Happy Day!!!!!!

Fritz: so did you get that package?
Mar: What package?
Fritz: The one from Germany – that you have been looking for every night when we get home. That package.
Mar: Oh yes! My paeckchen zirkel!
Fritz: Oh. Well, did you get it?
Mar: Not yet – but that’s okay we have until August 15th, and I have to send out my last two later this week. Just need to get to the Post office.

Warning: deutsch-lish ahead! (I apologize in advance for the poor German grammar)

…later that night…

It came! It came! My first package is here!!
Mein erstes paeckchen ist angekommen! Yeah! Es freut mich sehr. DANKE DANKE DANKE vielmals an Isa!!!! Sie hat mir eine kleines nachricht geschrieben: …”hoffe dass ETWAS nach deinen Geschmack dabei ist” Etwas?? Try alles!!!!!!







Ich meine – wirklich – habt ihr gesehen?:





Eine kleine Beschreibung: - 6 lovely fabrics (lovin’ the sushi), cool trims (even Fritz said that they were very Marietta, especially the pink), a very cool purse (you should zoom in and check out the hand work!), a nifty wooden button (it might be missing from the pics), a cool little “anhaenger” for my key chain, 2 very cool (and perfect) fairytale shrinky-dinks with my name (fritz is going to drill a tiny hole through them so I can hang them off the rearview mirror in my car), and the piece de resistance (imagine, French accent):




TIGERENTE FABRIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you see the Janosch book? – I LOVE TIGERENTE (it’s a love story) – which I did not have. I will read it tonight before I go to sleep.

Wie könnte ich nicht glücklich sein? Ihr koenntet alles besser HIER sehen.
How could I not be happy! You can see everything better over here!


in other news: did not meet the sew-retro challenge for the month - started late last week, so i am not surprised. I hope to finish it this week though, after i send out my part of the paeckchen zirkel that is. And a thank you to everyone for the nice things you said about my hair!!! You did not have to and that was just great - made me feel so much better about my random hair care choice - cause, dude! shaving my head is not far from thought on a regualr basis!

other things to tell you about - knitting and sewing - but it is past my bedtime (well for tonight anyway!)

see you later!

shoes!!!!

The day off was lovely! Started off strange – but all fabulous in the end.
The beginning? While at the drug store– I saw two men walk out with store baskets full of food items; the alarms went off and not a single clerk did anything! When I went to my car a minute later – those two guys were at there car – looked me kind of mean and took off. I called the store manager on my cell and when I mentioned that the alarms had just gone off moments ago and nothing was done, she said ” Thank you. I will check the security tapes. Have a nice day!”

Okay so that was odd and nerve-wracking…but they day got better – of course, because we saw this (it is a knitted boot!):










dancing shoes that you can make tap!:


And this(the closest i will ever get to a manolo blahnik):


We got to design our own shoe too!!!!!


And did you know that you can eat lunch at Whole Foods? Okay maybe you knew you could have a gourmet lunch at the grocery store– but I didn’t, until yesterday. My Whole Foods does not have his amazing lunch bar that the one in Alexandria Old Towne does – check it out if you are there!

We then went to PAZAZZ for our hands and feet. Brought a bottle of wine (an Austrian Riesling, aber natuerlich) and relaxed in the massaging chair while pedicured. It felt so good, I didn’t even knit. Then I decided to get my hair cut on a whim!

Okay I am going to toot own horn and say: Aren’t I cute?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
You have to understand something – 9 times out of 10; I am in tears when I leave a salon. It is very hard to find someone who will do a fabulous cut and color. This time was just cut (the bleach streak is my own personal boredom).

dresses and dinosaurs

The shop is a bit quiet until we start fitting the show - so in order to teach the girls how to follow a pattern, i thought that i would give them something fun to do:






