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!)