rostitchery

DONE

vanderbilt opera theatre's "the marriage of figaro" opens tonight.

this is the final moment of the show.  it is not a great picture, but they are not great costumes either.  :)  

i made all the patterns using wild ginger software patternmaking programs:  boutique, tailor made, child's play, even the free wild things program!  i'm talking about:  8 frock coats, 10 breeches, 9 vests--8 different dresses, underskirts and overskirts, including one that i made overnight when the original was struck from the show the day before the first dress rehearsal--2 cloaks, one with calash hood and one with a wired hood--4 corsets--and 1 banyan and nightcap.

this is my swan song.  i'm not doing costumes for opera anymore.  at least not for a long while.  

i can't say "never", because i promised ella that if i am ever invited to design a pocahontas opera i will accept.

but it is time for me to get back to what really matters:  my family, my home, my life.

i'll post more details about the patterns in a few days, after i've had a rest.  :)

corset rant

in case you missed it:  the winner of the guessing game about my project is "heather"--who guessed correctly that i am making costumes for mozart's "the marriage of figaro" for the vanderbilt opera theatre!  the stage director hired me to work free-lance on the show!  but instead of designing from scratch i am making reproductions of real clothing from the period as represented in the paintings of thomas gainsborough and sir joshua reynolds. 

heather, send me your address by email, and when the opera is completed i will send your prize--a patchwork bag made from the fabric used to make the costumes!  i think you will like it--the fabrics are gorgeous.

and now to the rant:

i am convinced that if there had been sewing machines in the 18th century, there would not have been corsets.

for "the marriage of figaro" i made four, 18th century corsets.  originally i had considered using butterick 4234 but after looking it over, i found enough errors that i decided to just make my own patterns.

corset making is not really that hard--they are mostly straight line sewing--but they are not quick, especially 18th century corsets.  even making only half-boned models, even working assembly line to cut fabric and cut bones and sew channels and set grommets, each corset took about 10 hours.  

not to mention that wrestling a partially-boned corset thru a sewing machine is akin to sewing a slipcover with the chair still inside.

and then you have to put binding on the edges, which is like saying, "and then you will step into hell".

first i tried binding them by machine, because i have bound probably hundreds of things big and small by machine and managed to do it quite easily.  not these damn corsets.  the top and side edges were not too bad--even the curves were manageable--but then there is the bottom with all those tabs and slits and i might as well have just sewn with my feet because it was about as coordinated a process.

so after first trying to sew the binding the way i always do--with the wider side on the bottom and going all in one pass--i tried sewing it in two passes--sewing down one side then flipping over and sewing the other--and even that was a PITA (Pain In The Asterick) and finally i just ended up doing it by hand, breaking four sharps and three betweens in the process and stabbing myself at least twice that many times and going blind by virtue of trying to do the impossible.

each corset takes about 6 yards of binding, so based on that it should have taken no more than 10 minutes each--instead it was AN EIGHT HOUR BLOOD-LETTING ORDEAL.

so gayle, when you see the corsets, that's why the bottom of each of them looks so different from the others.  :D

that is a peek into the life of a period costumer, most days are a version of this, except with nicer fabrics.

i'll post pictures of said corsets when they become available.  and now off to ingest a medicinal dose of dove chocolate.

hi gayle

so last night, my friend gayle was asking me if i was ever going to post on my blog again, which asking me if i'm ever going to do a thing is a sure fire way to guarantee i will either do it immediately and go completely overboard, or i will never, ever do it again so long as i live.  because i love gayle, i have chosen to post immediately, or as immediately as i could which is right now.

so, for the "immediately" part:  gayle actually gave me some content--thank you, gayle--which amounts to the few pictures the photographer shot of "the magic flute".  honestly, the costumes and the whole opera looked way better than these pictures show--i'm not positive about this, but i'm willing to start the rumor that the photographer was blinded by the astonishing beauty of the costumes and was not able to properly operate his equipment because of that.

the overture, a hill at woodstock:

papageno, in hand-made mocassins, hand-painted jeans, hand-painted and fringed vest, and sadly-distressed, once-gorgeous paisley shirt:

the three ladies, modeled on the supremes, in the most hateful fabric ever invented, liquid sequins:

queen of the night, in airbrushed and handpainted dress inspired by the show poster:

so again, here i am trying to figure out how i'm going to get good pictures of the good costumes and just not even showing you the bad pictures of the bad costumes.  but now that i've posted, i feel refreshed.  thanx, gayle.

