The Singing Costumer

  This dress. Oh boy, this dress. Where do I even start? I guess, the very beginning is a very good place to start. This dress has been in progress since 2016. It’s made of a pink quilting cotton with a blue and cream floral design. The garment consists of a separate skirt and bodice. It closes down the front with hooks and bars, and the skirt attaches to the blouse in the same way. It started its life as Simplicity 5442. It has gone through several changes since then. Originally, this was made for a college broadway revue show. I made this for Joanna from Sweeney Todd.  My voice teacher from college was teaching voice at another school and needed some costumes. This was when I was starting to get really interested in historic dress and costumes. The pattern was for a sheer dress, fashionable in the Victorian era. I used the pieces marked for the sheer layer and just made it in the cotton. The pattern has a lot of gathering and is very pretty. I knew that I wanted to keep it, ...

     Let’s go back to the Before Times. Summer 2019, I saw that anyone could send in an audition to sing at the State Fair of Oklahoma. No pay, sadly, but I thought it could be good practice for me. I sent in a clip of my singing, and they asked me to sing. It was very exciting. I used a costume I had worn before and had a great time at the fair. Then a few months later, March 2020 happened. Ugh. Obviously, there was no state fair that year. But this year, they asked me to sing on the big grandstand! Naturally, I had to make a new costume. This ensemble is in 3 pieces; the dress, the over skirt , and the cummerbund .       I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on supplies and fabric, since I wasn’t being paid. Luckily, my local thrift stores provided some cool gold curtains and a tablecloth. The curtains are a very shiny, very light, smooth satin. And the table has a bit of a slub texture to it, and is a bit heavier. I think my total cost for this ...