Friday Tip

Dear Constant Reader,

Greeting from San Jose, CA! I’m at Costume-Con this weekend. Two cross-country trips a week apart… I’m not exactly sure how that happened…

Anyhow, here’s your tip!

When measuring yourself for a costume or fitting one, ask a friend for help.

It’s possible, especially of you have an excellent dress form, to do this sort of thing yourself, but it’s always more accurate to do it on your own body. However, if you move, you’re changing your measurements. And you might need to contort yourself pretty seriously to reach parts of your body. I’ve been there. It’s much easier and more accurate to stand still and let someone else get the exact measurements or fit the garment on you.

This tip brought to you by Ava Fox crawling around on the floor Wednesday night after rehearsal to mark the hem on my new costume. My troupemates are the best.

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 21 April 2023 at 11:00 am  Leave a Comment  
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Burly Bundle Mardi Gras Mask

Dear Constant Reader,

Back in December I posted about my first Burly Bundle and made an unboxing video. I thought you might like to see the finished results.

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UntitledFirst I rhinestoned the filigree mask. I was a little daunted by those tiny yellow stones. They’re ss3! That’s like nail art size. I usually use ss16, 20, and 30 in my costuming. However, I used the included “rhinestone picker-upper” and it did make application very easy. Also, the rhinestone trays were very nice. I usually just use the lid of a jar or something similar. Tools that are actually designed for the job? What a difference!

I generally followed the included design plan for the mask. I could have gotten creative and maybe dipped in my own rhinestones to change up the colors, but I liked the suggested design just fine.

UntitledFor the feather ornament, I had a lot of options — there were three curled black feathers, six small white feathers and three black roses. And all the rhinestones leftover from the mask. I decided on one black feather, off-set with white behind and to each side.

Since I had such fun with the tiny yellow rhinestones, I gilded the roses with them. I did have a bad moment when I could only find two roses. Fortunately I discovered under which piece of furniture Bartholomew had batted the missing one.

It can be worn on the mask as shown or on its own as a hair adornment, so I made sure to orient the base so that the clip was in the best position for me to wear it in my hair as well.

And now I have a fancy mask for Mardi Gras next week! (Not that I’m actually doing anything for Mardi Gras, but it’s always good to be prepared.)

If you’re interested in Burly Bundle, I think signups for the next bundle are open until the end of February. The project is always a secret until you open the box. If you do want to try it out, please use this link. You’ll get a $5 discount and I’ll get a little referral fee. (Other than being a subscriber who’s having fun, I’m not associated with Burly Bundle.)

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 17 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 13 February 2023 at 1:27 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Making Do and Mending

Dear  Constant Reader,

VRA few years ago I made a costume for the Historical Masquerade at Costume-Con 33. You can read all about it here. Short version: what if the Victoria’s Secret fashion show was actual held in the Victorian era. Thus, Victorian Secret! I made a historically accurate Victorian corset — that is, accurate in pattern and construction, not the thousands of rhinestones decorating it — and drawers and a chemise. The mantle and crown are because my theme was Victoria’s coronation.
(Photo by Ken Warren)

MISSMINAMURRAY_AnthonyJColegaI spent a lot of time and effort on the corset because I knew I’d use it again in a burlesque costume — which I did. I also entered said costume at Costume-Con 37 and you can see it in our show on April 30. However, I didn’t think I’d ever wear the drawers and chemise again. I hated to just have them hanging in the closet, but it’s not like I frequently wear Victorian attire and they were vital to the costume presentation.
(Photo by Anthony J. Colega)

I realized recently that the drawers and chemise would make great summer lounging attire. It gets hot in my atelier, despite the ceiling fan the ever-thoughtful Mr. Scratch installed, and the underthings are made of thin, nay, even  translucent, cotton (I’m wearing pasties under them in the above picture. Just in case). The pretty pintucks and lace are just a bonus.

Unfortunately, the drawers had fallen off the hanger to the floor of my closet and during a mouse infestation, got nibbled. There were wee holes chewed hither and yon. The good news was they were only on one leg. The bad new was that they were so numerous and wide-spread that patching was not an option.

