Beauty And The Beast Costumes

So as per usual I didn't take photos of all my costumes made for the production of Beauty and the Beast at Lincoln Drill Hall, or of the ones made for the production of Peter Pan that was over in Skegness and Retford. I am usually just sick of them by the time I have finished, and things never look quite as good on a hanger as they do on a person, and I certainly don't fit into them haha!

As luck would have it I managed to get hold of some of the professionally taken photos from the dress rehearsal.

Beauty and Percy Peapod

So I made Beauty's blue pinafore dress which was made to look like the existing villager girls' costumes but in the iconic blue colour. I made the yellow overalls, two of the dark green shirt, and appliqued the hat for Percy. The shirt pattern was a men's Simplicity pattern but the rest of the costumes I made from my own patterns, or by taking measurements from the existing costumes. (Beauty's, a few of the Peter Pan costumes were copies to make up the correct amount of costumes needed for the set.)

I can't SIA where I'm going!

The SIA inspired costume, which I dubbed the "Moo moo Muu muu" was a swing dress shape, with wide sleeves, self drafted. The sleeve hems and the dress hem had plastic boning in to exaggerate the shape. The bow on the wig wasn't properly attached in these pictures, but in the proper performances it stood upright completely.

Be Our Guest

Other than Beauty's dress, I made the dress for Dame Dusty Doorknockers, we dubbed it the "Liquorice dress". It is from a basic princess seamed block I have made up specifically for lovely James (Dusty), and the consists of a striped yoke (front and back) with an overlaid shaped ruffle hanging over the bust. The main body of the dress is in the lilac polka dot with sleeves and ruffle in pink. The pattern piece for the sleeves is huge! You really do have to gather  down a lot of fabric to get that exaggerated puff sleeve (which you can't really see in the action shot). The apron has a functional pocket and ties in a delightfully large bow in the back.
I am incredibly pleased with the way this dress came out, it fit perfectly, looks exactly how it was imagined to, and really pops on stage.

You can't kill a beast without a cape!

Pictures are Gustave and a villager wearing capes, I made a lot of capes for this production! Gustave's is a longer cape pleated onto a collar, Luke's cape is basically a hi-low hem 3/4 circle with a drafted hood. I made 4 of the hooded capes, and two children's ones that were the 3/4 circle without the hood. All of them were fully lined in a "gunmetal" grey colour, the ties were a mixture of ribbons and twill tape. They would have all been twill tape but I forgot I had it when I made the first few!

Marcel

So very unexpectedly I made the waistcoat and trousers for the character of Marcel due to the original costume provided turning out to be much too small and beyond the scope of alteration. I adapted a Simplicity pirate costume because I was very time limited and did not want to mess around drafting crotch curves and taking a billion measurements. The actor was larger than the patterns went up to but since I used them only as a rough base it wasn't hard to increase the measurements. The waistcoat is lined and I did it in a bit of an arse about face way because I was rushing and didn't sit down and think it through first. The trousers are cuffed with elastic, and are purposefully baggy as requested because of "trouser acting" apparently....I just did as I was told!

Ruddy mysterious in these parts!

And here we have Marcel again sporting his cape. It was made in the same fashion as Gustave's and is white because it was involved in a blackout sequence with lights to make it glow. The hat was trimmed with white twill tape for the same reason.

So as far as original costumes are concerned, this was pretty much the lot for Beauty and the Beast, although one of my own dresses was used for Dame Dusty (a strawberry print dress I had made for Tea and Tents festival in 2014, I was going to give it to the charity shop but offered it to JMP as it had more of a costumey feel to it). I also did the usual alterations, adjustments, re-jigging, and repairs but no pictures bar a couple of rubbish instagram shots.

It is a bit weird thinking about the fact that thousands of people have seen my costumes on stage, yet this is not a career I have worked or studied for, it is just my hobby! I guess it is a nice counter to my own garment sewing of black wardrobe staples!

Disclaimer: None of these photos belong to me, they are just being used to document my costume work to the 3 people who look at the blog ;)

Sewing And Weightloss

As mentioned in my last post, I have been having a lot of thoughts about sewing and weightloss as I have lost some weight recently, and hope to lose another 3, 4 or 5 stone depending on how I feel further down the road (I cannot set a goal weight because I am unable to visualise what I will look like at an arbitrarily set number on a scale, I will know when I have lost enough for my own preferences - I'm always going to be a curvy lady!!).