now, for the "overboard" part, i'm going to try to post every day between now and christmas.  yeah, i know, but i'm feeling ambitious.  besides, by her own admission my dear friend gayle is stalking me on my blog.  :)  and i really do have some nice projects to share with you, and of course a few tacky ones, too. 

where i've been, what i've been doing

please forgive me for being absent so long.  if it is any consolation, nothing at my house has changed--the christmas tree is still up, so is the christmas village--ella lights them every day.  yes, this is a little late--usually we only leave the tree up until lent starts.

it's all still there, because i've spent the past two months turning these people......

into these people:

i'll be putting things on mannequins and posting more details over the coming weeks, so stay tuned for too much information. 

it's good to be back!

making "music"--desiree's dinner gown

third in a multi-part series.

there isn't much to say about this dress.  it is for act 2, the dinner scene, in which everybody is dressed to the nine's and up.

i started with a wedding gown that i bought from a local shop when they were having their sample sale.  (i neglected to get a "before" picture).  it was a modest, champagne-colored silk dress, lined in silk, short sleeves, jewel neck, boned, train.  i recut the upper bodice so as to give the singer an off-the-shoulder line, i took out the boning and fitted the bodice over her show corset, then i DYED IT.  that's right, i put it in a washing machine--twice--and then put the trim--also dyed--back on.  i put the trim on afterward because i needed to make sure of the fit after dyeing.  (click any picture to see an enlargement).

guess who?

"peach-a-boo, mama!"

the hardest part was getting the dye formula worked out--it took several tries before i had what i thought was a good match for the "swatch" (which was just something i clipped from a magazine that was the color i wanted).

the original dress was a steal--$100.00--as i said, it was a floor sample, and it had seen a little wear.  all together it looks from my notes like there were 12 hours in labor on it.  that, plus the notions to complete the work, and the jewelry for the finished look, brought this costume up to around $350.00.  the fabrics alone for such a dress would have cost at least that much, so this was a huge bargain and oddly enough, one of the least expensive costumes in the show.

i only have one picture of the singer in this dress and it is from a walk-thru for costumes so she doesn't have her wig styled properly and she isn't wearing all the accessories.  for the show, her wig was dressed fully off her neck, she wore a necklace and matching earrings that feature stones matching the dress, and the tiara i wear when i need to think.  :)

making "music"--charlotte's riding suit

part two of a multi-part series.

the musical "a little night music" was based very closely on the 1955 ingmar bergman film "smiles of a summer night".  in the movie, countess charlotte malcolm is first seen riding side saddle thru the swedish countryside in the most magnificent riding suit i've ever seen.  the image was so stunning that the director and i decided to put our charlotte in a riding suit too, even though she is never seen riding in the musical nor is it ever referred to.  the choice of the riding suit said so much about her social class, and it allowed me to make a strong visual statement that set her apart from the other women in the story from the top of the show.

the blouse started as just your ordinary, stock blouse, i removed the collar then trimmed the band with lace and ribbons, i used more trim on the front to create a bib, and trimmed the sleeve cuffs to match.  the blouse was rigged with a velcro placket for quick change purposes. (click on any image in this post to see an enlargement).

for the skirt, i started with a big, brown, baggy dress because it had enough fabric in it to make something interesting.

i decided against making it into a side saddle skirt simply because of the business charlotte had onstage.  i cut a skirt-length piece off the dress and pleated it down to the singer's waist size.  i mounted it on a piece of wide elastic and put a hook and eye closure at the top.  the skirt was intended to be worn open in the front, over riding pants, so i pleated it more in the back than the front which gave the opening a little swing as she moved and helped create more of the S silhouette of the period.  since the waist of this skirt was not going to be seen onstage, i left the upper edge exposed, so we could easily disassemble the skirt and use it for something else in the future. 

in the second picture, that's ella taking a much-needed rest after an exhausting game of "ball catch".  :)

the riding jacket was originally a boxy jacket and matching slim skirt that i bought at a thrift store for $20.00.  i wish i'd taken a better "before" picture but as i recall, i had something else on the mannequin the day i was cutting so i just got a picture on the hanger.

