Sunday, the day of rest...

 Today I was thrilled to wake up and see that my fantastic husband cut out the shapes I sketched for the Wardrobe and Cogsworth!  This is what was in the living room when I got up...

Fancy, right!  This is the shape of the wardrobe, with cogsworth behind it so you can't see it here... but it's there!  Yay!! 

 Next, the kids and I went to church.  After church we rushed home to grab a quick bite to eat and then took off to this place...

Where we made an emergency visit to fix this...

Yikes!  Ferocious tear in the butt!  

For this show:

Once that mending job was done, the littles and I headed back home to make dinner and take care of misc. household chores... things that go neglected during the week like actually folding the laundry, and washing the dishes.  Honestly, I wash the dishes almost every day...  laundry?  not so much... After all of this, Austin got home from work just in time for me to rush off to this place:

Ragtime was closing and I needed to strike the costumes.  (which is theatre talk for taking them all from the theatre).  The cast was great and I had tons of help loading the car.  Before I knew it the car looked like this: 

Haa haa can you see my reflection in the car?  Yah, pretty much it's making me look super fat.  So ignore that part.  

Once home, our living room soon looked like this:

This is almost half way sorted through.  The costumes are in the blue bags, and I go through them and sort the laundry.  This, by far, is the most disgusting part of my job.  At the end of a run, most of the costumes are still wet from sweat when I get them home.  Some haven't been washed at all (I don't do maintenance, and some theatres don't have a wardrobe person).  This equals super smelly laundry, and super smelly living room.  Yuck.  It was around 6:30pm that our living room looked like this.  Now it's 9:30, and one load is almost done in the dryer and load 2 is in the washing machine.  It's gonna be a long night!  

Building 2 shows at once...

Once again I find myself with back to back shows.  Shows that open one week from eachother.  I just did this - Opened Ragtime one week and How to Succeed the next.  Not so much fun, as tech weeks are super busy times.  BUT I really wanted to build both of these shows!  So what's a girl to do?  Pretty much build them!  It's not even that I think one show is super easy and the other is just so-so.  These are two HUGE productions and I've wanted to build them for some time.  Probaly not at the same time, but here we go!  Beauty and the Beast and Hairspray are on their way!!

I decided that it would be kind of fun to share the insanity that goes on behind the scenes to make shows look fantastic.  There is actually a TON of work - and not only the costumes.  Much more time goes into a performance than you'd think.  Last week was spent buying the fabrics and supplies to start the builds.  This proved successful, expensive and kind of confusing.  Going from cartoon colonial styles/fabrics to the 60's was somewhat distracting.  As I found one fabric for one show I would get on a roll and find things for that show.  Then, after gathering for one show I'd go back and shop for the next show because I couldn't focus on them both at the same time.

Now,  anyone who's been here knows that there is usually fabric and misc costumes everywhere.  I make every attempt to keep everything tidy but it is impossible.  Things are coming and going so fast I would never sleep.  I like sleep.  Thus the piles of misc odds and ends.  BUT now THIS is what my couch looks like...   This is Mrs. Potts, the Beast, the Wardrobe and Cogsworth.  The foamboard will be transformed into Cogsworth and the Wardrobe... if all goes as planned!  Ha!

This is what the stairs look like...

One returned colonial costume on top of bags of trims and fabrics.  See that red?  It will be the Dynamites dresses.  See the pink sequins at the bottom of the bag?  Tracy at the end of Hairspray.  See the polkadots - you can barely see them through the white plastic bag in the middle.  That will make matching dresses for Tracy and Edna.  Um hum.  Lots of work!  But aside from shopping, I also got a good start on building!  Here's what I've done so far...

Papa's Coat... but I'm going to change the buttons.

LeFue's coat... still needs buttons

Lumiere's pants. (Cogsworths knickers are behind them.)

This is where I sew...

See the idea board in the back?  It's funny because it's Hairspray and B&B all mixed up.  :)  

This lovely box of feathers will be Babbette...

See the pile of floral fabric?  It is actually circle skirts that will be dresses for Hairspray. 

Here's what I see when I sew.  In this case, I'm working on Lefue. 

So that's it for this week!  Tomorrow starts week 2, and much more will be built.  I'll do my best to keep you up to date on what's going on.  Oh, and along with the shows I do alterations (prom season!) and private rentals.  I am also building a wedding dress for a super cute girl!  Maybe, if I'm energetic enough I'll get Cogsworth and the Wardrobe sketched out tonight.  

Busy...busy... busy...

Those of you who know me know that I enjoy being busy.  Having 9 kids and a business is enough to send anyone over the edge, but I thrive on the crazy schedule.  My goal for this year was to slow down and enjoy life a little more, so I planned out my jobs and on paper it looked like I had slowed down.  In real life it feels busier than ever!  I just got through the Halloween craziness and almost have everything put in it's place.  We closed the third production of Music Man this year and I'm still putting that away.  I am so excited to say I'm building A Christmas Carol for Homestead Playhouse and having a BLAST!  It is one of my favorite eras to costume.  Another treat is A Christmas Story for MET.  My biggest happiness in this show is that my husband, Austin, has been cast in it.  I really enjoy working with him!  These shows will end just in time to start West Side Story (also for MET) and then Ragtime (MET).  The rest of my year is booked as well but I'll spare you the details on every single show.  Mostly because I will likely stress out if I think about all I have to accomplish.... deep breath... anyhow, I hope you all enjoy the holidays and take a moment to support live theatre!  There's some excellent producitons coming up!  Don't miss them!

COME VISIT ME EVERY FRIDAY/SATURDAY IN OCTOBER

This year I am participating in a super fun filled event!  Every Friday from noon until dark and Saturdays from 10am to dark there is a pumpkin patch, hay rides, games, etc and I will be selling costumes there!  Some are one of a kind originals that your kids will LOVE!  So come by, it's free to look at the crafts and goodies, admission for the games, etc is $5.00.  Check out the flyer!!!  They are located off Gilbert Road.  Turn East onto Oak Street and follow where it says "to Quince St.".  The ranch is at the end of Quince St.  See you THERE!

8/5-13: Joseph's 'Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' at MAC

8/5-13: Joseph's 'Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' at MAC

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph was TONS of fun, of course!  It's one of my very favorite shows ever!  Here are some pictures, and hopefully I can attach the article from the paper, too.  Enjoy! and much thanks to the beautiful and energetic cast and MET for a wonderful production!! Most of these pictures are taken backstage, but really that's where the good times happen.  :) 

More pictures... this time it's Sound of Music

This is kind of a flash back to last fall.  Building this show was one of the funnest productions I've done, however the endless kids uniforms and nun habits were a bit tedious.  All in all the show was beautiful and I am very happy with the look.  I built this show at the same time as Oliver!... opened the same weekend.  That was stressful!  Two major shows full of people and crazy costumes!  Fun times indeed!