19 July 2006

where for art thou....

okay - i know that this line from shakespeare really means " why are you romeo?" (or so my shakepeare prof told me) but when taken literally, it works for my blog title . :)

So I have been a bit under the radar this week – lots going on in the costume shop. We opened THE BOROWERS on the 8th and then went right into the build for the high school summer camp Shakespeare show. And this is where things get a bit “craptastic.”

In one week, we, the 3 interns and me (or is it I? it's I, isn't it?), built three corsets (with rigilene, not steel boning) , 4 7-gored late-Victorian walking skirts, 1 reversible vest (so really 2-in-1), 2 matching vests (it’s 12th Night, so the twins), 4 more vests, a vest with tails (so not properly tailored in the slightest), and one other skirt which I whipped out one hour before tech last night…is that all?....oh and a 2 piece dress – a bit prom like, also boned with rigilene. And lots of alterations. The show opens on Friday and closes this Sunday.

It’s not that we don’t produce solid work for our student shows– we do – it’s just that we are given one week to produce a lot of garments - so hems are done by machine, jacket sleeve hems are folded under, not shortened at the top or properly at the hem. And the fact that i am admitting this in the blog-iverse...I am not proud, but you have to get dome what needs to be done - would not believe that i used to make proper steel boned corsets and paniers.....Just so you know, there is absolutely, positively, no hot glue gun in my costume shop!!!! Hahaha except in very rare moments of desperation and crafting moments.

I don’t know if I have explained this but – we produce 6 main stage shows a year plus over 20 student shows. Normally (not including summers) I am a shop of one plus the occasional over hire and the costume designer. This fall, I finally get a full- time assistant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy!!!!!!!!!!!! If I could do a little dance in blog format – I would. La La la..Spin, twirl, dancing around the room with glee!

Here is a webpage, Demode that I am terribly envious of - Kendra is the blogger and she is amazing!!. She helps run this convention called COSTUME COLLEGE in California. A dream come true for me!! It is hosted by the Costumer's Guild West a chapter of the ICG (I want to go but it is already booked up and there are no more memberships left for this year. I am going to email and find out how early is too early for next year. I want to propose this to my boss and maybe get the company to subsidize the trip some how - you know to better my skills as desinger, technician and costume shop manager.

Sorry for the lack of knitting or personal sewing - there are pictures, but I left the camera in my knitting bag, which I left in the board room after a 2 hour design meeting this morning! I am so ashamed..to leave my knitting behind like that!

End note: PROJECT RUNWAY – I cannot believe that Milan was auf’ed!!! Okay the man is a bit creepy and that dress was a bit log-like…and jeffrey's dress was messy. Angela was a total be-atch! How could she dis her team leader like that on such a classic design – no not pageant style but totally classic (a bit 30’s style – would have been better had it been done on the bias - imho)

5 comments:

jill said...

I hear ya sistah - I'm a one-(wo)man band at work, myself. Also, as a former board-treader, I was always aghast at the time that costume shops took to create really well-tailored costumes, knowing how little of it could really be seen from the audience. Gotta love people who take real pride in their work!

And yes, it is "my assistants and I built three corsets..." The trick is to take out the other people in the sentence to see if the personal pronoun still works, e.g.: you wouldn't say "Me built three corsets." Most people get it wrong on the other end of the (transitive) verb, frex - "She gave it to Fritz and I." If you take Fritz out of the sentence, you can see how wrong it is, aside from sounding like Dame Edna. (Of course, it would be wrong to take Fritz out anyway - you'd miss him too much!)

Thus endeth the grammar geekery.

Marietta said...

you beat my mother!!!! :) it has to do with nomnative, accusative, dative, and genitive..der, die das, die/den die das die....i know it in german at least :)

Anonymous said...

Okay, so I'm slow today. ...still fretting over having left my knitting at home with a long train ride this evening and no yarn stores within easy distance of NYPenn Station...

Becka said...

I ditto Jill's grammarisms (wink)! LOL, as if my southern speak is grammatically correct at all times..NOT even close.

I have to say..I envy your design skills! I must see photos of your costumes, please, please! I am in awe of these wonderful costumes that you are making! Brava!

Marji said...

You need not apologize for the construction coming out of a theater costume shop. I helped out one year on Saturdays in the costume workshop at Interlochen and was constantly admonished by Candy, the costume mistress there, "this is costume, Get it Done!" Until of course we got to the ballet stuff. Those tutu's are 'built' as opposed to sewn. Amazing construction. All we were doing was altering to fit the dancers, the costumes rented from one of the big ballet companies out east.

love your blog, can't wait to see more of your work.