I am not the largest member of the online sewing community, but I was/am not comfortable in my own skin. At risk of type 2 diabetes, and being easily out of breath, and struggling to paint my own damn toenails, I knew things had to change.

Left me, right my sister, taken in May 2016 but at roughly the same weight as when I started WW

So in the picture I am wearing a dress I made for an event in September 2015 (obviously unblogged because I am an incompetent blogger!). I made it from my own sundress pattern, from fabric I carefully selected, buttons in my choice of contrasting colour, and hemmed by hand using some pretty lace. The nature of the pattern placement of the hearts was forgotten about hence the weird bit in the middle, and the armscye could do with a 1/4" scooped out. In no way is this dress perfect. But it is mine.

The same feelings go for the rest of my imperfect, but specially curated wardrobe. It is small, I do not have provisions for all seasons, it consists of 75% black clothing, and the rest made up from navy, grey, and the rare pop of a gingham or olive green. My clothes have meaning, each has its own story, and the small amount of items mean I really do remember when it was made and why. The only way my clothes could be more personal is if I wove the cloth they are made from (which is unlikely to happen!).

So now I am two stone lighter, and they say I should feel healthier! They say I should really feel the difference! They say I should be "#so proud"! They say I should see the difference! Happy happy, joy joy! Well spoiler alert, I don't. I can't see the difference, I don't feel healthier, I can paint my toenails a bit easier though.

I know through the evidence of the scale, and through the fit of my clothes that it is happening for real. I see my clothes looking sad and baggy. I live in leggings and a sad baggy tonic tee if I am not leaving the house. My embroidered Ginger jeans are so far into droopy arseville that I can't even go there with them any more. My dearly loved polka dotted blouse is now a sad saggy sack. But I should be pleased by this so they say.

The reason I kept my wardrobe so small is because of my preference for a sustainable wardrobe. I hate waste, I hate throwaway clothes culture, and I love having only things I enjoy wearing. I understand my views are the minority here, no hating on those sewists who have a large bounty of handmade clothing in their closet, "To thine own self be true" after all. Growing out, or should that be shrinking out, of my clothes whilst they are not worn enough to be worn out and too worn for the charity shop is causing me anxiety. I feel wasteful.

The personal nature of my relationship with my clothing is making me miserable. I can't bring myself to make some new items to tide me over the next 2 stone loss to go through the feeling of waste again. I don't even feel like I can re-purpose the fabric from any of my existing clothes into only temporary garments. I get that this is not a normal way to think about ones clothing. Buying new in a size smaller is one of the thrills most women get to boost them on their often long and hard journey, I don't even know what size dress I would pick up off the rack it has been so long since I got anything but bras and those stretchy saviours keeping me from wandering round in just my knickers.


I'm sure that for many sewists this sound like the ramblings of a madwoman, and for those who do not sew it surely sounds madder still! Perhaps I am too sentimental, too obsessed, too neurotic...but I would never choose to again have that impersonal relationship with the things that are literally, albeit not figuratively, closest to me. Sewing has taught me patience, responsibility, mindfulness, confidence, and made me aware of all those little body quirks that you would never know if not for taking all those measurements.

There is more to life than clothes, no shadow of a doubt on that one, but clothes are the reflections of life, and I for one value them deeply.

What Do You Call A Sewing Blogger Who Doesn't Sew Anything And Posts About Books Instead?

AKA My 2016 review post!

So 2016 was a mixed bag of a year, it didn't start off so brilliantly, but really picked up as it went along and on the whole it was generally a pretty good one, bucking the general trend there!

I didn't really sew much, but I have been up to the usual variety of crafty bits and bobs, terrible photos courtesy of Instagram!

So from left to right on the top row - I made a super romantic valentines cross stitch of our little family, it is pretty small but still took ages, cross stitch is a real marathon! I also started a temperature blanket, it is bigger than the shown picture, but I have about 8 months left to do...which I will probably take the whole of 2017 to do. I also made a little felt badge with the most incredibly rudimentary stumpwork(ish) bee on, this was for a climate change awareness project done through the WI, with the idea to make a green heart with something written/illustrated/created on it that would be at risk from climate change.

