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Sempstress Posts

Faking a Tacky Western Jacket

One of the joys of live theater is that there is always the possibility that something might go catastrophically wrong. I costumed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels a few months ago. Monday of tech week, the day after the production photos were taken, one of the two leading ladies went into the hospital. She was, obviously, replaced. Her replacement could not fit the same costume – the size was off, and she played the character differently. That sort of left me scrambling for a new concept (I settled on something around early Loretta Lynn meets GCB) and a some western wear that didn’t fall into my budget. Bring on the franken-jacket!

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Trou in Ten

A lot of sewers are afraid of bifurcated nether-garments. They look more complicated than skirts. I remember wearing bike shorts under costumes for years because I was afraid to attempt a bloomer. And that is an odd conundrum, because I had been making corsets for years. That’s just the power of the pant. But sister, don’t fear the bloomer… There’s a Really Easy Way(tm).

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Hat Tricks: the Fastest Pillbox Base in the West!

File this under “Reasons missa is going to milliner’s hell” for 100, Alex.” This is the WRONG WAY to recover a hat. DO NOT DO THIS. It’s bad bad bad Wrongy McWrong. It’s really bloody fast. But it is wrong, and will probably get you mocked by anyone who knows what they are doing. You have been warned…  ;)

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Steampunk Wedding Dress

I did a steampunk wedding dress earlier in the spring, and I didn’t blog about it because a) I was really really REALLY busy for a couple months and b) the bride asked that I refrain from posting pics until after the wedding. It’s a reasonable request, I suppose. ;) I can’t take credit for the design – Joe, my theater-boss (and half the happy couple) showed me a picture they found on the interwebs and asked if I could make it. So I said yes. That’s the kind of thing I do. So, maksies I did…

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Things That Make Me Giggle With Girlish Glee

So I says to my class, after lecture, “Let’s play a game!” There was almost a response…. “I need six classic movies.” It took a little second, but we got there. “Ok, now I need six kinds of monster!” Oh, wow, turns out my class is way more excited about monsters than movies. *laugh* So, two lists and two random numbers later, I handed out stacks of small croquis and happily announced, “Your design inspiration is It’s a Wonderful Life with Vampires! As many designs as you can in ten minutes – if you get stuck on one, put it to the side and move on. Go!”
So, what would you do with that one? ;)

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