill.

  I learned so much about the give-and-take between historicity and practicality in these early years.  Like the cross-lacing on the servants' bodices; not historical, but practically much easier to teach modern volunteers to lace and tie themselves as opposed to historical spiral lacing.  So, compromises are made in the small things.  Similar thing finding and using "close enough" fabrics when working on a tight budget.  And that piecing fabric is totally period (just look at extent garments!).  And not sweating little things -- as Karin prioritized: "Well, this show happens in the dark"!  So many things I take with me through all my life and my own projects.

My fellow costume assistant Deb that year - helping each other tie our spiral lacing.

  In my late teens, I was a costume assistant on the floor, for the brief time we had that position.  I modified a semi-historical dress I was given (the pale blue one) to make it a little less Halloween costume-y and a little more flattering.  The satin had a lovely swoosh.  Very important, I'm sure.

  Over the years, I've added more servants' costume pieces to my collection, making it so much easier to get ready on nights I'm serving.  And applying things I've learned about cutting for fit, etc. so each one is better.  This event and working with Karin on and off over so many years (I need to find a picture with her...) have been so formative in my costuming journey.  I look forward to learning more every chance I have to work with someone who really "knows their stuff" in this way!

BUMP short film -- 2017

My first adventure with Sheepshed Entertainment feels like it was just a year or so ago... While feeling like another lifetime entirely!  Goodness!  We had a great crew, and made fantastic memories and a futuristic short film by the end of it. 

   

When we started out pre-pro, Skyping in from different states, I was helping the costume designer sew a few of the non-thriftable items, like the very specific shirt-dress look the women would all be wearing.  The director had found patterns that came close to what she wanted that would work great for the cookie-cutter world we were creating, but we sketched quick design specifics all the same.

The dresses I was making had to be completed as much as possible in a very short time, before flying out to AL for the production, when I'd only have small amounts in between prepping things for my Production Design position.  I got to work on the 2 dresses the main character would wear, and found a couple fabrics I really liked pretty easily.

Large buttons were a feature the director requested, so we tried out some sizes on this mockup, while the costume designer worked on dresses with slight variations.

 

I was barely able to get a pale grey dress (left, below) wearable in time for this scene; despite the simplicity of the design, the actress got in for her only fitting late in the evening, and I was simultaneously working on production design at the same time...  While the dress was supposed to hang freely, there were some definite fit adjustments that needed addressing later.  Especially after the buttonholing nightmare that was the only machine I had access to, ha ha.

The correct hang of the dress was fixed in short order, and she looked pretty adorable, particularly for living in a totalitarian, semi-dystopian world.

Part of the complication with the lead actress's 2 dresses was in the need to make room for a "baby belly" for different scenes.  The idea being that buying fabric is restricted, and hiding her changing shape under a normally loose garment is getting difficult.

Waiting to adjust the set in my Production Design capacity between time-passing scenes.  Whew, the costume and set did in fact look like they fit in the same world.

I ended up being half of the H&M department as well, since we went with crown braids for many characters.  The lead actress had particularly silky hair, so any breezy outdoor days required multiple touch-ups, when I could slip away from set dressing.

On our days with extras, I was able to help the costumer check last looks on set while she got others ready.  And complete many, many more braids when I wasn't up on set.

I ended up using that mockup dress as another for extras, and my own sister was wearing it for some shots.

I loved the way the colors came together on all the cast.  Muted, but interesting and varied, and highlighting the controlled feel of the world.

Many a morning was spent with the costumer rushing to get people ready while I got the set ready, then both of us converging to become H&M and get the actresses ready for set.  Ahhh, fun times!  I'd do this whole shoot again in a heartbeat.  One of the best I've been on.

You can find the BUMP trailer HERE ------->  BUMP trailer 

Tree Bound short film -- 2018

This was a fun fantasy project to work on.  Especially in foggy Alabama in the spring, with all the redbud trees blooming.

The pre-production time was extremely limited on this one; but as we were very much going for fantasy and trying not look historical, there weren't many pieces that needed building.  About 80 percent of the costume pieces used were from my own collection in the end, plus some from a Colorado event set in the Renaissance, and others from a local AL theatre company.

The Hunter's costume was new for this project, and came out great.  Very Robin Hood in style, with vivid natural colors as much as possible.  The sleeves on the main pale brown shirt were massive, really adding to the look. 

Getting everyone ready at an outbuilding in a park area was a little rough on the organizing, but worked well for keeping everyone in the same place for holding, Wardrobe, and H&M.

The Princess and the Peasant Girl were ready early, and looked fantastic in costumes from my personal collection.  While we weren't going for historical looks at all, I did lean into what I tend to call Historical-Fantasy, where I'm avoiding super modern feeling fabrics and colors, and certainly anything that looks like plastic or parachute-type fabric, which helps add to the realism without fitting into any time period.

The colors happily compliment the scenery beautifully as well.

