Pillowcase Dresses

The neighbor wanted some pillowcase dresses for her adorable little girl, so, I dug out some unloved pllowcases and found tons of tutorials on-line. I ended up using this template to cut the armholes.  I tried one with elastic in the casing, the other with just a ribbon of fabric threaded through. I hope at least one of them works!

Nutcracker Dresses

I made quite a few dresses for The Nutcracker Ballet.  The Missoulian did a nice article about it.  I got pretty good at putting boning into bodices!

Feeling a little crabby

This is my darling great nephew in the crab costume I made him for Halloween.  I made it out of double fleece with a wind barrier, so he would be nice and warm,  The legs are all rigged with fishing line which is attached at the elbow of the costume, so that when he moves his arms, all the appendages move in concert.  His parents dressed as the crab fishermen.

Nutcracker Soldiers

The local ballet commissioned a new set of soldier costumes for the annual nutcracker production.  I had to devise my own patterns, for the most part.  The pants are heavy duty knit, and I made them from a pattern for a sleeveless leotard, combined with a pattern for stirrup cycling pants.  I loved putting all the trim and buttons on the jackets.  I got a great deal on the helmets from a uniform shop that went out of business, but I had to add the gold hat chain and sunburst emblems.  The first photo shows the mock-up that I made in miniature to show the board.  The next photo is from the local newspaper article- they took the picture before the pants and boots were finished, so the girls are in their tights!

  

Lion King Costumes

My niece needed some quickie costumes for an event at her school.  I made her a baboon, a warthog, and a Meerkat.  For the bodies, I just used a basic one-piece pajama pattern.  The heads are made from foam rubber.  The two lions aren't mine.

My Mother Ginger in the news!

The Mayor played the part of Mother Ginger in this year's production. He was perfectly delightful to work with, although I did end up having to make him his own blouse, bodice, and pantaloons, as the existing costume didn't fit him properly. He has measurements to match his personality.

I pasted some links to a few news spots about his role and the costume. I blatantly stole the pictures above from the news, but since I made the costume, I figure I have the right to use the photos, don't you agree?

I made the hoopskirt and costume about 7 years ago. It's not beautiful, but it does the job. The skirt was a major feat of PVC architecture, let me tell you. I even had to do MATH for this construction. The skirt has a circumference of around 28 feet.

http://missoularedtape.com/?p=2112

http://www.missoulian.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/article_e86b3e1a-eb91-11de-a1c3-001cc4c03286.html

Nutcracker Mice are Nice!

I managed to live through another Nutcracker season. I was preparing my costumer's report, and realized that I sewed at least 22 new garments for the show, not including props, such as sashes, pillows, and draperies. Additionally, I altered, repaired, or rebuilt about 100 costumes, with changes ranging from simple hemlines and moving closure hardware to the complete dismantling and refurbishing of tutus. No wonder I caught a cold.



I didn't take any photos myself (I was too busy!) I will, however, try to salvage a few pictures for my blog as I find them on other people's photostreams, or wepages or wherever.

For example, these little mice are very cute! They were used in a season-long advertising campaign. Their photos were taken all over town, and people had to guess the location to win tickets. I actually made these little mousy costumes last season (a baker's dozen).

The mouse costumes all have stuffed furry breeches with suspenders under those fancy tunics, which are worn with gray leotards that the studio already owned. The main fabric is a jacobean floral, with sleeveheads and front decorative panels of a luminous gold. The trim on the collars and faux pocket flaps are purple velvet. I used purple satin ribbon and gold star-shaped buttons for embellishment. These mouse costumes also feature long tails with wire inside, so the tails can be used as weapons to fight their arch-enemy, the Nutcracker Prince!

I find the tunic approach, over suspendered breeches to be very forgiving for costume fitting. I only had to make signifigant alterations to one mouse costume, for a particularly stout little mouse.

Cute Chicks

This little dress is for the child of one of my teachers. The fabric was free; the remaking of a couple of pillowcases. I finally got one of my sewing machines out of the shop, so I was able to finish the zigzag around the applique.

Yee-Haw Cowboy Outfit

One of my former student interns has a little boy who loves imaginative play and needed a new cowboy get up, so I made him this vest and pants. I wanted to use conchos as an embellishment, but the fabric store only had them in packages of 24, I didn't need that many, nor did I want to pay the 5 bucks they wanted. As a substitute, I used some large silver tone beads that I had on hand. I think they look okay. Here's the outfit from the front and back. I hope it fits him!

Sailor Dress

I made this little dress with a nautical collar. One of the teachers had given me the embroidered seersucker, which is weird to sew on, because it doesn't like to lie flat. I didn't really have a pattern for the collar, so I fudged one. It turned out really cute, but very very green.

Lady Bug Dresses

Here are a couple more dresses I made for my Egg Lady's granddaughters. I love sewing for little girls!

The larger one is size 6, the smaller, size 2. Here's a photo showing the detail of the bodice as well. The daisies don't show up very well in the picture. I found the ladybug buttons, and just added a the black running stitch with black embroidery thread:

Huckleberries!