Fortunately, I had just enough cotton left over to cut one new leg. Then I stalled because I really didn’t feel like doing another set of pintucks, especially when the first ones were so even and matched so nicely on each leg.

Then I had an inspiration — I pinned the old leg and the new leg together and marked the stitching line for the first row of pintucks. I cut the old leg above it and the new leg below it. Then I sewed the new leg and the pintucked bit together just at that stitching line, using my stitch-in-the-ditch foot (also called an edge joiner). You can’t even tell  there’s a seam there!

Because the fabric is so sheer, the seam allowance was visible from the outside if I pressed it open, so I flat felled the seam toward the tucks and sewed it down with very teeny hand stitches behind the first pintuck where the extra fabric hides the seam.

Mended Victorian DrawersTada! I can’t even tell which leg is the mended one unless I turn the drawers inside out. I’m glad I was able to salvage these from the ravages of rodents and I’ll have something cool and comfy to wear this summer whilst I sew.

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 14 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 15 March 2022 at 3:21 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Busy Week

Dear Constant Reader,

Last night we had our usual Sunday rehearsal, which was devoted to dress rehearsal for our show on Saturday and then I looked at my calendar for the week ahead…

Monday: Rehearsal with the band for Thursday’s show

Tuesday: Teach the first session of Introduction to Burlesque (on-line)

Wednesday: Rehearsal

Thursday: Burlesque with a Band at Flying Embers Taproom

Friday: Night off!

Saturday: Dinner show at Premier on Broadway

Sunday: Rehearsal

Whew! What a start to February!

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 15 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 31 January 2022 at 11:44 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Friday! Here’s a tip!

In your emergency costume repair kit, have some needles pre-threaded with a doubled length of thread and knot the ends so the needle won’t slip off.

If you need to make a repair at a show, it’s usually something you need to do fast. With this tip you’ll just have to grab your needle and get to it. I like to have needles threaded with black (good for most dark colors), white (good for most light colors), and red (the most common color of my costumes). You can wrap the thread around a little slip of cardboard to keep it from tangling in your sewing kit.

Don’t forget to replenish the thread after you use it up, so you’ll always be ready!

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 12 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 5 November 2021 at 2:56 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Vamps and Roses

Dear Constant Reader,

After a really intense week of working on and performing in Vamps After Midnite, I’m glad for two days off. We’ve got four shows next week — get your tickets now!

IMG_3149In Vamps After Midnite I play the Mother Superior of an order of vampire hunting nuns, The Little Sisters of the Thrusting Shaft, and spend most of my time wearing a wimple. (Here I am with Devastasia, who plays Mary Daguerreotype, a Lay Sister.) I can’t style my hair because the wimple fits rather closely. That wouldn’t be a big deal, if you never saw my hair in the show. However, at the end of my first scene, due to a “pointless flashback”, I remove my habit and wimple to perform La Vie en Rose. Usually I just have a single hair ornament for this act, but I also usually have styled hair. I needed something to distract from my boring (and flattened) hair.

Time to make a headdress! (Because it all came together so quickly, I forgot to take progress shots, so these are after the fact.)

I started with a cloth visor, like this one. Amazon said the one I bought was “rose”, but when it came out of the package, it was bright pink. That certainly would not do! I started to overcomplicate things by making plans to cover it with more appropriately colored fabric.

But then I remembered this stuff!
IMG_3165
Perfect for a quick & dirty project like this. A mere few minutes later the visor was red.

While waiting for the paint to dry, off to the dollar store for a bouquet of roses. The first step was to cut them apart from the central stem, using a wire cutter. Then I grabbed my hot glue gun.

My initial plan was to treat the roses like feathers on a showgirl headdress, but that meant the flowers were basically in profile and I decided I wanted the open blossoms to be visible. Also it was just a little ridiculous looking. I mean, more ridiculous than I was willing to wear. Fortunately, it’s easy to remove hot glue.

I clipped the roses completely off the stems and glued the calyx to the visor, tucking in some leaves to fill a couple of gaps. I covered the band with more leaves. After wondering for a bit how I was going to finish the back of the visor, I glued on two rows of individual petals. Then just because I could, I added a few red rhinestones here and there on the roses.
IMG_3151

Voila! Active construction was about an hour (not including letting the paint dry or the walk to the dollar store and back) and I wore it in that night’s show.

