The Show is Over...

This afternoon was the final performance of "Hairspray" at the local high school. I'm so glad I got to see the show; the kids all looked like they were having a blast!! And I got some pictures, too!

Here's Tracy in the opening number, "Good Morning Baltimore." I made the skirt, and intended to make the blouse, but there simply wasn't enough time to do it all, so I ended up going to Salvation Army and buying up an armful of shirts and blouses and altering them to suit the actor. This shirt, for example, used to have long sleeves, but the director wanted short sleeves.

I was so tickled to see these dresses again!! These were the green dresses I made for the girl group "The Gems" for the same school's production of "Dreamgirls" two years ago.

The costume mistress wanted eight colorful skirts for the Council dancers, to match the shirts of the council boys. These are just gathered elastic-waist skirts, with velcro-fastened belts. The belts were made out of a flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth, cut into strips and sewed together.

I think the hardest assignment I had to do for this show was this dress. The costume mistress specifically asked for an "Ugly Dress" for Edna. So I used this plaid flannel shirting and added ruffles, along with some elastic under the bust to make it truly unflattering.

Matching dresses for Tracy and Edna from Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway. These were fun to make, but I'm still vacuuming maribou feathers from around my sewing machine. That stuff sheds!!

Edna's custom Muumuu. This is a simple raglan-sleeve dress, with knit band collar and cuffs.

Tracy's final outfit was another interesting challenge. The costume mistress gave me a tiered, sleeveless, scoopneck dress, and asked me to add sleeves and raise the neckline (to cover the fat suit the actor wore). I was trying to figure out how to draft sleeves and attach them when my brilliant daughter suggested I make a simple "dickie with sleeves" the actor could wear under the dress. It worked perfectly! I scavenged a tier to make trim bands for the sleeves, just to tie it all together, and also added a band of the sparkle to the neck as binding.

This is Edna's final outfit, and it was a lot of fun to make. The costume mistress wanted it to be flashy, red, and very sexy. I used some silk dupioni left over from some draperies I never got around to making, and added hot-fix crystals to the neck and a band of glitter ribbon at the top of the ruffle. The sash was the finishing touch.
(By the way, the actor playing Edna is not wearing a wig... That's his own hair!)

So, another show has closed, and I've already been warned that I will be called next year. I have no idea what show they're doing, but it's always so much fun to work with the high school kids. At the end of the performance, I was called on stage, along with the other parent volunteers, and presented with a huge poster with a picture of the cast and all their autographs and messages of thanks. I can't wait to hang it up in my office!