Mermaid Parade

All my life i have had an affinity for mermaids. So it is no reason my bestie is also a HUGE mermaid fan, to the point she has a full back tattoo of one.
Well every year in at Coney Island NY, they kick off the summer beach season with the Mermaid Parade (http://www.coneyisland.com/mermaid.shtml for more information).
This year she decided we needed to go, and we both started working on our respective costumes from home - her in MN and I in Brooklyn.

I set out to find the perfect fabric = i wanted something kind of unusual but would convey scales. A few months ago i found a great snake skin printed cotton and thought that would be fun. along the way I came across a snake sin vinyl which was even better! it has a greenish grey hue to it and looked very masculine, which was perfect for the look I wanted.

The tail i made in a fitted trumpet style, with a HUGE train in the back, this I planned on dragging behind me so I would have a tail. I connected the skirt to a Y- back suspender of the same material, and then created a dorsal fin to ride up the back Y, and into the CB seam. I love how it turned out!


Heather is responsible for the beautiful crown, and i made the gauntlets of the same material. We had a lot of people taking pics of us, and got many compliments on both our tails! To see hers go to www.heathereve.blogspot.com

Tommy III

So the last dress I have to share today is the final dancer. Now this girl posed a challenge for me. She was a LOT taller, and bigger then the other girls. While not a BIG girl, she was the sort that obviously played sports. She was BUILT, almost 6 feet tall and very muscular. Not the typical dancer body I am used to dealing with.

I solved this body problem by creating a two piece ensemble that she could move it. Using the same fabric as the other dresses, i created the garment here. The blouse features a basque, and a top gathered over the breasts. The CF buttons are functioning, as well as a side zipper. I thought that would give her enough room to get it over her head, without messing up her hair/makeup

With this I made an A-Line skirt that moved very beautifully on stage. While being tall, I think it served her and the show well.

Sadly I could not get my hands on an appropriate sized dress form, so it looks a little odd here on a size 4...forgive me!

The Who's Tommy - II

Here is the second dress in the set. As told in my previous post, these dresses were constructed for a local HS in the spring of '09. I chose to make them of a matching Poly satin in different colors. Only 3 of the four survived the run, one barely made it to closing night....stupid girl...

This second dress is the orange one. It featured a "wrap around" bodice and skirt that features a cascade down one side. While the dress was made for a dancer, it and the others were all made from vintage patterns of the period. I have collected patterns for years, and love the chance to use a real source material when doing a period show.

The Who's Tommy

This past spring I designed a local HS production of The Who's Tommy.
If you know the show, there is a section during the Overture that involves women swing dancing with soldiers before they are shipped off to WWII. These are three of the four dresses I made for these ladies.

The director wanted them to look cohesive as a unit, while still have individual flare. I was fortunate to find this floral fabric in 4 colors so it was perfect. It is a polyester satin, which i was not all that jazzed about, gut then remembering that it was a HS and they did not have a wardrobe person on staff, I thought this would be better since it would not wrinkle, and at the end of the run it could be washed and not shrink or do weird things.






This is the first dress and a detail of the bodice.
It features 3/4 sleeves and a 4 gore flared skirt. The neckline is cut low, with an insert. I chose to accent it with cream covered buttons and a tiny bit of lace around the front neck edge. (You cant see it very well because the dress form is the same color, but trust me it is there!)

Teens Dress

This is based on a dress that was given me by the TDF Costume Collection here in NYC. It was too bad of repair for them to rent anymore, so I took it. knowing that it was once beautiful and I really liked the silhouette.

Here is a pic of the before dress. It WAS once a very lovely orange patterned silk, with an overlay of organza. The blouse was an overlay of organza on pale peach poly taffeta. To me the coat is the most impressive part of the dress - it has a very Funny Girl feeling to me.

The fabric I chose for my remake of it is left over from a wedding I did a few months ago. I have collected so much fabric over the years that I am trying to use it up and not spend any money - except for zippers and things like that.

The body of the remake is Tiffany Blue double-sided Duchess Satin (say that three times fast) and the blouse is pale blue taffeta. I decided for dramatic flare to accent it with black jet trim. (i have been collecting trim bits for years - and I dont want to move them any more!)

Here is where it stands so far - just about done! Ill post a pic of what it looks like with a body inside soon....

Lets start at the very beginning....

So inspired by my friend Heather Eve, i have decided to start telling the world about my craft!


I hold a MFA in costume design and have been sewing since I was in the second grade. For me it is like therapy: calming and something to occupy my hands! In my parents basement i have taken over two rooms and filled them with costumes (organized by period) hats, wigs, shoes, fabric, jewelry, patterns, and all sorts of inspiration!

So here we are - living and working in NYC - and i decided to post some of the stuff i am and have worked on. I hope others find this as an inspiration for ideas!