The little girl in my mind

The gold dress has caused me problems!  I always have an issue with the ‘ooh ahh’ dress anyway but this time round it has become the most important thing in the world (I should probably not take these things so seriously!).

In my mind I picture the scene, families sitting in the village hall watching a pantomime that they do not expect to meet the grandeur of the Palladium, but a bit of gentle entertainment they can all enjoy.  Then amongst those in the audience is a little girl (I think it’s because I had four of those little girls that it seems so important).  This little girl loves dressing up in her princess clothes and watching her princess DVD’s and has been excitedly looking forward to this panto.  It’s Beauty and the Beast…it’s got Belle in it, and Belle does wear that lovely gold dress doesn’t she (Belle was the favourite Princess of two of my little girls, I can’t let them down)?

So it’s the ball scene and Belle comes on stage to one of two reactions;

Oh it’s a fairly pretty dress, or;

Oooooh ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Then, when they go home that little girl is either thinking of that beautiful Belle dress, or just enjoyed the evening.

This is MY moment, the moment that the costume department rises to the fore (can you see me on my soapbox), the moment when we can make a little girl ecstatic or just let her carry on watching the local village panto.

I want to make that little girl ecstatic!

So I made up the bodice as the pattern instructed and put a panel of gold in the front.

Then I looked at it.

This dress is NOT a copy of the Disney one but does need to be an interpretation of it to keep that little girl happy (wherever she is I hope she appreciates the effort I put into this).  I have shown you the design I am basing it on and I merrily cut out the bertha and pinned it on.  I then attached some gold ribbon and lace and took a step back (15 foot rule, remember).

Very pretty for normal wear, but not enough for stage, the creamy colours would disappear in the spotlights.

Attempt number two involved adding some black and gold sparkly braid;

As bit better but it now makes the whole thing look brown, not gold.

 I pulled off the bertha and remade it with the gold fabric I had put on the front panel, put the ribbon back on and added some cream, lacy braid.  And stood back…still not enough!

Then I virtuously sat there for a whole day hand sewing gold beads and pearls onto the bodice.  Here it is with the top row of beads sewn on;

A couple of hundred beads to the top of the bodice have given it some glitter but I still need to add more to the front panel.  But one day of bead sewing was enough so I ventured forth and finished the basic sewing.

Here is the dress as it is today;

The dummy has padding added to the correct measurements for the bodice but the skirt is pinned back smaller, hence the gap between the two.

The skirt was cartridge pleated onto a waistband  (I will do a tutorial for the cartridge pleating in the future as it does add fullness to the skirt without the need of a petticoat).

And I step back…it needs more.  Something on the skirt?  Or does it need more sparkle in the shape of some descrete sequins?  I dont want it looking tacky but it does need to stand out from the crowd.  I just don’t know what it needs and Auntie Em wont be round for a few days to help out. 

I do have my mother round today, she is always good as a practise audience member and I do have my daughter round later, but she is  coming after a scan so will be, no doubt, talking babies.

So if anyone reads this today and has any thoughts…do let me know…it’s for that little girl!

The fifteen foot rule

I just got the feeling that I should spend a little time explaining how the fifteen foot rule works in my mind.

After posts about using upholstery fabrics, curtains and anything else that comes to hand, I am about to embark on ‘The Ball gown’ to be  worn by Belle that needs to be this panto’s ‘ooh ahh’ dress.  Every panto needs an ‘ooh ahh’ dress.  It is always worn by the princess (or other principal girl role) and she needs to make a grand entrance that makes the audience go… (Wait for it) …. “Oooh, ahh” at the vision of beauty before them.

I had decided, way back when Beauty and the Beast was the desired pantomime and not even confirmed, that I would not be making the ‘ooh ahh’ dress in yellow satin as seems to be the common choice.

The first reason was that I think (and this is only my opinion) that satin does not look good on stage!  By satin I mean the cheap polysatin that is all I would be able to afford, not duchess satin that looks gorgeous and sumptuous and I can only dream of a budget that would stretch to being able to afford that.   Polysatin is too flimsy and has no substance to it and the only way to save it for a dramatic dress would be to cover it in starch.  It also has a shine to it that screams out cheap costume (think of all those fancy dress costumes you can buy that are all made in polysatin).

The second reason is that yellow does not suit everybody and can make them look drained, not a great idea for stage!

So, in my mind I had decided on an antique gold for the gown.