i cut the jacket down to fit the singer in her corset, and shortened it to above hip length.  then i cut off the waistband, pleated the skirt down to less than 1/3 its waist measurement, and stitched it to the back of the jacket at the waist. (hang with me on this).  i pulled the two lower corners of the skirt to the inside, then pulled the resulting center point to the inside, arranged the pleats and tacked them in place.  this created a sort of baby bustle, which is not entirely correct for the period but worked theatrically.  i didn't cut the skirt open to do this, i left it in the round to give it some fullness.  (i didn't steam anything before putting it on the mannequin for pictures, so it is a little wrinkly).

shown with the boots she wore with this suit, i'm told by my horse-riding husband that they are totally impractical for true riding purposes but they looked great onstage and that's what counts.  ;)

(NOTE--this mannequin is padded out for a different person than the one this costume was built for--so the jacket has folds that it didn't have when the singer wore it).

the hat for this suit was a little top hat with some netting wrapped around and long tails hanging in back.  shown with the wig the singer wore for act 1.

the materials cost of this costume was about $100.00, including the wig, corset, and pants.  however, the labor cost brought the total up to around $400.00.  it would have been much more if i'd started from scratch--i know that building the jacket alone would have cost, just in labor, what it cost to build the whole thing as a reconstruction project.

i don't have any shots of the singer in this costume but she has agreed to come in sometime to model it and i'll post pictures when she does.

making "music"--desiree's walking suit

at last, some long-awaited photos.  yippie!

for "a little night music", i recut existing modern-day garments and turned them into facsimiles of edwardian-style costumes.  please note, i said edwardian STYLE, these are not historically correct in either cut or techniques.  they are simply intended to suggest the period.

because of contract restrictions, i don't have photos from the performances, what i am showing you are photos of costumes and pieces on a mannequin, and some pictures from rehearsals, dress parades, etc.  please forgive bad lighting, busy backgrounds, etc.  also note that i didn't adjust the mannequin much for these pictures, only enough to get the costume on.  click on any picture to view an enlargement.

desiree's act one costume:  walking suit.

the blouse was purchased at a thrift store for a dollar, out of the bin where all the ugly stuff goes.  :)  i neglected to take "before" pictures of the blouse, but all i did to it was take off the sleeves, take in the sides, reset the sleeves for a mutton-sleeve effect, and put tucks into the shoulder for shaping:

the skirt started as a detachable train for a wedding dress (also purchased at a thrift store, separately--they didn't know what it was, so they sold it to me for $12.00).  i cut the top open, inserted a zipper, and fitted it using some pleats at the back.  i trimmed the length and used the cut part to make a waistband.  then i dyed the whole thing pale lavender--yes, in a washing machine--i just made the dye bath and threw the thing in (after having already washed it in said washing machine of course).

top of detachable train before cutting (you can see the hooks used to attach it to the dress):

finished skirt (for some reason the color is truer in the close-up than in any of the other pictures):

for the jacket, i started with a very ordinary dress that i bought at a local thrift store on half-price day (if i remember correctly, it was less than $5.00).  it had a full back, with a fake jacket on the front and ties on side that pulled to the back to cinch in the waist:

i slit the dress up the front and folded the skirt back to create a 3/4 panel jacket skirt.  i removed the top two buttons on the jacket and folded back the top corners, tacking them down with the buttons that i removed.  i took off the sleeves and ties, took in the bodice, then reset the sleeves without cutting them down, which gave the caps a mutton-sleeve effect.  i tucked the back to fit it more closely to the body.

desiree's act one walking suit (the passing parasol is ella, playing "rain a-coming"):

the hat started as a plain, turned-up brim hat from k-mart.  i turned the back of the brim down, used more of the cuttings from the skirt to make a band and BIG bow, added some feathers and the flower that came on the hat when we bought it.  shown with the wig the singer wore:

the little helper to the left is ella, resetting the serger tensions.  :) 

cost of the original pieces is no indication of the final cost of this costume:  the total time to complete this costume--including shopping for appropriate pieces, fittings, dressing the wig, and of course the work to do the conversion of the pieces--came to a whooping 38 hours.  there were a few other expenses not mentioned above--things like shoes, corset, and so forth.  my estimate of the cost of this costume is about $600.00.  this is about what it would have cost to build from scratch, but without having to go thru the process from scratch. (proving my maxim that a thing costs what it costs, no matter how you acquire it).  it was still a savings in terms of my usefulness to the show.

gayle, if you are reading this, take a deep breath and a big swig.  :)

a few shots of the singer in this costume:

dress parade.  the man in this picture sang the role of fredrik, he is in costume but because of the period, you really can't tell from the back.  the rope is there to keep singers from falling into the orchestra pit--obviously, we just take our chances during performances.  :D

in the green room (fredrik again in the background, ella's pig tails and popo flying by on the left).