Two of them felt that their dinosaurs were more dragon like - so they added wings :)
While they were having their fun, I was having mine. I started that 60's dress pattern (from ebay)- made the muslin, fit it (sort of) and just jumped into the fabric. the choice was difficult - i almost went with classic black, my personal favourite, but thought that it would be just too heavy and typical. So i dug a little further and found a dark brown with pink dots and floral:












the collar isn't actually a collar - just a bias strip of a pink silk shantung from my stash pinned on for me to see if it really is the right colour - and then there is me being all crazy and costume-y:












i was messing around and thought that maybe the silk could use dark brown polka dots - but that is the costume designer in me, and not the practical dress maker (granted, this is NOT a practical dress). And am still thinking that I might make the sleeves short instead of "not really 3/4 length sleeve" - not a big fan since i am tall and 3/4 length always makes me feel like the sleeve is too short. But the "not quite" is a determined length that looks good on me and not like i ran out of fabric :)

Oh and remember this? The Bias Corset by Annie Modesitt? I finished it and finally got to finish it on Starr - so now all i need to do is figure out if i am going to do the i-cord bind off at the hem or do a ribbing, as well as the i cord straps. I will gladly take a picture of it on Starr when i give it to her in August - all finished and fabulous!

here's a thought - how retro is retro? Does fabric that i bought more than 15 years ago count as retro?
And how do i get those buttons for other webpages into my side-bar?

Tomorrow I am off from work!!!! - manicures/pedicures and a museum trip to see an exhibit on shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

take me out to the ball game....

So it is a few days late but here is a little bit of how i spent my weekend:

Not the most flattering picture - but what is important are the hats. Yes - that is Fritz in a Cubs baseball cap. One of the many reasons i married him was his lack of love of sports - i warned him about my Cubs passion and world cup insanity (he swears i never told him) - and i hoped he would share in the fun. He ignored the world cup - but was willing to go to the game. :)

(and you do not need to ask - yes my team lost - but AUGUST is our month....)
And there is this lovely tradition at the Washington DC :

if you look real close - you can see that this is what is called the Presidential Race. George Washington won, Abe in 2nd, Teddy in 3rd and Tom (jefferson) was last - i think...

it was actually an exciting game so there was no knitting - though i did bring a pair of socks with me just in case...

so much to make, so little time

The first summer student show has opened… and it has closed – went to strike and filled the car with the dry cleaning! So much done for such a little time. Now on to the next one – THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM – but we get about 3 weeks to build that one and most of it has been pulled from several other theatres – yeah.

There are also now 3 high school interns in the costume shop plus 3 college interns – we are jamming! I’m thinking that there is plenty of time for personal sewing for everyone one as well as teaching a few things. Especially a stuffed dinosaur patern i found while cleaning out my sewing room.

I have a long list of things that I need to make for myself or others – to knit or sew:
Pakchen zirkel items
Felted tea cozy
Luxurious hand knit or quilted eyeglasses case – for my sunglasses
That retro 60’s dress pattern I got on eBay last week
That retro 70's dress (reissued by simplicity) that everyone is making (so why can't I?):












Purse organizer
Another summer skirt – before summer is gone
A few more of these t-shirts
Maybe a retro apron or two:












Finish that world cup sweater
About 20 pairs of socks including these, these and these
A quilt or two
A few bags, such as this or this
A slip-cover for the ugly sofa in our living room
That suit for my mom

Oh and did I mention? Finally saw pirates of the caribbean II – not disappointed…but not thrilled…kind of like Indiana Jones II – need to see it to get to part III. Not going to complain 'cause cute boys and fab costumes….Johnny Depp…need I say more?

vintage sewing and bloody shakespeare

Look at what I won!!! Remember that eBay moment I had with the cozies? Well I was sidetracked by some vintage patterns. And I am quite happy to have found and won these lovelies:
Some were still in the envelopes sent to the original owners back in 1962 and 1964 – though one of them is a bit 80’s. I am looking forward to making the short sleeve dress with the roll collar (top row, center). I’ll have to expand the pattern a bit too fit me of course….Perfect since I just joined SewRetro. I might make this for my first challenge, if I have time before the end of the month (read: next week). We shall see...wonder what the next challenge will be?

The other fun moment of the day was fun with bruises, blood and scars. My intern, Dietzy, is running the show backstage and Kym and I gave her a lesson in bruises and scars for one of the actors in the second Act…a little too much fun was had by all! I got her started with a few basic black and blue marks and Kym let her go with the bloody scars (made with spirit gum, red zinger tea leaves, and Ben Nye Stage blood – peppermint flavored,naturally) -Pics below not for the sensitive :)

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)