When I went on my big fabric hunt of 2014, one of the things I was looking for was antique gold for the ball gown and I found the perfect colour.  The only problem being that the fabric is a kind of waxed cotton and not too wonderful to the touch.  After continuing on the hunt and finding nothing else, I went back and bought this fabric that was in the perfect colour…all because of the fifteen foot rule.

The simple fact is, it doesn’t matter what the fabric is as long as it looks right!  From fifteen foot away, waxed cotton looks and moves like an expensive taffeta!  Upholstery fabric that matches beautifully with another upholstery fabric looks like expensive jacquard.  Sadly, the perfectly beautiful fabric with flowers appliqued onto it of the same fabric looks a bit bland from fifteen foot away and needs something to lift it and you will find yourself wondering if you should be using it for the costume after all (yes I am talking about Belle’s first dress)!

If, like me, you are a fabricaholic, one of the first things you do when buying the stuff is feel it!  Just remember that nobody in the audience is going to feel the fabric and train yourself to think how it will look from a distance.  Pantomime costume is all about illusion, there is no need to worry about how the seams are finished; nobody will see it.  There is no need to worry about a few tacks here and there that hold the costume in place; nobody will see it, and there is no need to worry about what the fabric feels like; all they will see is something extraordinary on the stage.

If you are looking at something in your living/sewing room and it doesn’t hit you in the face then you can be pretty sure you need to add something.

Today, Auntie Em is coming round and we are going to be deciding on the ball gown and its ‘beautifying’.  The only thing I can guarantee at this point is that we will not be worrying about the fact that the fabric is waxed cotton!

Fairies galore

The next characters that really draw my attention in a costuming way are fairies.  Unfortunately, last year there was a directorial intervention in the fairy costume that I really should have ignored.  She wanted the fairy to look all punked up (I wanted a tutu), at the last rehearsal before Christmas the fairies mother stepped in as she didn't like her young daughter dressed like that, I told her I agreed completely so there was no hard feeling there lol.   This put a halt to the punk fairy but as there was now no time to make the tutu she ended up in the fairy costume that was one of the few nice costumes we already had on standby.

I have two types of fairy in my head, the young fairy in a tutu and the older one in a floaty ethereal gown.  This year I get to do both, not once but twice!  Good and bad fairies, one of each young and old.

There will definitely be tutus on the young ones.  Of course it will be black for the bad and I will probably do cream for the good.  This is based on the two saris’ I already have in my stash, conveniently one is black with silver and the other is a very pale coffee with the same colour embroidery.

I have this kind of thing in mind for the bad fairy;

It’s a theatre costume by Bruno Santini used in Iolanthe!

For the good fairy I want lots of floaty prettiness, this beautiful gown by Firefly Path sums it up nicely;

I just hope there isn't another attempt at directorial intervention on these, it will have to be ignored this time I’m afraid, and she may not be happy about that!

This is the frustrating time for me, I know the characters, I start to plan costumes, but as I don't know what body the costumes will go on I have to sit and wait drumming my fingers impatiently on the table top.

Why you need to plan so much in advance

When you are making costumes for so many people (mine average out to around 30 a year), it pays to plan in advance.  I have been in the situation of three weeks to go and not all principal players’ costumes made and it is not good.  That is when the stress sets in and enjoyment of the project goes flying out of the window.

Christmas is spent chained to the sewing machine and, as is often the case with me, if you get ill on top of that the whole thing becomes a weight around your neck.

As I like to spend my summer holidays making as many of the costumes as possible it stands to reason that planning needs to be in place before that period arrives.  Unfortunately, as I have said before, there is one thing that often gets in the way...money.

So here is my annual plan of how it should go (although there are often out of control events that make this plan unworkable which is how I got so behind before, this year I intend it to be different).