BTW, the singer who played desiree is one of our dean's, amy jarman, a fabulous performer and a blessing to work with. 

measure twice, cut twice, measure again

my sincere apologies for being absent for so long.  all i can say is, i have been busy:

we've been putting together a new costume shop for the opera department, which is certainly fun but takes a lot of work to make usable.  and at the same time, i've been working on designs for the next opera, sondheim's "a little night music".  i have 65 edwardian costumes and 4 restoration costumes to complete, all of which require shoes, wigs, hats, and jewelry--and i only have until september to be ready to fit them on the cast.  so for this production, i am doing something different--i'm reconstructing existing clothing, turning them into period costumes.

my first experiement was to figure out how to add a train to an existing skirt, WITHOUT ADDING NEW FABRIC.  my goal was to make the skirt look as if it had always had a train.  i didn't want to try this on the good skirts, so i did a quick experiment on a tester that i bought just for this pupose.  the original skirt was a very non-descript flared denim skirt, front button closure to the hem, welt pockets on each side, elastic back waist (click any picture to see an enlarged view):

the first step was to cut the sides off the skirt, making it a straight slim skirt instead of a flared skirt.  i made the cuts in such a way that i was able to preserve the welt pockets (this is the first cut, of course i made an identical cut on the other side):

i restitched the side seams closed, then opened up the center back seam to within 7 inches of the waistband.  why 7 inches?  because the first skirt i plan to try this conversion on has a back zipper that is 7 inches long.  :) 

i took one of the pieces i trimmed from the side and inserted it into the back seam like a godet:

next, i opened the seam in this godet, and inserted the other side piece like a godet.  this gave me two pieces at the center back that were stair-stepped down from each other. in side view, the skirt looked like this untrimmed:

like this trimmed:

and like this when pressed and finished:

a very passable rendition of a train.  i have a few kinks to work out, but i am completely satisfied that this process will work, if used on the right type of skirt.  with some trim and an appropriate petticoat, i think it would be just right.  and the neat thing about this is it only took 45 minutes start to finish!

i have documentation for a train similar to this, it comes from "period costumes for the stage and screen" volume II, by jean hunnisett.  on page 123, there is a line drawing of a 1880 skirt with a similar train, and the description says, "the skirt has an extra panel starting about halfway down the centre back, which opens the train out from about knee level and can be cut very long."  1880 is several years earlier than the setting for "a little night music", but most styles linger a few years anyway, and besides, its a costume.  :D

making "trouble": you've got questions, i've got some answers

my friend coopie posted several questions in the comments area of my previous post, which i thought i would answer in an entry instead.

Hi Rowena,
  Do you begin your process by fitting each performer with a sloper? Bodice and skirt only? With sleeve of course! Or do your only do slopers for the "difficult" shapes and sizes?

i use slopers almost all the time, because i'm usually dressing people i've never made clothes for before.  in the case of "trouble", i moved the women's waists up almost 2" via foundation garments, so i had to verify their measurements.  i have occassionally made things without first doing a sloper and i've almost always regretted it.  making a sloper takes almost no time and very little fabric, and to me it is actually almost contemplative.  i think a sloper is a great project for a beginning seamstress, there are no seam finishes, no hems or facings, you can use whatever color thread is in the machine, you know it's not intended to be worn so the only pressure is time.  i find that very freeing, especially because i know that it is going to make it possible for me to cut my good fabric without fear.

   I have become more daring of late and have been drafting simple garments----blouses,skirts,some dresses etc.without a sloper fitting.The results have been good. So far.
  It is often faster for me to flat pattern directly at the table, provided I have a well fitting sloper. Variations on sleeves and collars for example.
And skirts of course are often  quicker to draw directly on the fabric.

agreed!  i hardly ever actually make or print out a pattern for a skirt, in fact i sometimes don't use patterns for tops either.  i like draping, so i often start with just a rectangle of fabric and work out the design on a form.

