Naked Influence

I am in the middle of organizing the basement (aka the hole under our house).  I have finally gone through costumes from the past, and boxed and labeled them, so that hopefully I won’t have to dig through boxes to find something.

This if from a middle school production of 42nd  Street. The actress and I loved this dress–after it was used for some time, I gave it to her!

Right now, I am gearing up for the following events for fall: Oklahoma!, our annual Madrigal Dinner at the middle school, and Schoolhouse Rock Live!

And, because I love the insanity, for spring: Music Man and Once Upon a Mattress.

Here are some inspiration photos that I have been collecting:I like the detail on the green suit…hope to modify for Oklahoma!

Also liking this one for Eulalie…

Well, back to the sorting!

I am swamped…and actually liking it!  I have a driveway full of mulch that needs a home by Friday; I have one more dress to sew for a local designer (more on that later); I have meetings for various projects scheduled (like Music Man):

I love this striped dress–maybe for Eulalie Shinn?

In other news, my attempts at breaking into the costume/wardrobe world in our movie industry here is proving futile.  Most likely, I will be attending an expo on Sunday, and maybe I can make some contacts there!

Well, where have the months gone?  I am ashamed to see how long it has been since I have written. So long, in fact, that I had to click on the ‘forget your password’ button.

But, it is not as if I have not been busy.  It just seems overwhelming to break out the camera to take pics of the exciting things that are happening in this casa.

I am going to try to be better; really, I am.  I have so much to share!

*Pictures of the ONE HUNDRED vintage patterns that I treated myself to for my birthday (okay, okay, that was in July)

*Costumes from the WORLD PREMIERE of Swamp Opera…with music by Heywood Banks (written by his wife).  Google him for the YouTube…so hilarious!

*Various projects while I contemplate opening an Etsy store (anyone have a good resource on how-to or advice–I would greatly appreciate!)

*Total bedroom redo–right down to the studs!  It is now a cool blue oasis!

*I am participating in my first swap…an aqua and red one over at Apron Thrift Girl.  This is SO exciting because I love this color combo!

I will leave you with this eye makeup image…courtesy of ellyyap.blogspot.com…imitation is the greatest form of flattery, no?

We have had the craziest weather lately! A huge snowfall that cancels school (and my payday) followed by a digging out period, and then some rain to wash away snow. Snowdays do allow me to get some ‘Millie’ sewing done–these are Opening Scene Daydresses. . . .

And, as promised, I have included some of the beading I have been doing for the play. . .here is a hip decoration and a headband!

It was lovingly pointed out by my hubby the other day that if I don’t make time to post to my blog, I will lose my readership, all four of you (no kidding, we checked). I am proud to say that I had over 200 people visit when Dress a Day linked to me for a dress I made my youngest. (THANK YOU, ERIN!)

Well, I have been acting as a long-term sub for 6th and 7th grade ELA at our middle school, and although I love my students, it does take up a HUGE amount of time!

I haven’t been lazy though! We had Madrigal Dinner in Novembe–one month early and with a royal court twice the size it has been in the past. I know we have other pics around, but these I pulled from our choir website.

This is our Princess for the evening!

This was the best costume to make, and I am rather proud of it! His character is the daddy and step-mommy, so I took an old ‘Beetlejuice’ Madrigal dress, split it down the middle, and created this. His performance, by the by, was HILARIOUS!!!

This is my daughter and a classmate on stage.
All the kids had a GREAT time, and even with the time crunch, we were able to pull off the dinner without too many costume hassles!

For the future—
I haven’t forgotten that I want to have a give-away; they look like so much fun!
And…we have started rehearsals for our spring performance of ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’. This has me way excited because I have never costumed a show set in the 20s before. I will have pics up of some fab beading soon!