• ·         Get all the odd jobs out of the way a soon as possible.  Cleaning, mending and altering should be finished before anything else happens.
• ·         Are there any gaps in your costume wardrobe?  For me this year it was the chorus so I have put some time aside to get that up and running
• ·         Make sure you have your budget beforehand and preferably cash in hand so you can get those bits when you need them and not waiting for your local treasurer to have the time to get it to you.  This is really important as one year I found myself waiting nearly 6 months to be reimbursed £150 due to the treasurers personal problems, if you can afford to wait then don’t worry about this but if you can’t be aware that getting money to you may not be top of their list in importance. 
• ·         Once you know what your panto will be, start looking at possible costumes and make sure you have your budget available to you (am I pushing this point? I do hope so!).  We have our announcement end March/beginning April so there is plenty of time for designs to be drafted and put to the producer and actors if this is necessary.  You may not have as long but ensure that you know, more or less, what you are doing before you start
• ·         Get your fabrics and trims decided on, bought, washed and ironed.
• ·         Make sure you have all your casts measurements, I keep mine in a book so I always know where they are
• ·         Get sewing, this may include fittings as you sew
• ·         As soon as I have a costume made I do a final fitting on the cast member, as long as it fits it then gets put away
• ·         We have a photo call for the local newspaper  end November/early December, you really need main characters in full costume for this if possible
• ·         Full dress rehearsals should have everything made and ready to go, at this point you may find some tweaking or repairs are necessary
• ·         The week before performances we have a full dress rehearsal, when  the costumes are finished with see what needs cleaning and then iron it all, hang it up and look on in amazement at all you have achieved
• ·         Be prepared during the performance with some safety pins, needle and thread and any other quick fix repair elements!
• ·         Sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour

Being determined does help!

I put my foot down with a firm hand!

After a telephone call with the director I am now getting the money I requested up front.  She did ask if I could get it in installments...I said no!  You have no idea how proud I am of myself for being firm, I usually cave in but I was determined it would not happen this time and it didn't.  I will be getting the money at the cast meal when the pantomime is announced and scripts go out.

I do know what we are doing but I'm not supposed to say anything until it is officially announced so I will be good and say nothing.

But what is happening now is I am thinking of what costumes will be needed, lets just say my peasant costumes were not a waste of time lol

I have just finished off the green version of the bodice which has a bit of trim on the front to offset the pale colours of the other two.  This one is bigger and goes from a size 20 down, it is on the size 10 dummy and not laced up tight.

I have a patterned blouse to go under the pink and think the green needs a plain white blouse to lift the colouring.  I'm not sure about the blue but I will find something suitable in time.

This means I have four peasant lady costumes as I already had the Snow White costume to reuse.

I am now planning a shopping trip to get the fabric as Norfolk really doesn't have that choice.  I am lucky my husband hails from Bolton so we tend to combine a family visit with a fabric shopping session.  I also plan to order some trims from America. They are so much cheaper there it pays to get the bulk orders and pay the duties and postage!  It is a shame that I have to pay the vat as they are not donated even though it is for a charity, but that is the government for you lol

Starting the chorus costumes

I am taking a giant leap of faith into the unknown by assuming the chorus in our panto will be able to wear the costumes I have decided on.  As I still don't know what the pantomime will be next year this could be a very stupid move but being a bit on the ill side, and not wanting to do anything too brain strenuous, bodices for a coordinated chorus seem like a good idea.

I have made this pattern so many times before it is ridiculous.  It is one of the most adaptable patterns I have made and is based on a basic 16^th Century design.  Since its appearance in the fashion world it has continued to be used to this day so it must be a good one!  I have used it from Tudor to 1950’s and it has never let me down.  It is also the pattern we are using for our Victorian dresses but without all the ‘proper’ sewing they will need  it’s relatively quick and easy to do.

What I am trying to achieve is a bodice that can be reduced by at least two sizes by pulling in the lacing.  Have I told you about my zip trick?  A normal dress zip costs less than an open ended zip so I put them in upside down!  In the case of a bodice it works really well and they are so much cheaper and easier to get hold of.

So the fist thing I did was cut the bodice out and overlock around the edges so I didn't have to do any hemming etc Then I put two pin tucks 2” from the centre on both the back and the front pieces.  

 In those pin tucks I inserted a loop of ribbon 1½ “ long and then sewed along the length, these form the loops for the lacing.

Because I have used an overlocker (serger) on the edges I can do smaller seams which may add a bit more to the bodices adjustment ability!  All the seams are pinned and sewn together except the left side where I insert an upside down dress zip.  A good pressing and put ribbon through the loops.

It seems I have now got about 5” worth of adjustment from largest to smallest size on this so that’s a success.  The blue version is left to its full size which measures 41”, the pink shows the bodice pulled tight and measures 36”

Both bodices are identical sizes shown on the same dummy (you can see the pink peeking out from under the blue) so I think I can assume this project was a success :D

Thinking out of the box

So you have an initial idea for what you want but can’t quite pull it all together.  Just because, for example, you are making a Dame’s dress doesn’t mean you need to stick with those for ideas.