Is this not a thing of beauty? Conrad and I spent the day picking Huckleberries yesterday, and I made this pie last night when the house was cool. I used some apples grown by a friend and some of those beautiful little globes of summertime known as huckleberries (mountain blueberries, for you purists.) Everyone knows that pie is the breakfast of champions. All together, we picked about 3 gallons of Huckleberries. The dog picked quite a few as well, but failed to put any into our bucket. It was a lovely day in the woods.

Another Pettiskirt and Top

Cross-dressing Teddy Bear likes his super-girly pink pettiskirt. The skirt and "hair pouf" make me wish I were still little and cute enough to get away with dressing in this stuff.

This set is for the granddaughter of a newly discovered relative in Canada. I love making these, but I don't love spending the money to order the fabric. I sure wish they carried it locally.

More Little Dresses

These are for the grand-daughters of my egg-lady and fellow teacher, Rae. I hope I got the sizes right!

Rae likes dresses prairie-length. The two larger (size 6) dresses have full circle skirts, for maximum twirling power. In order to accomplish this without sagging hems, I cut the skirt pieces into six gores, rather than following the standard pattern layout. This approach gives less bulk at the waist, and maximizes the circumference at the hem. The blue and white dress has a skirt cut in tiers, which is a fabric-hungry approach to fullness, but the fabric told me that's what it wanted. Not shown is a slip I made for underneath out of a ruined, cast-off wedding gown. (The other two dresses are sized 2, and made of scraps, so the skirts aren't as full.)

Chicken Beanbags

Why? One of the kindergarten teachers wanted them, that's why. But really, why not? Shouldn't everyone have a set?

Baby Booties- I swear I can quit any time I want to...?

I made several more pair of baby booties, using leftover polar fleece... They're addictive. Whenever I sit down to make a pair, I can't stop. I wonder if there is a 12 step program for recovery?

Baby Bibs and Potholders

I used small brocade samples to make a bunch of pretty potholders. I insulated them with an old towel. I found out the hard way that quilt batting doesn't protect fingers from the heat very well!

I used up some scraps from my bag-making frenzy by making these little baby bibs. Using buttons on baby things is technically a no-no, but I defy any baby to dislodge a button that I have sewn on.
It simply can't be done !

Handbags!

As usual, once I start making something I have to go overboard. I must have borderline OCD or perhaps it's addictive behavior. Anyway, I made about 10 bags,some of which I have already given away. I used fabric samples given to me by my uncle, who used to run a home decorating business. These beautiful fabrics retailed for about 100 dollars per yard 20 years ago. Most of them are imported from mills in England or Italy. My cheapo camera doesn't do them justice.

Baby Clothes From Old Band Tee Shirts

My darling niece is expecting a baby boy in September. The Papa-to-be has numerous old band tee shirts from his miss-spent youth. I made some of them into baby pajamas for the new arrival. It's hard to get too excited about making baby things, when they cost so little to buy, and are sort of fiddly to sew. I do think the Papa will get a kick out of seeing the old shirts being recycled, though. These shirts had been destined for the Goodwill, so at least I rescued them from obscurity.

Dresses for Little Lola

What do you do with fabric remnants of a yard or less? Summer dresses for my littlest relative! I love bias trim, piping, and rick-rack. The pink & blue dress is made from vintage fabric scraps from my mom's stash. The red dress is made from scraps leftover from one of Lara's dresses. I used scraps from a wedding dress alteration to make the built-in petticoat.

Pettiskirt and top for Little Lola

Dolly gets a pettiskirt and top too. What else do you do with the scraps?

These were really fun to make!

Well, I figure I should update my blog once a year whether I need to or not. I have had some requests for pictures of my recent projects. Since summer began, I have been doing some sewing- I made several new dresses for myself, but I'm camera shy, so you don't get to see those.
We've been staying fairly close to home. I went to Bozeman, Chico Hot Springs, and Yellowstone Park last week. I had a lot of fun and accidentally got a sunburn. Ouch! Conrad and I went to Butte, America for the National Folk festival this weekend, and got our dose of great music, too much heat, and too many people. We got home last night and sat down for a few minutes, then headed downtown to listen to Mark play with his band. I am pooped.

Woe is me

Can it really be 2 years since I have updated my blog? I have just been such a busy bee with my school web page, facebook, twitter, etc. that I haven't had the time! So much has happened since I last wrote. My father, who was this blogs biggest fan, died last March... almost a year ago today. I am still almost paralysed by his loss.
I am gearing up for next year's NUTCRACKER performance. It is the 25th anniversary, so it's kind of a big deal. I have been commisioned to make all new soldier's costumes. Last year, I made all new mice, new party boys, new angels, and a few new party girl dresses.

Jourdan's "Fine Lady" gown

Friday we were fortunate enough to be invited to the in-law's house for dinner. While there, I coerced Jourdan into trying on the Halloween costume I made for her. What a doll!