Middle row is a hungry caterpillar headband made for a friend for World Book Day, some banana split truffles made as a gift, and some crochet roses I turned into a headband for a camping weekend I went on.

Bottom row is some beeswax candles made at a workshop at the above mentioned camping weekend, my first attempt at the good ol' granny square, and one of the birthday cards made throughout the year.

On the sewing front I made barely anything for myself, I didn't take any good photos either! Not pictured are my Sophie swimsuit and Morgan jeans tester garments (they were not beautiful, and neither one got made into a final personal garment so no photos there either), and also a black linen dress that was a bit of a disaster and I don't want to talk about the waste of my hoarded nice fabric...

So from the top - a summery blousey thing made from my sundress pattern which was sewn up in some fabric which had serious static issues. It actually frayed apart after washing in a small spot and I decided that rather than fix it, I would be better off without it! Next to that we have a chiffon peasant top - Simplicity 1162 worn with my skull pocket Ginger jeans cut in 2015, sewn 2016. S1162 looks a bit fug in some of the variations they decided to put on the envelope, but I was after something that would make a casualish top and use up the various lengths of chiffon I seem to purchase periodically which I have little call for. It's a nice top once you get going, although it is a bit shapeless round the middle, hence the belted look.

I also finally made up the sunhat I carefully drafted a pattern for following the instructions over at Weekend Designer and it is everything I need to re-enact my AHS Coven style dreams. I think there is room for improvement, but certainly a very good first attempt!
The best project of the year was my giant pants, two pairs made from the Rosy Lady Shorts pattern with the waist extended to hit the waistline.

I also made a questionable gingham sundress, Frank likes it, but I'm not so convinced.

Finally I made a steampunk costume to wear to the annual steampunk festival held in Lincoln each year, and at which my WI holds a fundraising bake sale. I have wanted to join in the fun ever since we moved here 7 years ago, and I dipped my toe in with a steampunk inspired costume rather than a full on affair. It took ages, I wasn't overly pleased with how it turned out, and the proper photos I took make it look more ugly than it really is. But the day was a lot of fun, and I got compliments on my attire so it clearly wasn't too awful.

The top photo here was taken at the camping trip mentioned - Tea and Tents. It is a WI member only camping weekend that I attended once before in 2014. My scarf has cats on it. It is hiding the nasty sunburn I got...
The bottom photo was taken at the Steampunk festival where I also got sunburned...not a good year for my skin, I got burned in April too.
I really love being a part of the WI, and I hope that these pictures dispel a few common misconceptions about it being full of middle class ladies in twin sets and pearls  (not that there is anything wrong if you do fall into this category!)

So as well as the crafty business, and the book reading, it was also a good year for other things - I did a talk about craftivism at my WI (very nerve-wracking) which is something I would never have considered doing in a million years before I joined. After the talk I arranged for us to make our own craftivism piece - all members were tasked to make a piece embroidered with their food waste pledge which will be joined together to make one large display.
I also volunteered throughout Oct/Nov for Cards For Good Causes, they set up across the country selling cards for charities (national and local), and a whopping 80% of the price of a pack goes to the charity they are for which is so much more than the charity cards sold in supermarkets etc. I met many lovely people, and also got to volunteer twice with my friend Jo who introduced me to the CFGC charity as she ad volunteered previously.
I organised a Christmas carol concert for a group of local WIs including Lincoln, and was completely bummed out to find I couldn't attend due to panto commitments. It went well though so I was pleased.
Like the madman I am, I signed up with Weight Watchers in the last week of October, and have been doing pretty well at it, although I did find it hard missing out on all the Christmas treats. I'm almost two stone lighter now, and it brings up a lot of thoughts and feelings for the sewist with an almost entirely hand made wardrobe which I am going to post about separately.

Well there was a very long brief round up of my 2016, and I will have a separate panto post because it is sewing related, but to add more to this post was going to make things rather silly!



I know this blog isn't very well read, but for those that do, I hope that you had a good 2016, and have a better 2017!