I mentioned before that I had stuck on the back a huge plastic gold bow that was intended for a Christmas decoration, well that was taken off and needed to be replaced with something less...well just less, while at the same time keeping the over the topness of a Dame’s dress. 

I was just going to add a bow when I saw this picture of a Worth Victorian dress;

How pretty is that?

It was an idea I immediately knew would give a variation to the Dame’s dress I was working on.  Not only could I use the fabric I had made the skirt out of, but also some of the offcuts from the original dress to pull it all together.

I just made a long sash and folded it onto the back of the dress into a vague ‘M’ shape.  I originally had the lilac fabric facing outwards but it didn't have much impact so I turned it around to have the pink floral on display and it looked a lot better.

I then made some fabric flowers which I stitched onto the top of the arranged sash holding the whole thing together and in place.

  I made a fourth flower which was stitched to the front and then stuck a gem in the middle of each flower.  I may stitch in some plastic boning before the performance to make it stand out more but this dress is being loaned out before then so I will keep it as it is for now.

I am having that awful moment when you realise something needs pressing badly but you have already taken the pictures so...ah well never mind!  

I will be doing a tutorial on the quick fabric flower.  Its not magnificent or lifelike but it does do a good embellishment job when all else fails!

I did two tutorials :)

I have managed to add tutorials for two of my quick and easy how to do ‘somethings’; a skirt and ruffles.

If I was part of a whole wardrobe department, or being paid for what I did and able to not go to work, I am sure more time would be spent on every aspect of every costume.  As it is I sew over 30 costumes a year which inevitably means I need to make short cuts in some areas. 

The tutorials come from yesterday when I made a skirt to go under a Dames gown undergoing a change from this year to next year.  During the course of yesterday I took one daughter to the library (which didn't have what she needed so she had to go to the library in the City grrr), did the shopping, went and picked up another daughter from work as her car was being fixed, stayed at her house for a while for a coffee and then went to pick first daughter up.  Then got home, friend was waiting so we had a coffee and a natter, when she left another natter took place between me and daughter (and more coffee).

I made the skirt in the morning, it took about half an hour after which I added the tutorial.  I then started sewing together the strips of voile for the ruffling but left it halfway to do all the above.  I returned to the sewing at 8 o’clock and everything was finished by half 9 when I wrote the ruffle tutorial.

The whole thing took about two hours.  If the whole day was available I probably would have started on the extras I am putting on the dress itself which I will hopefully get done today and will put up some pictures.

These tutorials really are for quick and easy results (if not the most beautiful).

Pretty horrible isn't it, I'm sure the Dame will look lovely in it!

Take a moment to ponder the chorus

Feel the pain of that poor person in the chorus!  Not because they aren't at the front of the stage as they may not want to be there, but because they are always the last to be dressed and you can pretty much guarantee while everyone is fluffing around in their new costumes, they saw theirs worn a couple of years ago and know it was dragged out of the back of the wardrobe (or caravan).

It’s not that the costumier doesn’t realise  that a well dressed chorus could make all the difference, to the contrary it breaks my heart to see the shambles I sometimes have to put them in L But there is just me and a lot of costumes and not an endless amount of time and something has to give!

This is how they should look!

The good news is that as you collect more costumes there are better ones to dress the chorus with, eventually they may even find themselves in a princess dress from a previous production and be swirling around happily.

I am hoping to be able to achieve a basic chorus wardrobe this year.  I have large amounts of green, pink and blue in the same fabric and the idea is to make bodices, skirts and waistcoats from this and then they will at least have a general theme in the colour department. Of course this depends on whether time allows and that is always the problem!  If I get that far I will use some of my scraps to make up detachable bustles and aprons so that the costume can have a change of appearance with little effort.  Well that is the plan, and now I have this blog and I have written down my intentions I have even more reason to try and achieve it.

Failing that try and get hold of an assortment of waistcoats, long skirts and tops.  It is not perfect but this is one time when the bridesmaids dress will really help out.  I am not a fan of recycling old clothes but there is a lot of fabric in those dresses and they will take away some of the strain.  There is also the advantage that with the chorus the bling can wait so you don't have to spend extra time adding embellishments (although it never hurts to get happy with the glue gun and sequins).

Storage

If you are lucky you will have a dedicated sewing space.  I’m not that lucky.  I am lucky that my big brother offered me a caravan that is sitting outside my house packed full of costumes!  This happened after a few years of storing costumes in the house which were in every room and scattered wherever there was space.  I had a cupboard with fabric in one corner of my living room which, as panto season approached, encroached further into our living space.  Having a couple of children get their own houses has been an advantage and I now have a small room in my house with all fabrics, trims and all other manner of decorative devices, stored.  It is 5’by 5’ and I just about get everything in there including two dummies in different sizes.  My sewing machine and cabinet itself are still in the corner of the living room as there is no space to work in my small storage room.