  I love the red dress! Does the dress it's self have a collar? The pattern would suggest so. Does that provide additional support for the detachable collar? If so is the white collar cut in such a way as to hide the red?

yes, the bodice itself has a collar, which gives more lift to the removable collar.  but the truth is that i didn't decide on that collar for sure until after i had it on the form.  the fact that it was detachable gave me the freedom to change if it didn't look well around the singer's face.  the bodice collar does show when the white collar is in place, it looks like a second or undercollar but from the stage it barely reads.

i love this dress too!  several times i considered bringing it home, the singer and i are similar in size, and with just a few adjustments it would fit me very well!  alas, the singer is not a nursing mother, and getting to the "girls" would mean pulling the skirt up to my neck--i'd do it, but it would wrinkle the skirt horribly.  ;)

How many fittings do you usually need to realize your designs?

i usually can get it done in two fittings, with tweaking as we go thru tech week and see the pieces in action on stage.  however, i often end up with way more fittings, because some directors want to see each and every change, addition, alteration, BEFORE it hits the stage.  for "trouble" i had several fittings for the women's chorus dresses because i patterned part of them, and draped the rest.  i'll be posting about these dresses in a week or so.  for the character of sam, i had several fittings simply because the singer is a BIG man and i ended up having to fit him in pieces--shoes were a big issue, as were hats--so i had to fit when i had things complete or found them. 

Will you be including a more complicated example in your blog?

hmmmm, i am not sure if what i do is complicated, but i plan to post about all the costumes in this production, so you can tell me later which ones were complicated.  :)  next season, depending on what productions we do, i will have several opportunities to do complicated pieces, by comparison the ones from "trouble" don't seem very complicated.  for "trouble", the complications were more about the construction (tailored suits, tuxedos), than about the designs themselves.

I do so enjoy your observations and reflections. And it's hard to express the delight I take in knowing that someone else on the list works in the theatre!
Thanks for sharing!
Coopie

thank you so much for the nice compliments!

but now i have to make a confession:  i am a fraud.  i am not really a costume "designer"--ok, i am because i am doing it, but really i am a choreographer, and a union stage manager.  i ended up doing costumes because circumstances provided the opportunity, so i grabbed it.  but i have no formal training, i only know what i have learned from working in costume shops as overhire, and from working with designers in my capacities as choreographer or stage manager.  i have been fortunate, i've been surrounded by many talented people who have generously shared their knowledge and wisdom, and i hope thru this blog i can "pay it forward".

making "trouble": dinah--from inspiration to interpretation

i know what you've been thinking:  "she's gone and she's never coming back."  but i'm alive and ready to catch you up, so let's jump right in, i will now describe the process by which i designed, and drafted the costume for the character of dinah.

for this costume i used wild ginger's patternmaster boutique program, so all the information here will refer specifically to PMB, but the pattern adjustments can be accomplished by any means that you are comfortable using.  also, please note that you may click on all the images in this post to see them in enlarged view.

my inspiration came in the form of an ad that i have had pinned to the wall above my ironing board at home for at least 3 years:

yes, that's right, it's lucy.  or more specifically, an ad for a lucy doll (franklin mint, collector's edition--the good stuff).  i even found a photo of lucy in this dress, it's from the "sales resistance" episode of "i love lucy", this photo gave me the information i needed about the sleeve cuff details, the length of the skirt, and whether or not she always wore the dress with the apron:

based on this photo and the ad for the doll, i designed a dress for dinah that would have the main features of the lucy dress (fitted bodice, circle skirt, contrasting collar and cuffs, short sleeves), but with the adjustments we needed for the stage (removable collar so we could get the dress over the singer's head without getting make-up on the collar, separate skirt so we could dress her in stages).

the basic draft for the bodice in patternmaster boutique was as follows (NOTE:  all identifying information referring to the performer has been removed from all documentation in this post):

• classic blouse
• front zipper closure
• shawl front neckline, jewel back neckline
• waist darts
• fitted side seam
• front neckline depth 4", back and side 0.25"
• finished length 24"
• set-in sleeve, length 9"
• tapered underarm seam, straight hem
• sleeve cap ease 1.31
• sleeve length 14"
• sleeve hem circumference 12.5"
• stand out sleeve cuff
• shawl collar, wing
• bust ease 2", waist ease 0.5", hip ease 2"
• seam allowances 0.25
• hem allowance 3"

all other options were at the default settings.  i opened the torso patterns in the pattern editor section of the program and proceeded as follows:

i first rotated the collar one inch, using the shoulder point as the pivot point, in order to give the collar a sharper angle on the neck (you can see the gap this opened at the front).  i know one inch doesn't seem like much, but with the rest of the adjustments it makes a big difference:

