<p>SDF-Try again on the title. Too many characters for FB.</p>
<p>Yes, small school (550 total) but arts are well supported, and the director does not cut anyone interested from the spring musical. The chorus (which as you all know sometimes needs MORE costume changes than the actual leads!) can run in excess of 50 kids…I, too, am queen of the thrift shop find being “transformed” with the addition of trims, bows, ruffles, etc. but without sacrificing quality (I learned under some really talented and thrifty people.)</p>
<p>We should have a “costume-playoff” who can make the prom dress a period piece in the least number of “moves”! It is like doing a crossword…keeps you mentally strong!</p>
<p>I was costuming Les Mis, school edition and needed vests for men. I saw piles of old drapes outside a hotel next to where we were eating, and they gave me all I needed for all of the vests for the show. Fortunately they were in several different patterns so it worked out great! Costuming shows on a minimal budget definitely requires begging when necessary!</p>
<p>Whew. Through with the dress except for the hem, which she said not to do until they try it on the girl. Sure hope it fits. I still have to make a little mop cap, but that won’t take long (famous last words…) I’m debating whether to take the dress to the theatre tomorrow or wait. I’m afraid if she knows I’m finished already, she’ll find something else for me to do! I’m so bad. Wouldn’t mind it so much if I didn’t work full time. I just sacrificed most of my weekend to get this thing done.</p>
<p>Shorter title…uhm…“Masochistic Insane People” would also be appropriate.</p>
<p>@snapdragonfly - Brownies! haha! Love the title too - I’m living that right now + a full time job.</p>
<p>I’m feeling guilty–the costumer texted my D and asked if I would come to the theater Saturday morning and bring my sewing machine (I did this once before) to help with alterations of the costumes. I told her no. (1) I work full time and weekends are the only time I have to do what I want to do (2) I already sacrificed one entire weekend sewing a complete dress (3) I hate doing alterations of any kind (4) There is nothing in it for me at all (5) I don’t want to get up early. Please tell me I’m not a selfish b**ch.</p>
<p>No, you’re not selfish. A long time ago I decided what I would volunteer for, and that sometimes I need to say “no” for my health and the health of my family (both physical health and emotional/relationship health). I can’t volunteer all the time and still be a good employee at work and a good family member at home.</p>
<p>Good news! the cast list for Hello Dolly was posted yesterday…and it’s ONLY 53 kids! OMG! I am tired already!!</p>
<p>No, musicmom you are not selfish, but it IS really hard to say no…good for you for practicing! p.s. alterations are also MY least favorite! </p>
<p>We have a saying in our costume group…we know how to sew, but we only do it when absolutely necessary!</p>
<p>I tried to keep knowing how to sew a secret because I knew what would happen if word got out! ha. I am really surprised that so few people my age and younger don’t know how. Most of the girls in my high school took homemaking, though many never sewed again after that. Both my mom and grandmother sewed all my life, and I used to use their scraps to make clothes for my ■■■■■ dolls. My D has no interest in learning to sew.</p>
<p>nicksmtmom, I hope you find many generous volunteers to help you with all those costumes. I still feel guilty about saying no because I know how much work there is to be done, but she asked me (through my D) on a Friday night when I was tired from working all week. Had she asked me in person, I probably wouldn’t have had the heart to tell her no.</p>
<p>musicmom, I hate alterations so much. Except for a simple hem or something - but whenever they bring in this incredibly constructed piece and then “just” want you to take it from a size 12 to an 8, you know “just” take in the sides a bit (which then means you have to redo the pleats on a skirt and the sleeve and there were darts in it and a zipper and arrrrg).</p>
<p>No, you weren’t selfish. I told the group I volunteer for this spring, “I’M OUT OF HERE DON’T CALL ME.” Burned out, tired, busy, and it’s my last spring with my little girl so leave me ALONE. I still got rooked into decorating for prom but that is a piece of cake compared to costuming.</p>
<p>And like you, I keep my mad sewing skilz a bit sooper sekrit. haha. Part of this is also because people’s faces always light up and they start thinking aloud about “letting” you sew something custom for them or ALTER THINGS AAAAHHHH or give you helpful ideas about making all kinds of MONEY from SEWING for people!! Yes, because I can totally compete with the stuff at Dillards that they pay someone a dollar a week to sew!!!</p>