If you are really lucky you are able to store costumes at your panto’s venue, I’m not lucky there either so I have everything here all year round!  It does mean that when someone needs a costume for a party they know where to come but it would be nice not to have to fight my way through all those extra boxes to get to the costume I need or want.

It’s one of those things you don't think about when you take on the costumes, you think of making things, fitting things and even having to scour around to find things.  What didn't cross my mind was that I would also be responsible for storing, cleaning and repairing the costumes and, believe me, this takes up a considerable amount of time too!

At the end of panto season I take things out a few at a time to wash and repair them.  I didn't always do that but then I realised that trying to wash everything at the point you are trying to make new costumes is a time filler you really don't need.

I have a few months between performance and starting on the new pantomime and that time needs to be used well by making sure all costumes are in order.  That way, if you do want to use them, they are ready to go.  To put it simply, being responsible for all those costumes does not just take up a few months of the year, each month has its own job so you never really get a break from it.

One thing we have always thought about doing is cataloguing each item with a photo so we can see, without going through boxes, what we have available.  Maybe this is the year I will get that organised!

My dream

My reality!

The principal girl

Principal girl

Not so hard is the principal girl who just has to be coated in prettiness and we all know what a princess should look like don't we?  A word of warning though, I have seen many amdram productions think that by putting a bridesmaids dress on a girl they look like a princess and I would argue that!   To put it bluntly, the bridesmaid is there to accompany the real princess....the bride.  Take a look at brides and their bridesmaids and you will see what I mean.  They may be nice dresses but generally they are pretty plain and certainly not made to outshine the beautiful bridal gown.  The bridesmaids dress may work for most of the production, but not the end, not the part where all the little girls are sitting waiting to go ‘ooh ahh’ as the princess appears in her gorgeousness, not the end when she has to outshine the world and make everybody believe this is possibly the happiest ending ever!  Look to the bride for ideas, think of Belle in her froth of gold after her simple blue gown for the rest of the Disney film.  Think of Kate in her lace concoction when she married Prince Andrew and compare with the dress worn by her sister. 

I have some sage words of advice concerning the actress playing the princess!  I have discovered that if she is a teenager you may be getting a bit of a pout from her about having to wear something so pretty. I have also discovered that they may moan a lot about it but actually love dressing up like a princess.  So my sage words of advice are...ignore a teenager pouting about wearing a pretty dress because they will love it really.

 Beautiful teenage Marion

Don't forget the principal girl can always do with her own kind of bling.  Not the trashy overload given the Dame, but a more subtle variation, glittery bits that attract the lights and send sparkly bits of magic across the stage (I’m gushing here)

For Snow White I got carried away on her relatively plain costume for most of the panto.  She had a floral bodice, cream skirt with gold overskirt and a white peasant blouse underneath.  But it didn't seem princessy enough so I sat and sewed loads of little red beads onto the red flowers so it would sparkle a little under the lights. 

 Snow White still talks to birds 

My first princess was in Sinbad and her end gown was ivory jacquard with gold lace and ruffles, it looked really pretty and proved that you don't need to have a meringue to make a statement.

Marion got more than she bargained for (one of those teenagers) when she ended up with three pretty dresses.  I put them all over one lilac chemise with a silvery pattern on it.  First dress to go over it was a dark teal jacquard which was sedate yet pretty; the second dress was a jacket with big fur trimmed sleeves and a fur collar to go over the same chemise in the same fabric.  The wedding at the end featured a floral lilac delight with gold thread throughout that caught the beams of light on stage.  Each of the dresses had one hook and eye fastening and were quick and easy to change into without a lot of messing around.

Please try to take into the body shape of your princess.  My own daughters would look ridiculous in the dresses this years Marion looked gorgeous in.  Marion is all willowy and slim, my daughters are slightly better endowed up top and the renaissance style dress just doesn’t suit that style!

  You may have a thought in your head that just won’t work with the princess that has been given the role so you must change it, don't ruin the prettiness by sticking with something that wont work!