i then raised the front neckline a few inches (i did this by eye, i think it was about 2 inches)--i shortened the collar and straightened the outer edge--i rounded the join between the center front and the collar--and i deleted the dart since i wouldn't be sewing it:

i then copied the entire front opening, including the collar, so as to make a new facing:

i shortened the front of the facing to 2 inches below the intended neck opening--drew a cutting line from front to shoulder--added a grain marking:

to make the removable collar, i copied the facing, deleted the excess lines, then i made the angle on the front neckline more acute so that i could hide it when it was attached to the undercollar:

the entire adjusted bodice includes the sleeve and the removable stand-up cuff:

when i assembled the bodice, i left one dart on each side of center front and back unsewn, so that i could adjust the fit directly on the singer.  please note that there is NO zipper or other closure on this blouse and yet it slipped easily over the dress form (and later the singer also was able to put it on without benefit of a closure--testament to the amount of room that is actually available in a garment that fits this close).

the skirt is just a basic circle skirt which i also drafted in PMB but i didn't print out the pattern, i just measured it and drew directly on the fabric.

the costume in the basted state, with purchased belt, on my personal dress form which is NOT the same shape as the singer (and for that matter, is not the same shape as ME right now either--thank you breastfeeding!):

surprise!  it's RED.  does it remind you of anything?  :)  i bought this fabric for $1.00 per yard at WAL-MART of all places, and it is 1st quality--just the sort of reason people like me bother to go to wal-mart, we find something crazy like this.  i bought the entire bolt.

at this point, there are no decorative buttons, and the removable collar and cuffs are tacked on with rescue tape.

i will come back and edit this post when i get pictures of the singer in the completed costume.

making "trouble": right on schedule, i.e. behind

well--so much for posting twice a week.  :D

most of my time right now is taken with building the operas so i don't have a lot of time for writing about building them.  i will catch up soon, i promise, but in the meantime i thought i'd make a quick post to answer two questions that i received via email.

"why don't you just use real vintage patterns?  or for that matter, why don't you just use authentic vintage clothing?"

there are a number of reasons why this is not an option.  first, vintage clothing is usually not stage-worthy.  it isn't built to withstand the stress of stage action, daily washing, alterations to fit several different people (understudies, alternates, rentals to other companies), etc.  the fabrics are often frail, and the the abuse the garment has already taken weaken the seams, there are fade or wear lines at hems, etc.

second, and this applies to using vintage sewing patterns as well, 21st century american adults are not the same size or shape as post-WWII american adults.  the proper foundation garments can help shape the flesh to a similar silhouette, but it won't change the bone structure.  improvements in nutrition and health care mean that the contemporary adult is larger and taller than 50 years ago.  so many adjustments are needed to make a vintage garment or pattern fit that it is more time efficient and less work to start from scratch.

and last, but probably most importantly to a stage costumer, the market in vintage clothing is a hit-or-miss place.  i could  spend every day running all over town, scouring the internet, calling everybody in the business that i know, without any guarantee of finding what i need.  and even if i find something almost right, the work needed to make it fit or to adapt it for the needs of the show can add up to double the amount of effort it would take to build from scratch.  i'd rather spend 8 hours making something exactly right.

and let's not even discuss the fact that i need duplicates of things like dinner jackets, cocktail dresses, and so forth for the chorus.  i have never found, nor do i know anyone who has found, duplicate authentic vintage garments of any period before the 70's, and those were the dreaded bridesmaids dresses.

"how do you decide what to include in your design and what to leave out?"

hmmm, sometimes i don't decide, the director does.  sometimes i can't find the materials for what i had in mind, or i can't make what i had in mind work.  and sometimes i find the materials and i make it without any problem and it looks hideous or doesn't allow the performer to do the stage business or it just gets in the way.

sometimes, the director or the performer ask for something specific that wasn't part of the original design, such as a specific type of shoes, so i find a way to incorporate what they want with what i had planned.

and sometimes, something magical happens, and everything i planned works, the director likes it, and all is right with the world.

luckily, i'm never working on my definitive costume, so i don't have the pressure of what history will say about me.  :)  at some point, you just have to decide on something--ANY decision is better than none at all, because at least it gives you some place to start work.  and i've found that most designs can be made to work, with a little coaxing and sometimes a shot of vodka (for whoever is having a tantrum at the moment--sometimes that is me.)

more later, I PROMISE!