The Show that Never Was

About two years ago I did an "amazing" show:  Jonah! A Whale of a Tail, An Exciting New Musical.  I cant make this shit up.   Well the show was for a Christian Dinner Theatre - that quickly closed a few months after the show. Well, it was the story of Jonah and the wale, but we set it a la Pirates of the Caribbean.

Well the show went great - and as is the goal of every job - I made a great contact with the director.  Cut to 2 years later and to my surprise i get a all from the director. He is now the director of summer entertainment for the Gaylord National Resort and this summer they were planning shows and wanted to have roaming characters to interact with the guests: sort of like at Disney.  So I was hired to build a male and a female pirate. 

  

I had 5 weeks, a huge budget and it was going to be an on going project, when new actors come in or things needed to be replaced, I would be making the replacement clothes as well. Great gig!

Then a few days later I got another call - another costume designer had dropped out, and they wanted me to make two more characters: Skip (a surfer dude) and Skittles (his bratty little sister)

Great  - more money! And who wouldn't love that?!

So I plunged ahead, swatched fabric, started making  patterns, budgeted for shoes, wigs, and accessories. I was set for a fitting the weekend of Mothers Day, so needless to say I was working like a dog days and late into the morning to get things ready.  And I have to say - this was some of my best work. All garments were very well made, and I thought looked great!

Well then I get the call. The whole event has been CANCELED! Yep all that work up in smoke. Well, after I stopped freaking out, I discovered that the Gaylor is actually owned by the Grand Ol' Oprey which was under 11 feet of water.  The flooding in Nashville had effected this project. They needed to redirect the money for the summer programs to help in the drying out of the theatre. I stopped all production and sent them what I had compleated. They agreed to pay me a third of my salary, and reimburse me for all the materials I had purchased - which so far was over $900.00. I manged to style the costumes in the shape they were in so I could at least have a record of what it was that I had done thus far.  With any luck the project will be remounted next year and we can pick up where we left off....

Until then, here are the pirate couple. I really hope one day I can revisit this project and see it through to completion. 

Adam - the male pirate - got a striped cotton "poet" shirt, blue/grey silk vest with real wooden buttons, black twill pants with a slight pattern to it and a coat of burgundy velveteen. NOTE - this was made to the point of fittings, so that is why it has no lapels, and only one sleeve. 

Morgan - the female pirate -  got a green cotton petticoat, and a great brown tweed wool overskirt. Her blouse was made of a light weight textured cotton. It is off the shoulder and I gave it elongated sleeves and tucked around the bust. The highlight of the costume is the corset. It is made of 2 different colors of pony ultra suede, backed onto denim and them boned. I wish I had gotten the chance to finish it with the trim and all that I had planned...hopefully next year I can post about that!!

I have been away too long - back to the clothes!

A lot has been happening with me and i have not been good about getting here to post things. Lets get back to the clothes!

Here are a few  more things that were made for Babes in Toyland. Mistress Mary I wanted to have a pretty "girly" dress as she is out ingenue. The girl cast was not a very feminine so I felt she needed as much help as possible!

The dress turned out pretty cute. I am very pleased with how it came out!

In the course of the play she runs away from home and I decided that she should have a cloak to wear when running away from home.  Still in the girly pink, the cape is a beautiful tweed with lace details. 

Halloween that never was

Heather has kept me on my toes for years now. Back in 1998 when we were but children in High School - Shakespeare in Love was released and Heather fell in love with the clothes. I mean can you blame her!  Just look at them!

So for Halloween, which we plan for WAY in advance every year, and still do to this day, Heather decided she wanted something like the ball gown in the picture above. If you know her, you know that she is pale and thus would not look good in peach or antique gold.

We decided to go toward a jewel tone and found a great emerald brocade with gold fleur-de-lis on it.  We paired the overskirt and bodice with a gold satin for the underskirt, and a dual layer of organza in green and gold for the sleeve puffs. Antique gold satin was used for pipping the edges and - in a bold move at that time -  I lined the WHOLE thing. It turned out pretty well I thought.

Here is a close up of the bodice: I have come along way my construction skills and can now see all the short cuts i gook in making this dress. But we all get better with time right?

So the dress was made, fit, and finished and hung up...and sadly that is where the story ends! The dress has not been worn yet. Now 10+ years later the dress has been outgrown and mostly forgotten until i was home recently for Babes in Toyland. I think I will take the dress and donate it to TDF costume collection. I have donated a few other things in the past and can use the credit when I design in the future.

My New Drapes

This is the similar fabric to the apron I  made for Heather last year. My new kitchen is red and I happen to find this great kitchy fabric and had to have it.  I think it goes well with the kitchen!

I LOVE THIS DRESS

So I had this red linen left over from Babes in Toyland, it was used for Little Red Ridding Hoods cape. I didnt know quite what to do with it until I found the pattern for this dress.  The reason being two fold: I had enough yardage for it, and the example on the pattern sleeve was a wool tweed dress.

You might not be able to see it, but this is a very open weave and kind of rough linen in a bright cherry red.  it has a boat neck and deep V back.  Double darts in the high waisted skirt that has a slight A line gives the dress a little swing.  The bodice has an over drape gathered down int he center (I added the brooch where they suggested another bow - that was too much even for me).

What I love so much about this dress is the way it hugs the form! even without fitting it it hugs my size 8 dress form like they were made to go together.  I I am putting this dress on my etsy account today and hope it goes to a good home.

MAD MEN

            The first new dress that I made for my Etsy shop is inspired by the hit show "Mad Men"

The clothes  for this show are so detailed and period specific. This show is really responsible for changing the way many women look at work clothes. There has been a huge return to "dressing" for work. Following on this trend I wanted to create something to pay homage to the beautiful costumes created by Janie Bryant.  Within my extensive pattern collection I have found a number of dresses that remind me of these clothes. So here is the first one I have created:

  

It is a tan cotton stretch, with a faint teal stripe.  I accented this with a great teal linen I found at a store here in the fashion district. The dress itself is a beautiful high waisted pencil skirt with a short sleeve louse on top, gathered over the bust and a deep keyhole  opening tied by a large bow. the back of the skirt has a hidden

kick pleat. For whatever reason the kick pleat was the hardest decision for me to make.
          My initial idea was to use the teal linen for this, as a splash of color when you walk.  But after I did this I was a little concerned it was to "costume" and not real enough. But my partner Richard convinced me the detail was cute and since the fabric was dark it would be a good way to brighten it. So I stuck with my plan and think it turned out rather cute!

     This is the first dress I made for my etsy shop, and hope that it is a good way to kick things off!

ETSY SHOP!

I have created an ETSY shop at the urging of Heather.
I am taking my love of vintage clothing, sewing, and my pattern collection and making these great dresses available for purchase!
RJINNY is my ETSY shop name. Only three things listed at this time, but more will be added soon!