Principal boy

Basically the principal boy falls into two categories: A boy or a girl!  As our panto group is considerable loaded in favour of female participants we don't really have a choice about whether it is a girl or a boy...we don't have anyone the right age to play him!  But I am an old fashioned girl at heart and I like the Principal boy role being played by a girl.  I have been told to ‘make the girls look like boys’ and ignored it.  We had so many girls playing male roles in Robin Hood that to pretend they were men seemed a bit ridiculous.  At the end of the day what I provide is used, so I tend to rebel a bit when I don’t agree with what has been asked for.  My girls look like girls, prettiness is an essential part of my principal boy along with high heels and long legs and if that look floats down to some of the other main characters, well what can I do about that (can you see my innocent look here?)?

Sparkly is good.  I do like a bit of sparkle and I am always on the look out for sparkly fabrics.  If I can’t find them there is always the old faithful glue gun and gems... pva glue and sequins...or glitter glue!  I really don’t care what I use as long as it is shiny.  The best fabrics I have come across are already glittery.  Snow Whites Principal boy ended up in a lovely silver number.  The fabric I had bought was actually not as shiny until you looked on the wrong side and then the bling hit.  Consequently I made the whole frock coat with the wrong side of the fabric and then covered it with pink embroidery trim.

If you do have a male principal boy, please try and make him manly!  Ok, so that may be my preference but I really wouldn't have put pink embroidery on that jacket if it had been a man!  This is the person that has come along and swept our beloved princess off our feet and I just don't think loads of frills and lace look right.  Take a look at 17^th and 18^th century frock coats and you will see what I mean, they are gorgeous and yet manly at the same time...it can be done you know.

Fabric, trim and bling!

So there you are on a restricted budget and you put out a call for any scraps available.  You will end up with a whole pile of stuff you can’t use but you can remove zips/buttons/fastenings to use on your costumes if you feel so inclined.  I don’t usually feel that inclined but it is worth remembering.

Out of those things you get given you may find yourself oohing and aahing with pleasure.  My favourite moments were the carrier bag containing two saris’ (big ooh as they are over 5 metres in length and often covered in plenty of bling) and the black bin bag containing two huge royal blue velvet curtains!  Curtains tend to be a godsend.  The jacquard ones make lovely frock coats, the really disgusting ones have enough fabric for Dames dresses and the plainer ones make costumes for the chorus such as skirts and bodices.  Don’t forget if you can’t use something then you can always throw it away and the donator will be none the wiser.

One thing I remember reading is that combinations of different fabrics in the same colour look great on stage and this has been born out on more than one occasion with the scraps I have used to make a costume (Robin Hood was a prime example of that). 

Sheets and Duvet covers are another great source of free fabric, just make sure you don’t use those ones with the stains on!  One prince’s jacket I made was from a duvet cover and looked stunning on stage!  Net curtains are useful and a lot cheaper than lace and often donated too.  Throw nothing away until you have thought about it, then make a trip to the tip and ensure you never think about those bits again....they may come back to haunt you!

One BIG mistake I made was when I was given an old fur coat and decided to use it instead of buying fur fabric.  I was unaware of the glue used to hold those things together that rotted after a few years and ended up clogging my sewing machine with an awful kind of gritty substance.  Luckily my go to machine for costumes is a 1950’s Singer 201k which I can pull apart and put back together myself.  I hate to think how much it would have cost to repair if I had used my more modern machine.  You can pick up an old machine like that for the same price as one of those really awful cheap ‘starter’ machines and they are built like tanks.  They go through so many layers of fabric without a hiccup that it may be worth considering getting one rather than your fragile, all bells and whistles, modern machine that is bound to collapse under the strain of some of the ridiculous things you will find yourself sewing.  I save my modern machine for embroidery and more delicate fabrics.

I also have a number of other pieces of essential equipment.  There is the glue gun...I love playing with that and save hours of sewing on individual bling type things like gems and sequins.  There is the plastic boning that is awful for proper corsetry but brilliant for making things like bows stand to attention for the performances.  I have hole punches and a sharp craft knife (you never know when they come in handy for purposes other than they were intended) as well as those strange things like split pins and all kinds of paint from spray to fabric.

Do not ever restrict yourself to the using an item purely for the purpose it was made as there is a world of options for any number of things.  Go to the after Christmas sales and you will be amazed at what you can get cheap (LED lights spring to mind that look great on a Dames dress).  I have bought a huge gold plastic bow and bunch of artificial blinged up flowers for nominal amounts that brought a Dames dress to life.  I would love to have an all bells and whistles embroidery machine but from a distance a painted design looks just as good, always remember to think of an alternative and the 15 foot rule...if you cant see the problem from 15 feet away it doesn’t matter!

