Gala Outfit

I haven't sewn a garment for myself in a long time. My son's annual fundraising gala for his Mandarin Immersion Program was coming up. I thought it was a perfect event to make something special. The theme was Oscar's Red Carpet.

I have a pair of shiny silver sequin skinny pants a friend gave me as a gag gift a couple of Christmas's ago. I kept them because they were funny to me and really...who doesn't need a pair of shiny pants?!?

Well, I thought the shiny pants would be a perfect base for me to build a dress-up outfit around for the gala. I poked around for Chinese vests on Amazon and Etsy and didn't see anything I really liked. I had this idea to make a structured vest with a peplum.

I found this awesome embossed and quilted black faux leather fabric  at Joann's (of all places). The burgundy and black iridescent taffeta I had in my stash.

I pulled out a bodice sloper from a few years ago. When I say "a few years ago"... I mean, like, at least 20 years ago! After that length of time plus having a baby, I should have known that I would need to draft a new one. While my measurements had not changed that much, my proportions are TOTALLY different. The sloper did not fit in any way. The picture below shows what I cut hoping it would fit. What a laugh. It was too tight and too short. I ended up using a basic commercial vest pattern to start my canvas mock up.

Then I pulled out my book, Pattern Making for Fashion Design, for the peplum circle. It has this wonderful measurement chart for full, half, and quarter circle skirts. It's so easy to use.

This is the mock up front view after the first fitting. A friend of mine is making herself a Victorian ball gown and we traded fitting time. I love asymmetrical hems.

Back view of vest. Lots of pins.

The chalk line below is one side of my new waistline for the peplum.

This is the full peplum skirt pattern. The angle of the image makes the two sides look the same size. However, the far side is twice as long as the foreground side. My bed served as cutting table. The paper pattern just barely fit on the cutting board. I had to add a big pleat at center back to keep the fullness of the skirt while allowing the center front points to hang vertical. Function becomes design.

My intention was to make the inside look as nice as the outside. I had to get creative in how I sewed the pieces together. With piping and lining and fabric that did not want to be turned inside out I had to sew half seams, partial linings and pieced piping to put it all together.

I ended up having to hand stitch the bodice lining to the vest top. The lining was also a wee bit tighter than planned. I fixed that by taking out the tiny back darts to let the lining be more fluid. The inside is not as pretty as intended but it is fully lined.

My mother made these awesome Chinese knot buttons.

The zipper was a special piece I had purchased years ago. Separating zipper with rainbow metal teeth. It needed a special garment to be placed in and this vest was it.

Finished front. There is handmade piping at the armscye, around the collar and down the center front.

Finished back.

Me in the full outfit with really big hair.

It's a little Star Trek, a little disco, a little Jetsons. All in all, a super fun design and construction project.

School Play

I did theatre as a kid and as an adult. Both amature stuff and professional. I did lighting, set, and costume design. I acted for a long time too. I settled on costume design as a profession. I worked for a good 15 years in entertainment.

Then I got a straight job at a bank. Then I had a baby. Life changed.

But now my son is in elementary school. And it has a theatre club in its second year. Last year they put on a production of The Lion King. Lots of kids, lots of costumes. I worked on some of them.

This year the club is doing Beauty and the Beast. More kids than last year, more costumes too.

In neither production was my son involved in.

But I was. Of course. Why? Because I have sewing skills.

I haven't been backstage in more than a decade. This year I've been present for the last few rehearsals and bits of sewing. I even went backstage for the first time. I saw parents gathered to paint the set pieces as I was sewing in the multi-purpose room. There is a tremendous amount of energy and wonderful collaboration that happens when folks put on a theatrical show.

There were two separate casts for this production. These are my two Belle dresses.

Apron was finished the next day.

This is the Carpet with my son modeling for me.

This is the Teapot and Teacup I put piping on.

Cast member wearing the teapot.

This is me tea dyeing Belle's white aprons in the teachers bathroom at school. I brought a thermos of hot black tea, a bowl and a towel.

Rinsing above aprons in the bathroom sink.

Sewing in the dark during final dress rehearsal. This is so typical of almost every production I ever worked on.

While it is time consuming and sometime frantic, I was reminded of all the happy times I've had in the theatre. And I received the sweetest thank you card ever...

Roarin' 20's

My son's public elementary school's Mandarin Immersion Program has an annual fundraising gala. The theme this year was the Roaring 20's. Such a fun and accessible idea for everyone. We had a "Bootlegger's Pull", special themed drinks and lots of sparkly hair ornaments.

Mostly I want to show you my outfit for the evening. While I was excited about the gala as a fundraiser, I have to admit to being more excited about having an event to dress up in clothes from one of my favorite time periods.

Way back in college, I made this dress for opening night of a production of Cabaret. It still fit albeit a little tighter around the hips (I blame my son Ian for that). I had to make a small alteration on the lower fringe which I covered up with a floral applique. You can see it on the lower left side.

I borrowed a long strand of pearls and long black gloves. I had my own vintage and costume jewelry for the earrings, necklace and bracelets.

I had new pumps from last year that I never wore. I added black ribbon bows at the ankle for a more period look. Someone described them as "naughty".

Amazingly, while randomly out shopping for nothing, I found this cut velvet cocoon jacket on the sale rack at Anthropologie. Couldn't be more perfect.

I purchased this peacock feather fascinator for my hair from etsy shop, Axentz. I put it on a glittery elastic headband and added a rhinestone clip earring on the other side.

With advice from a hairdresser friend and Pintrist, I was able to cobble together some semblance of a flapper-esque hair-do.

And wallah....a roaring 20's version of myself...

Me with some of my beautiful friends.

It was a grand evening!