We went with a German kertle-style gown on the Princess; though simple and not over-embellished, it had the feel of the Middle Ages, but with her hair down in a more contemporary fantasy take.  It also had to be at least somewhat comfortable, since she'd be spending most of the shooting day tied to a tree...

The Peasant Girl got her hands and face dirty beforehand, and natural color muslin in her chemise further helped separate her from the Princess.  Plus, it complimented her chicken, so...

In the short timeframe of the shoot, I was unable to find good boots that fit the Hunter...  In the end, leather scraps bound around the ankles disguised the dark shoes he wore very well, for the little they were seen.

The quiver was a quick make, to go with the fantasy expectation.  Made out of a piece of PVC pipe, wrapped in faux leather and bunch-stitched with thick, dark cord to make it feel more rustic and textured.

Except for the weight of the quiver, which was no joke, it came out well for the needed prop.  The arrows were literally sticks dyed dark, with notches cut in the top, and feathers glued on for fletching.  I had a natural wood bow and a decent dagger available that completed the ensemble.

The enormous sleeves, though!  Ha ha!

My goodness, a moment where the Princess isn't tied to the tree?  What is this nonsense?!

The Prince appearing on scene is the moment the Princess knows she is saved, so bolder colors and fabrics with a sheen made him pop against the background, without slipping into a "halloween costume" look.

Much of this one was assembled from the local theatre company, with the crown, belt, and cloak coming from my collection.  The weight and size of the cloak really gave the actor something to work with to add drama to his entrance.

With the Peasants, we only had about 2 hours the day before for a quick "fitting", which left little time to make any adjustments for the next morning.  But we did alright, getting around some different fit issues for each. 

If there had been any more time, I would have liked to do more with layers and accessories on these three.

 

When it came to the Fairy Godmother, we knew ahead of time that we didn't want some fluffy, diaphanous frilly thing, nor did we want the animated Cinderella hooded robe look.  I opted to rent a gown from the Glen Eyrie Castle Madrigal Banquets here in Colorado, and accessorize to make it more of a fantasy style; a wide-sleeved chemise underneath, a kerchief in the neckline, jewelry, and a shimmery cape-train instead of wings.

Her colors really stood out and added richness to her moments.  And so fit the way the actress played the character.

Unfortunately, the iridescent cape-train wasn't seen hardly at all in the finished film.  But it looked lovely, nonetheless!  The Fairy Godmother's currant red next to the Princess's deep blue were so rich, but not distracting.

Tree Bound can be watched on the YouTube channel for Sheepshed Entertainment, HERE ----->  Tree Bound 

And check out the Awards tag on the left of this page or search Tree Bound in the 'Search This Blog' feature, as the costume design for this project received an award in November of 2018. 

Overall, though the turnaround was fast, and there are things I wish I could have added to or taken time on, it was a fun project and a lovely way of using lots of pieces and costumes and accessories that don't get much time "out in the wild".

Tree Bound -- Award for Costume Design, Nov. 2018

This little film made some festival rounds, and really surprised me when it won an award.

Very unexpected, for sure, but a lovely surprise.  Especially for the last-minute, patchworked-together nature of the project.  But my thanks to the judges of the Kite Film Fest for the recognition.

And a thank you to Sheepshed Entertainment for bringing me on to this speedy, whimsical high-fantasy project!

Jasmine cloak -- CYT Aladdin Jr. -- 2021

 Early in 2021, I was asked to direct and choreograph for a local CYT (Christian Youth Theatre) production of 'Aladdin Jr.' with a very talented singing director and now friend.  Now, I'm not big on Disney things personally, but I love a good character-heavy show, the Arabian setting, the fantasy aspects, plus the challenge of putting on stage something audiences are primarily familiar with as an animated movie, surrounded with nostalgia for many of them.

Looking at many stage versions I could find, from big Disney and Disney Cruise shows to small high schools, to s girls high school with no guys whatsoever (that was a weird one...!), I pretty quickly pinned down what I was going for and what I wanted to avoid.

Thankfully, we were able to rent nearly all our costumes from another CYT, and make just the few remaining pieces and costumes needed.  (our Jafar was well over 6 foot tall, and our Genie was built like a linebacker... so we had major changes there, plus a few small bits and pieces.)

One thing we found we needed was a cloak for Jasmine, when she's adventuring outside the palace.  We had one very long, very plain cloak, which both Jafar and the Genie used at different times when in disguise; but Jasmine needed one that made her stand out from the crowd, while making her look a little less royal, and still look dramatic and lovely.

So I chose to make that cloak myself, as I had a very heavy one I could copy and I'd happily keep it to reuse in my costume stash.

I did a lot of searching to find what's been done before and where I wanted to go for Jasmine.  This one (from a Disney Cruise show, I believe) was my favorite, and I seriously considered making the cloak into a full-fledged overdress like this instead.  But the time just wasn't available.  So I went with the color scheme instead; that more dusty, not-quite-navy blue outer layer, with a bright gold-yellow lining, and a cranberry red lace like trim.