This was taken post-show, since I don’t have any downtime during the show while I’m wearing the headdress in which to take a photo. You can see it in action this Wednesday through Saturday at Vamps After Midnite!

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 12 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 26 October 2021 at 1:34 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s October! I, for one, am very grateful because September was an awful month. I know changing the calendar page doesn’t automatically make everything better, but at least it feels like there is potential for things to be better. To start things off right, here is your tip!

Don’t be fooled by glitter-dot fabric.

It may look like a cheap and easy way to get some sparkle in your costume, but then you run it through the sewing machine only to end up with gummy needles that dull quickly, wonky tension, splitting thread, and sorrow. 

It’s a little more manageable if you’re hand sewing, like covering bra cups or headdress bases.

 

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 12 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

 

Published in: on 1 October 2021 at 2:50 pm  Leave a Comment  
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New Sewing Project — with your help

Dear Constant Reader,

I am (slowly, too slowly) turning my mountains of fabric into useful items. I came across this fabulous feather print:

IMG_2836
You can’t tell from the photo, but the highlights are metallic silver. It’s a cotton fabric, about 45″ wide and I think I have 5 yards.

What should I do with it? I think it could make a very interesting dress, but beyond that, I’m stumped. I turn to you, my faithful readers for suggestions.

I have many fine qualities and skills, but draping is not one of them, so a picture of an existing garment is going to go nowhere. A commercial pattern suggestion is much more helpful.

If you’ve got a thought, share it in the comments below. I’ll pick my favorite and post my progress here. I think Patrons will get a video dress diary as well.

How should I let my feathers fly?

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 12 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 22 September 2021 at 9:24 am  Leave a Comment  
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Halloween at the Museum

Dear Constant Reader,

This Friday the first temporary exhibit at The American Burlesque Collection opened! Halloween Comes to Burlesqueland features costumes, photos and other items that celebrate my favorite holiday (maybe yours too).

I went up to help with the exhibit set-up and it was frantic. The museum closed at 5 and the guests coming for the inaugural arrived at 6:30. Even with the prep the staff and volunteers had done, it was not a lot of time. I was on costume duty, as you might have guessed.

The easiest set up should have been the Hedy Jo Star flame coat. One piece, zipper down the front. But I just had to get clever and do some swapping of mannequins and bases, so I’d get one that was tall enough, but also had arms. Only I discovered that there was no way to get the arms through the skinny, skinny upper sleeves. After that disappointment, in the process of removing a recalcitrant mannequin arm, I clonked myself in the forehead with it. And am sporting a charming  lump even now. It’s all glamour here.

One of the most creative displays (I had no hand in this one) is The Lost Girl and Bücher in “Creepy Doll” from The Wrathskellar. Since The Creepy Doll costume really should be displayed as creepily as possible, a standard fashion mannequin wasn’t up to the task. Instead, she’s on an articulated skeleton (’tis the season!) in one of her most disturbing poses from the act. For the final touch, a video of the act is projected just above the costumes.

I was most excited to work on a loan from Angie Pontani. She sent the museum her stunning Madame de Pompadour costume by David Quinn. This was a little tricky to display. We decided to put the undergarments on one mannequin and the over-garments on another. Makes perfect sense, right? Except the gown wouldn’t hang right without the underpinnnings. We came up with a very creative solution… Can you guess?

There are pictures of all these costumes and more are available to my Patrons. The rest of you will just have to visit the museum before November 15th!

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Published in: on 5 October 2020 at 3:25 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Friday! Today is the launch of Burlesque Galaxy! It’s also one week until the American Burlesque Collection opens their special Halloween exhibit with a very exclusive dinner and tour.

And now for your tip! Previously I told you how to salvage spilled rhinestones…

Keep a magnet handy to pick up fallen pins and needles from around your sewing area.

This works very well on carpet — just hover the magnet close to the surface and the pins will magically appear. It’s so much nicer to find those pointy little things with a magnet than your foot!

M2These writings and other creative projects are supported by my Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

 

Published in: on 25 September 2020 at 1:46 pm  Leave a Comment  
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