<p>It’s not even worth explaining to them that if you work for yourself, the most laughably meager amount you can charge and still end up not losing money is forty bucks an hour, and this outfit they want me to sew will probably entail about - I don’t know, what, the smoothest I’ve ever had anything put together once you include ALL your work is about ten hours? Unless it’s literally two pieces and three seams and you just rat it together.</p>
<p>I would actually love to do special occasion sewing but people would have to understand what they’d be getting wouldn’t be any kind of monetary savings over what is in the store (unless they are talking about a Vera Wang couture which I probably could beat that price a bit, haha) but what they would be paying for would be the ability to get exactly what they wanted, custom designed and fitted for them.</p>
<p>Anyway, I hereby absolve you from guilt. Also I suggest these two amazing books if they get desperate: Instant Period Costume: How to Make Classic Costumes from Cast Off Clothing" and “Costuming Made Easy: How to Make Theatrical Costumes from Cast Off Clothing” both by Barb Rogers. A purist would be horrified at her methods but I’ve tried them and they are simply insanely brilliant and effective and cheap and FAST. About one hundredth of the work and cost of buying fabric and sewing from scratch. Of course a professional, wonderful Broadway show wouldn’t do any of these things but for small community or school plays, I’m telling you if you know know what you are doing and use her methods, you can end up with fantastic stuff and nobody can tell what you did or how you did it. </p>
<p>We were doing Christmas Carol for the second time and as usual going nuts trying to costume all our guys in eighteenth century style tailed coats - because you just simply cannot fake it with a twentieth century coat, it looks so obviously different. Then when I got that book and we saw how she cut off a men’s coat at the waist and made tails to attach out of the pants (then just add coordinating pants in grey or fawn or whatever) we were like WHY on earth didn’t we think of THIS! Probably other people not quite as brain damaged as us have but it was such a revelation and I did it for at least two costumes and except for one we had professionally made last year, they were the best looking ones.</p>
<p>The author of these books had a huge thriving costume shop and literally didn’t know how to sew: she had one needle, black and white thread, and after a few years her friends took pity on her and bought her an old TREADLE sewing machine which she used as rarely as possible.</p>
<p>Myself, I would add a lot of sewing back into the equation but she does have some really brilliant shortcuts and you could some sew them instead of using Magic Melt, which is what she does, if you wanted to. </p>
<p>(but I did get a big old box of Magic Melt glue sticks because I was literally the only person they had doing the last show and you bet I glued stuff together…and it worked.)</p>
<p>snapdragonfly, I am nowhere near the professional level of sewing and I bow in your presence. LOL I sew on a 30-year-old portable Kenmore machine and do not have a serger nor any other such modern miracle machine! I do agree that sewing is no longer cheaper than buying ready-made in most cases, but it sure comes in handy since I am short and have to at least hem most things. I work with a woman who is always “hinting” about sewing or altering something, such as, “Where would I go to get this done?” I have never volunteered to do it for her. When she saw the last costume I made (subject of my original post–French Revolution-era gown), she commented that I could make her next Halloween costume! hahahahahaha. No.</p>
<p>When D was in little programs in elementary school, it was cheaper to buy prom dresses at Goodwill and cut them down than to buy fabric and notions to make something from scratch. Other than an angel costume made from a white sheet, I can say that I have never glued anything!</p>
<p>I am all about the repurposing of old clothes. It’s something that actually most amateur costumers do, I’m finding out. In addition to reasons already mentioned - the selection in most fabric stores these days is simply bleak. You can find ready made stuff in all kinds of really great fabrics including silk, linen, brocades, and all kinds of shiny cool stuff that you just can’t find at Hancock’s or JoAnn’s. The good stuff seems to be available to the industry but not retail for home sewers.</p>
<p>For some reason it’s a lot easier than straight out altering. And we are a family of height-free people so being able to alter our OWN stuff is da bomb. I just don’t want to alter things for anyone else. Not enough money in the world. Well, yes there probably is, but nobody has enough of it to pay me to do alterations!</p>