Tuesday, August 5, 2014

A Tropical Delight

My first creative exploit happened about a week ago, here in Maine.  I went to the local goodwill and found this cute, if not abrasive, number for $4.99!

I belong in Dirty Dancing...
The overall shape was really cute right off the bat.  I liked the whole 80s-does-40s cut and the pattern was intriguing as well (if not a bit overwhelming on that white background...).  And yes, I belong at the resort from Dirty Dancing (The original.  NOT Havana Nights...)

ALSO!
Pockets!!!
 It has pockets!  I think every dress is better with pockets...but that's just me...

So, yay.  This dress has some major potential.  Unfortunately the top made me feel like I was enveloped in football padding...

Ahhhhh
 Like really, tell the Texans I'm signing up.

These shoulder pads make me feel like JJ Watt
 So, yes, that would be the first thing to go.  Along with those sleeves.



Oh yeah, here we go.
Next, I put the dress back on and added darts to my sides to coordinate with the pre-existing ones on the front and back into the waist, and took care of the rest of the excess size with tucks in the shoulder seam.  

Now, I had to fix that hem from the dark-ages.  The dress already had a lot of topstitching in the original white and considering tight stitches like that won't always take the dye as well as the fabric it is on, I decided to keep it consistent prior to dye.

I really loved the idea of having some length, but I also wanted the dress to be fun and flirty.  I set my sights on a hi-low hem (or as my friend Sarah says "mullet hem").  

OOoooo, yeah.  Look at that sexy hem!
This dress was really starting to take shape.  But now it was time to take color!  I decided the print would be much nicer against a blue background.  Something to really subdue the large strokes and compliment the teal.  I started with...you guessed it - Teal.  

Uh-oh...that looks a little...GREEN.


I decided I would need to mix some Evening Blue and Aquamarine, just to make sure the color was less green and more BLUE.  After testing some excess hem fabric, I realized that the fabric would not take dye easily.  Key word - easily.  It would take, doggone it.  It would just take some time.  I set the dye for what seemed like 30 - 45 minutes.  Afterwords, I rinsed the dress a dozen times by hand in the sink - I didn't want to take any chances with an older dress.

And let me tell you, this dress turned out better than I every could have hoped!

A Tropical Delight alright!
I loved the color!  It really complimented my new red hair and complimented the blue Maine skies.

A Crabby Lobstah Roll:
half crab, half lobster, all goodness! 
Perfect for a little catch in the park!
I feel so satisfied with this dress.  It was the perfect refashion for jumping back into the swing of things!

Until next time!
The FeltWoman

Monday, August 4, 2014

Annnnd....A year and a half later...I'm back!

The FeltWoman has returned.  Wow, it has been a hectic 19 months.  I've finished undergrad, costume designed and assistant costume designed 5 shows and films, added 4 shows to my construction resume, been in a couple shows, a few films, and am about to wrap up my employment at a summer theatre in Maine.  I've been through heartache, and fallen back in love.  I made the biggest move of my life, away from my home state, to a much smaller NC.  A whir.  And to say I didn't have any time to write a simple post now and then would be a lie.  But my free time was very important to me and I needed it for other reasons for...sanity.

But!...my move to North Carolina will be providing me with a lot of free time to explore my creative needs and I cannot wait to get this blog back up and running!  Here we go!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Thanksgiving


Hello World!

Sorry for being a day behind.  Yesterday the boy and I traveled to Sugarland to visit my dad's side of the family and stayed late to have dinner with ERad.  And today was spent in Victoria.

It's been a traveling sort of Christmas Break.

~*~

11/12 - 18

The best way to publicize your show - WhichWhich


So the only exciting thing to happen this week was Hecuba opened.  The boy sent me these of course, because he's the best.



And sure enough the day after opening…  

My best friend who was in the show got hit in the head with a chair in a freak accident and had to go to the E.R.


She was okay in the end.  Minor concussion, and bruising with swelling.  But after a night off, she was back in the show.

~*~

11/19 - 25

Christmas Decorating/Draping 2/Finish Detective Film/Thanksgiving


So this week began with the finishing of the Detective film I was in.


I also had a project to turn in.  Remember that awesome class I'm taking where I make custom clothes? Well this was project number two.

I chose this Edwardian era Queed Maud gown originally worn in 1913 (mainly because I'm obsessed with Downton Abbey and want to fantasize that I'm from the nineteen-teens).