A little planning goes a long way

I spent a little while last week studying the pictures of pantomimes that I thought looked good and those that didn't.  I was trying to figure out exactly what made some people look good on stage and what it was that made others look thrown together in an amateur kind of way.  I did come to a conclusion you may be pleased to know.

Of course there is the obvious answer...money!  But us amateurs can do nothing about that so we have to look at alternative ways.

It took a while to realise that a good set of costumes is just that, a set.  They all fit together, either colour or style, and flow from scene to scene the same way the spoken word does.

I am a big fan of colour, so one of the first things I do when starting out on a pantomimes costumes, is to pick a colour.  Snow White was silver and Robin Hood was green (obviously).  Then I pick a contrast colour, SW was pink and RH was gold.  The plan is to try and incorporate one of these colours in as many costumes as possible so it all blends together.  With SW I also had the time to appliqué silver butterflies on the princess and Prince Charming costumes, which all flowed together in the pink and silver walk down dress worn by Snow White (I was impressed with myself over that one and must remember it looked good and do it again, although to be honest it was my husbands idea).

Of course the limitations of fabric mean this isn't always possible and inevitably there will be some costumes that just don't get either of those colours in there but if you can get enough of them it will add a colour flow throughout the pantomime that will make a difference to the whole performance.

This did work with SW and I was pleased with the result, unfortunately the same can’t be said for RH so I will be trying harder with this years costumes to keep those colours in the right direction.

I did a Google for Disney colour palettes and you can find a few things there that give you an idea of what I am talking about.  Some colours go together and some don't. Just try and get those blends right and half the work is done.

Can I point out here that I am not a professional in any sense of the word?  I am a complete amateur just like everybody else in our performances and hope that anything I say here can be used to help fellow amateurs get a look they are pleased with after all those hours chained to the sewing machine.  I would love to be able to say I know exactly what I am doing and that I have A, B and C certificates to prove it, but I don't and I am telling you what I have learned by doing it wrong in the hope you don't have to!

Back to the plot.  Style is something I can keep to even if there is a limit on fabrics.  With SW the style came through the men.  Frock coats and waistcoats based on 18^th century designs I found by that well known Google images.  The women had all kinds of styles that I thought looked nice and pretty and didn't really bother too much about it.  It worked in my humble and correct opinion!  With RH I managed really well to keep to a medieval style.  Marion had Italian Renaissance style dresses, Robin and his merry men all had waistcoats and tunics and Prince John and the Sheriff had medieval robes.  Unfortunately, the medieval style is totally based on tunics which I got really bored with.  I will be doing a tutorial on how to make a tunic, which is the same style for a robe, and really easy to do with a tape measure and a few metres of fabric it just leaves little room for playing and I like playing.

Just one of many Disney colour palettes you can find on Google images

Dame 101:

Dames are men!  This may seem obvious to you but I assume by virtue of the fact you are reading this that you are new to panto costumes, so I repeat....Dames are men.

This means they have no idea how to wear a dress and they look at it as if it is an alien concept.  They do not understand the simple fastenings women do.  They can do buttons on shirts and zips on trousers but when these simple operations are put in a different place they lose the plot.  If you use poppers or hook and eye fasteners buy the biggest size you can because their manly, clumsy fingers cannot cope with them.  Even if you tell him a hundred times that a dress fastens at the front you can bet your bottom dollar that you will be standing watching a performance and realise the Dame has his dress on back to front (yes, really, it happened).   I am fully aware that the best way to go about it is to have a dresser available for him (in fact we do have a dresser but it still got put on the wrong way!) but there is not always someone willing to do it or even the room (we are stuck with the kitchen of our village hall as a dressing room for everybody.

Try to make your design as simple as possible for him to put on and then go to town on the rest of it.

I have discovered that one of the biggest problems facing the Dame is that he needs underpinnings for it to look right, otherwise he looks like a man in a dress and we really don’t want that.  The man’s concept of what looks like big boobs is largely failing and I have had to ask on more than one occasion ‘you need bigger boobs, what cup size is that bra?’ and be told it is ‘38’, they just do not understand that they need a big cup size to get a big boob and if you don’t fill that cup with enough stuffing you may just as well wear a vest.  Take control of this issue and be prepared to provide stuffing or a bigger cup bra to ensure those boobs are big enough. 