 

When it came to the hood, I wanted something more practical looking than you see on most stage cloaks, like the first picture above (brown cloak), particularly with the attached scarf-like piece tossed over the shoulder. 

But I loved the fairytale drape to the hood on the next picture (purple costume) and wanted to mimic that, along with the pillowy way Jasmine's hood hangs in the animation that most audiences would be very familiar with.  Our Jasmine already looked very like an animated character translated to life.

 

Pretty quickly, I landed on linen for both the outer fabric and the lining.  And since I couldn't find anything suitable in town, I ordered out for it so I could get to sewing the thing.  Choosing two linen layers turned out to be a great choice, as the blue outer fabric was a much lighter weight than I had hoped from the photographs.

The yellow lining layer was a bit stiffer, and a good deal heavier, so I was a little concerned how the large shape would behave once the two layers were sewn together.  But I actually love the end effect.  The heavy lining serves to weigh down the whole piece, which makes it feel very real and practical, while the fine blue layer looks very light and airy and doesn't add bulk, so the whole thing moves really beautifully.

I used a large hooded cloak I already had as a quick pattern.  I had already tested that it was a great length and size for our Jasmine.  The only major change was narrowing the front 2 edges about 8" in total, and using a quick clasp as a closure instead of the ties on the pattern cloak, to make it more practical for stage.

Of course our resident princess, Feather,  had to test out the quality of everything, just to be sure it was up to royal standards.  And make sure I didn't make any mistakes.

 

...I think she approved.  And then my faithful sewing assistant, Tangerine, had to get in on the action just when I needed to lay out the pattern cloak to cut the rest of the fabric...  He was very helpful, I'm sure.

Once it was all cut, the two side seams were sewn on both the lining and the outer layer, and then all the seams were pressed open, particularly since I wanted to attach both halves to each other down the same seams via a good ol' fashioned "stitch in the ditch" so it wouldn't be seen, but we could avoid any "ballooning" from the two layers of different weights pulling apart.

 I attached the two halves together via the two front/opening seams, then the whole expanse needed pad stitching to keep it from shifting while I worked on the hem, attached the hood, and "stitched in the ditch" through both layers.  The cats loved helping with the pad stitching.  Especially the bigger one, Marshmallow, who thought I was crazy crawling all over the floor...

The hood was puzzle-pieced together from the big chunks of blue linen I had left over.  Partly looking at my inspiration pictures, and partly messing with the strips I had until they were pinned in a way that made sense, and draped like I wanted.  Then I just sewed it all up and attached it to the cloak body.

Once it was mostly in one piece, before I got too far, I took it in to rehearsal to double check it on Jasmine, and it was working well. 

So I embarked on the long process of hand sewing "in the ditch" along those two major seams, to join the lining and the outer fabric.  I thought about doing this on the machine, but the point for me was to make this stitching invisible and just prevent "ballooning", and I didn't feel like pinning those long seams to match perfectly alllllllll the way down...  So, hand sewing it was.  As you can see, Tangie really helped hold down the half I wasn't working on while I sewed.

...In between, at one rehearsal, our Jasmine tested out our Genie wrist-mounted smoke machines.  Very cool.

I was unsure how I wanted to finish the hem, since it's so curved and I didn't have a lot of time, or want to add a bunch of bulk or deal with warping.

Honestly, the largest chunk of time was spent pad stitching the gigantic expanse of this project. (!!)  Then trimming up the hem after it hung and warped as it needed, an re-pad stitching the hem.   There was just. so. much. to keep from moving around while the main seams were sewn!  (and here's Marshmallow, thinking I'm crazy crawling on the floor...)

 So I finished 98% of this project in plenty of time, but I chose to leave the stay-stitching in the bottom hem edge, as we were about to go into dress rehearsals and I didn't have time to do something to the entire edge (well, if I wanted to, ya know, sleep).  Plus I was pretty sure I wanted to create some bias binding to finish this hem, and I didn't have enough extra fabric to do it.  The linen wasn't particularly prone to fraying anyway, so I'd rather think it through and hem it later.

So now that the show is over and it all came out lovely, I have more fabric to bind that edge.  Whenever I get around to it...

I did add the cranberry red trim just on either side of the cloak opening, right before dress rehearsals.  It was a great choice for stage, really adding texture and finish for the costume.  But I do think I'll take it off in future, if I'm using it for historical settings and film and whatnot, as it feels too costume-y outside of the theatre context.  But it worked great on stage.  I loved the color palate on the whole thing!

All in all, I think this cloak came out beautifully, and really accomplished everything I was hoping.  The weight of the thing and the 2-color effect whenever it moved were really lovely, and very fairytale-esque, while feeling real and fairly historical.  The hood and the "scarf-wrap" part that tosses over her shoulder looked great.  It really completed the animation-translated-to-live-action look, along with the contrasting color lining, which also added a lot of drama.

I wish I had a better closeup photo of the cloak AND her costume in action... I'll have to keep looking.  At least I have this one from during a show.  I'm excited to put binding around the hem, and see this used with other costumes in the future!