Ugggghhhhh, I love this show.

Even if I am SO MAD AT IT RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF THE SEASON THREE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL.

So right, the Queen Maud gown.


And here was my final mockup...

Fit for Lady Mary!

And this is me wearing my mock-up.

I could be on Downton!

And then it was

THANKSGIVING BREAK

I hopped on the plane to Minnesota!

I had my traditional T.G.I. Friday's at DFW

And luckily for me...

IT SNOWED!

Bob and Katie (Karen's brother and his wife) came over and we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner.


Airplane with the matchy-match twins.

Saturday Karen, Dad, the girls and I went to Target Arena and saw the Shriner Circus.

The Shriner Circus

So glad that they still do this.  So terrifying and entertaining.

After the circus, we headed to Karen's collegiate hang out spot, Glueck's, where I had a Berliner (or pot roast sandwhich with mushrooms and mozzarella) which was DELICIOUS as we watched the beginning of the Baylor game.


We hit Macy's Santaland and then made our way back to the house to finish the BU vs. TECH game which we WON!

Mac says "Go Bears!"

~*~

Thanks for tuning in, loves,
The FeltWoman

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Hey-Cuba!


Hello world!

Yesterday the boy and I arrived home, where I had Christmas a day late with my BC fam-o-ly.  It was a nice simple Christmas.  And I finally got a new straightener!  (score!)

Today I took advantage of that new straightener (as well as some desigual clothes from my Dad) and got all dolled up to go see my aunt and uncle with the boy and the fam-o-ly.

oooooooooh Desigual….

And with our luck, we blew a tire.  So after a long night, here's the November Chronicles…

~*~

10/29 - 11/4

Homecoming/Skate-n-date

I must say this was the first year that I had any school spirit during Homecoming…

I woke up at an atrocious hour and got some donuts, then carpooled with the rest of the members of BUTSS for

HOMECOMING PARADE!

There were some great floats there this year, my favorite of which was KOT's.

KOT had the most epic London/Peter Pan/Neverland float ever.  That's Peter Pan's tree house on the left and the eye of London and Big Ben behind me.
AND THEN
They also had a MOVING Jolly Rogers up above it all…I mean it broke down in the parade, but it was AWESOME.


 I had a really fun time, despite how early I was awake, and how long we waited doing nothing with an obnoxious band surrounding us...

My Little and my Line Camp Leader

Hannah showing her dance moves to the middle school band...

Immediately after the parade, those of us who were costume workstudies had to book it to the theatre for a mandatory work call for Hecuba.  Woohoo!

And the next night was SKATE-N-DATE!  An 80's themed Roller Skate Take-a-date.

Ducky and McFly

~*~

Okay, so this is my sorry excuse for…

CRAFT TIME

I once again offered to design the shirts for the Take-A-Date…

This was my concept design.


And this is what the lovely folks at Bear Cotton came up with!

YAY!!!  PERFECTION!

Everyone really enjoyed the shirts.  I mean, I know I did.  I have TWO!

~*~

11/5 - 11/11

Hecuba Hair/Ty and Hannah's Wedding

So I was the Hair & Makeup designer for Baylor Theatre's Hecuba.  It was a lot of fun!  I don't think I'll be signing up for this again, just because I'll be a senior hoping to costume design a mainstage and also auditioning for shows while pursuing grad school…  But it was quite the adventure.

There was a lot of blood...

2 gallons...

Deceivingly pretty renderings…


And most importantly, corn rows…

That's right.  Three of my lovely actresses got corn rows (although due to rashes and such, only two were in for the show…but it didn't really make a difference).

The before pic

Kaycee, Alexis

Jaime

We spent a good three hours there.

There were some other awesome braids, too!  Like Rachel's cascading waterfall braid.

Thanks, pinterest!

Mind you, while all of this was happening, I was also making a skirt and a godforsaken corset of vinyl and leather.

Awful boning and the boy putting in grommets!

Oh, yeah!  Did I forget to mention that my boy was in?  His brother was getting married!


Despite the fact that I was working on finishing a show while it was all happening, it was a nice service and what I actually got to see of the reception, it was nice as well.

Showing off the boy's new RG3-famous Superman socks (his groomsmen gift)

~*~

That's it lovelies.  I'm headed to the dentist and then Houston tomorrow.  Thanks for reading!

Until next time, 
The FeltWoman