a few costumes for “The Elves & the Shoemaker”

I showed you the tailcoat I sewed for the dapper Trescott here. I also added purple ruffles to a blouse and stitched a purple ascot for his neck. The shoemaker’s apron was something I whipped together at the school just prior to dress rehearsal…
Hot-gluing Madame Grotsky’s headpiece was a fun project.I used flower pins to add extra tucks to her dress to shorten it a bit.
The elves' raggy clothing I drafted based on a child’s pajama bottom pattern & various-sized tee-shirts. (Somebody needs to teach some people how to use a measuring tape! The sizes we received on costuming forms from a few parents, were, ummmmmm – OFF!)
My biggest challenge for this show was to transform Theodora a refugee into a spirit when she is accidently shot by the soldiers. I had to slightly alter the bodice to fit her slight frame. After some tucks just below the shoulder, I added a strip of velcro to close the back. (Then I needed to tack on a fluffy bow to cover the two inches of fabric that stuck out from her back!)

Theodora transforms into woodland spirit

Here’s a video of the skirt of the dress cascading from where it was hidden under her overcoat. I simply stitched little plastic curtain rings around the bottom of the bodice and correspondingly on the edge of the underskirt (there were four layers to gather up!) Opening night had a much better transformation than the one I was able to film the last show.

Of course I have to leave you with a couple pictures of my son!

How I “made an ass” out of Nick Bottom…

“I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me;
to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir
from this place, do what they can: I will walk up
and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear
I am not afraid..” ~ A Midsummer Night’s Dream (III.1.940-44)

Ahhhhhhh, Shakespeare! The drama teacher had some wonderful ideas for this production. She wanted the donkey head for her actor to be something that wouldn’t cover his whole head; especially the mouth as his lines are so important & the play was to be done without mics.

We started with a simple mask from a costume supplier.

The snout was obviously way too small – the actor’s nose was crunched inside. I removed it and added an extension fashioned from a water bottle!I hot glued my fingers fur to the ears.I stitched a 6-gore cap out of the fur with holes for the ears.(I cut out the eyes later…) I hot glued my fingers and thumb all around to secure the cap. I covered the outside & inside of the muzzle with the fur. The tuft of black hair that was originally on the mask was reattached between the ears. I also added a length of black faux fur for a mane (so the fairy queen & her fairies could stroke it…)I glued the nose/teeth back on the end of the snout.

I’ll leave you with some (blurry – sorry – no flash allowed!) photos of Nick Bottom in action.This young man is an incredible actor!His adlib one-liners kept the audience laughing.

The stretch fur of the cap kept the mask on his head, no matter his antics.The fairy queen was quite besotted! The fairy attendants (you can read about their costumes here) giggled at his flirting.Totally worth a few glue blisters on my fingers…