They also lack hips which is something that occurred to me late in the day after my third year.  I therefore now have made a bustle pad, bum roll and very poufy petticoat to push that entire bottom layer out in various directions.  Be aware that a small stage means you need to avoid very wide dresses, they look wonderful but having the Dame bashing everyone around with his skirts is not a desirable effect.

Also remember that any man that wants to play a Dame is bound to be an extrovert and will be happy to wear anything you throw at him.  Do not hold back and give him as many flounces and frills as you can reasonably fit on a dress...it is bound to make him happy.

Wigs are a must but they do tend to look a different colour under some lights so be aware of that.  Hats are optional, they look good but can be a pain to get on in a confined space when there is enough of a problem getting the dress round the right way; they also have a habit of going astray just at that moment when he is getting ready in the matching outfit.

Now for another point...Dames are men!  Please, please don't make the mistake of thinking you can stick a woman’s dress on him and it will be fine, it won’t.  Men’s torsos are a different shape to women’s and it just looks wrong.  You can get away with a ladies elasticated waist skirt, but the top half is a nightmare.  Many well meaning people will give you their old dresses and think they are helping but all they are good for is the fabric content.  Your audience will notice this indiscretion and it will ruin the look on stage. 

Think of it this way, you are not dressing a woman who is a little odd shaped; you are dressing a man with women’s clothing.  You would not dream of going out and buying your principal boy a pair of man’s trousers (assuming it is a girl) and expect them to fit and be comfortable, so why would you do it for the Dame?  The man’s torso is longer than a woman’s, they have no waist or hips to speak of, their chest is larger (not taking into account the boobs), their shoulder width is wider and their arms are longer.  Just remember this when you are making the costume and everything should be fine...no really....just great....if they can put it on the right way round.

A bustle pad may be useful to add some feminine curves!

I remember wearing this a few years ago!

While it is a lovely idea to make costumes to fit, if you are on a tight budget it is highly likely you will need to reuse a costume over many years with many different people wearing it.  My first year I did not do this and found some costumes I could have used did not fit and had to make another!  My grand plan was that after two or three years there should be a stock of costumes that would be for the chorus and minor characters and I could then spend my time and money on the principal characters.  I didn’t take two things into account!  The first being my failure to make my first years costumes adjustable so any that I could have used just didn't fit the people they could have been used for.  The second problem was I did not figure on the director choosing Robin Hood the year after Snow White and most of the costumes I had made just didn’t fit into the medieval time period!

While I have certainly improved by adding lacings that can increase the size of a costume, or used elastic waistbands, I am more than aware there are other areas I could make this easier on myself.  I went to a local boot fair and stocked up on a variety of belts, they are surprisingly useful for making something look like it fits when it doesn’t!  Always make things a bit bigger than you need and then work out how to make it fit a smaller body, it will surprise you how many sizes you then cover for one costume.  All Marion’s dresses, for example, fastened with one hook and eye which will take little effort to fit a larger size in future productions.

Bear in mind that costumes can and will be recycled!  If you spend hours on sewing individual flowers on a Dames dress it will take hours to remove them!  We do four performances; I sew things on to last four performances.  For the Dames dresses I would suggest you need about six as a staple, although professionals may undergo considerably more changes, we tend to go for three or four dress changes for each performance.  Try and rotate the use of the dresses as the audience is unlikely to remember them unless you use them every year.  Then all you need to do is make one new outstanding dress for the end of the panto each year and throw everything into it.  Last year I used a huge gold bow and a bejewelled bouquet that were removed after the final performance and replaced with less memorable adornments for future use.  The bow and bouquet are now in my stash for future use.

I am now working on making a selection of bodices and skirts in various sizes that are also adjustable with lacing and elastic.  My plan is to then make over skirts that tie at the back with a bow, by adding these in different colours the basic garment will be changed from one year to the next with little effort.  

Some things are worth spending time on, such as the principal girls pretty girlie stuff that has all the females in the audience cooing with delight (and some of the men), but please make sure they are adjustable so that next year you can get them out again and they will fit a different size of person lurking in the background!

Here is a costume that underwent a bit of change:

Year one and the skirt is a froth of voile with flowers scattered all over.

Year two and the froth has become a petticoat under the same yellow strips.  Cat print shiny lycra is sewn between the yellow and the red waistband was added.

Year three is complete but no pic yet.  This time the red froth has become a bustle with LED lights at the ready to put in place!  I think I will stick with the year three concoction and move onto something else to play around with next year.