In the summer of 2014, a good friend approached me with the idea of being in charge of costumes for a local play. It was a newly-formed group with only 13 children involved. I glibly said I would, never imagining how the group would grow OR how hooked on costuming I would become! We are currently preparing for our 7th play. So far the most complicated costuming project involved 42 actors and at least 84 costumes. Fortunately, I was blessed with a crew of willing, eager, and capable volunteers who made costumes for mice, squirrels, trees, and a host of other things.
Our latest show includes only 27 actors, and the costumes are much simpler. Again, I have a wonderful team of ambitious volunteers who amaze me with their creations. I end up doing a great deal of organizing, list-making, and delegating, as well as making a few trips to local thrift stores in hopes of finding useful items. This is the first time we've done a fall show, which means this is the first time we've had the luxury of readily-available Halloween costumes. How convenient that has been!
Except for some minor alterations and repairs, the only real sewing I've done this time involved making something similar to a doublet for a young girl who plays a Shakespearean character. At a thrift store I found a black velvet open-front jacket with a hood, and decided I could make something out of it that would work. (In retrospect, it might have been wiser to just buy a pattern, fabric and notions and make the thing from scratch!)
I cut about 7" off the bottom to make it an appropriate length, and hemmed it up again. I pinned the hood to the inside of the garment; the actor doesn't need a hood, but we might want it for some other play. I made seven sets of buttonholes up the front opening for threading a cord to tie it shut. Using a bit of crescent-moon shaped 1" foam, I made little puffs at the shoulder, also incorporating the cape-like collar that was already in place. That part of the project took the most time, trying to get it to lay nicely and not look like football player shoulder pads.
The robe came with silvery trim on the cape/collar, and the actor will be wearing a red shirt underneath it, so I wanted to add some trim that included both red and silver. The local fabric store had no such thing. So I bought a roll of 7/8" red ribbon, two yards of silver-sequined braid, and some fabric glue. I glued the braid to the ribbon, let it dry overnight, and then sewed the ribbon around the bottom and the sleeves of the robe. The finishing touch was the silver cording to lace up the front. Now she will look elegant!
