Opps, Not done yet...

They finally loaded the rest of the pictures taken by the profesional photographer for White Christmas. So I thought I would share some more pictures. I promise that this will be the last post White Christmas related.

Here are the pictures, all thanks to Bob Phelan.

So there you go, the last of the pictures.

Toodles.



The Muppets! Amy Adams Costumes

Yesterday I went to the movie theaters in the United States for the first time. I went out with my wonderful sister-in-law and we went to see The Muppets. I wasn't expecting much. I knew I would at least enjoy the Muppets themselves, but I did not expect to see anything remotely interesting with costumes. 

I was surprised!!!

Amy Adams wore the most adorable outfits!

Her outfits were all very retro, with a 1950's appeal.

She started the show out in an adorable red floral blouse with a bright yellow circle skirt and red belt. 

I loved all of the bright, bold colour combinations.

The next dress she wore was a green striped dress.

The dress has a matching belt and the skirt is rather full. It looked as if it were a circle skirt to me.

She had her red hair curled and pulled back softly from her face and wore bright orange heel 

The sleeves were tulip sleeves! That made me happy as it is one of my favorite sleeve cuts. It allows for so much more range of motion.

Here is a closer up on the bodice. It is cut on the bias and gathered, giving it a princess appearance.

Then she wore a aqua blue dress with a bright purple belt. 

Here is a bit closer on the bodice. It had a wide oval neckline with little bows for trim.

For a lot of the outfits I could not find pictures yet. There were several other really cute ones.

I hope that movies such as this will bring back some of these fashions. They are so pretty.

This was one of my favorite outfits that Amy wore. It looks as if it is the same basic pattern that was used in green dress that she wore near the beginning. It is a pink eyelet with simple set in sleeves. I could not find a full dress picture of this one.

She also wore a stunning peach shirt waist dress with pin tucks adorning the bodice.

The dress had purple and pink flowers printed on the skirt. She wore this dress with a purple belt.

Here is her final outfit. She wore a bright orange bodice with a brown skirt and cream belt. 

The bodice was pleated and crossed-over in the front.

The sleeves were split flutter sleeves.

The costumes may not have been impressive and stunning period costumes with tons of intricate detail. But they were charming and adorable.

Amy Adam's outfits provide some goodies for the eyes of a costumer, seamstress, or retro enthusiast.

So, go see it while the costumes can still be seen on the big screen.

White Christmas is finished! Well, almost...

The show closed last week! 

I survived and was able to get all of the costumes finished and onstage for opening. The show ran well and there were no major costuming emergencies. At least nothing that I couldn't handle. 

I was going to do a post taking you from design-to-stage but I don't have any pictures for that. I do have all my design sketches that I was going to scan, but the scanner is connected to a different computer that is not on. Thus, no design sketches...

I was running around so hectically during the show that I really did not take any pictures. 

Luckily for me the rest of the cast had more time and cameras on their hands. We also had a professional photographer come and take pictures. With a bit of searching I have found pictures from other people and stolen them to post.

Before you see the pictures I must first say thanks to Bob Phelan and Clarissa Light, the two whom I stole most of these photos from.

"White Christmas" with the whole cast. 

photo by Bob Phelan

"I Love a Piano" the tap number for which I had to find 15 pairs of tap shoes size 6w to 14m

photo by Bob Phelan

Here is a closer up on the costumes. All the girls wore black satin pants (note to self, black costume satin is a pain to sew and I will never attempt that again.) Half of them wore black and white stripped shirts and the other half wore solid black shirts. They all had black top hats with silver bands and red sequined sashes. The guys had silver top hats, black pants, white shirts and red sequin bow ties.

photo stolen from Clarissa Light

Then there was "Blue Skies."

photo by Bob Phelan

The guys and gals all had blue vests, yellow shirts, and white pants/shorts. They also had matching white fedoras. The guys were only able to wear their white pants for a few of the performances. Most nights they wore black pants as I was unable to find white pants big enough for one of the dancers. So for a few nights when he was sick the rest of the guys wore their white pants.

photo stolen from Clarissa Light

The very first dance number was "Let Yourself Go."

photo stolen from Clarissa Light

 I haven't been able to find a group picture of this number yet. The girls were all in pink and green polka dot dresses with hair bows.

photo stolen from Clarissa Light

I personally think these were some of my favorite costumes to do. They made quite a splash when they danced onstage every night.

photo stolen from Clarissa Light

All of the girls were quite adorable in all their outfits.

photo stolen from Clarissa Light

The guys wore pink bow ties and green vests to match the girls. I wish I could find a picture of Bob and Phil. One had a green vest and pink bow tie while the other had a pink vest and green bow tie. Both had cream jackets and straw skimmers.

photo stolen from Clarissa Light

All of the dance ensemble girls had to curl their hair every night. This meant two weeks of sleeping in sponge curlers every night. They also all had to do 1950's make-up which was way more then any of them had worn in all their life. 

While they said they didn't mind all the trouble I know what they really were thinking....

At least they all looked amazing onstage and really did enjoy it!

"I do love a man in uniform." (especially if I get to put him in it.)

photo by Bob Phelan

Yes, I know that those are just military jumpsuits and not dress uniforms... they wore those later.

photo by Bob Phelan

Some of the costumes were not terrible complicated...

photo by Bob Phelan

Night gowns are normally rather simple affairs. The most complicated part of this costume was the fact that we only had 10 second to get her out of one outfit and into this one.

photo by Bob Phelan

"Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun."

photo by Bob Phelan

The iconic "Sisters" dresses

photo by Bob Phelan

And of course the guys had to try their hand at this number

photo by Bob Phelan

"Love You Didn't Do Right By Me."

photo by Bob Phelan

Broadway Sue!

photo by Bob Phelan

Lastly, my favorite costumes... "Ding Dong, We're Bells!"

This was the first time that I had used satin, gold lame, garland, sequins and just about anything else imaginable in two costumes. They were a lot of fun to make!

The whole show had 180+ costumes in it with more than 30 costume changes backstage all of which had to be carefully choreographed so as not to impede set changes.

Of those 180+ costumes I had to make 50+ from scratch. Of the remaining 130 I had to alter or make repairs on 100+. There was barely a costume onstage that I had not done some sewing on.

I did all of that between October 1st and November 10th. So, in about 40 days... that means roughly 4.5 costumes a day. I had started designing and purchasing some fabric in the beginning of September, but I did not get a cast list till Sept 28th and casts measurements till October 1st. Thus I could not officially start costume construction and or assignment till then. Of course once you finally get the casts measurements your designs will change to fit the people. 

It was stressful and I was running on about 4 or 5 hours of sleep on a good night (3 or 4 was more common.) But I enjoyed it immensely and learned a lot. After that show I am ready to tackle anything... well almost.

Well, that is all for now. The show is over and I have almost finished striking all of the costumes and getting them returned to their various location. 

Till later.