Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to say Merry Christmas! Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday filled with lots of joy and plenty of fabric. ;)

When You Loose Inspiration

I've been in a bit a of a sewing rut lately. The last few months I haven't been all that active with my sewing for a variety of reasons. My summer was pretty crazy with my internship and I was doing so much sewing there that I really didn't have the time, energy, or motivation to be working on my own projects and so I stepped back for a bit.

I thought once the internship was over I would get back into my own sewing, but I really needed a break, so I didn't force myself. The last two months I also spent a bit of time out of town, and I think we all know that that always takes time away from our precious hobbies.

This weekend I spent a couple hours sewing for the first time in a really long time. And it felt so good to get back to it.

I think with everything we do, creative or not so creative, it's good to take breaks, even if they aren't intentional. Taking a break allows it to germinate, for lack of a better term, in your mind and refresh the activity. It's all part of the process.

Sometimes taking a break can be a little scary. I know for myself, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be constantly learning and improving, and not doing anything seems like the opposite of those. But you know what's worse? Burning yourself out and not having the passion anymore.

After taking a break I always have more motivation and inspiration than before, because all that time I wasn't sewing I keep thinking about it. And when you don't have the pressure of needing to do something, you usually start thinking about it differently and more creatively.

So take a breath, sit back, and know it's okay to take a break. You'll be inspired and back at it again in no time.

My Internship Experience - AKA, how I spent my Summer

Guess who's back from her blogging break? That's right, me! With only a month left in Summer, it's time to get back into this blogging thing after my absence. It was nice taking a temporary break, and I really wouldn't have had the time (or energy) to blog this summer if I had tried. I'm really excited to get back to blogging.

This summer I had the incredible opportunity to intern at the Village Theatre on their amazing production of Beauty and the Beast. While this production was part of their Kidstage Summerstock, it was a beautiful production with an amazingly talented cast. I'm really sad that the show is closed, because it was so much fun.

Photo Via 

Photo Via 

There was a cast of 50, most of which had 2-3 costumes. Luckily we didn't have to make all of them in the short 2 months we had to pull everything together. The theatre has a huge stock of costumes crammed into a closet far too small and we also received a ton of costumes from one of the local high schools that just did this show.

As Costume Design Intern I did a variety of jobs including cutting, sewing, fitting, and making fit adjustments. During the run of the show I also filled the roll of Dresser, which is someone who maintains costumes and helps actors in and out of costumes before, during and after shows as well as laundering and making any repairs that need to be made during the run.

From the Finally

My favorite part of the show. I watched it from the wings at every performance.

Our Belle and Maurice

I found that my favorite part, and the most fun, was the Dresser job. Running around backstage, making sure all of the costumes looked just right, and keeping everything organized is right up my alley.

We had several quick changes throughout the show, which we divided between the four of us in the costume crew, plus our wig master. The fastest quick change we had we got down to about 35 seconds, and that includes a wig change.

You know how they say with live theatre something goes wrong at every performance? Well, it's true. The audience usually just doesn't know. Things get a little chaotic backstage, especially when you have a dozen actors doing a quick change for the biggest number of the show and pieces suddenly go missing or break. But you keep going, and either find the missing piece or make do without it.

It was such a wonderful experience and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to intern on this show. I hope that I will be able to continue working in theatre in the future.

Taking a Break

As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to be taking a break from blogging for the summer. I likely won't be posting much on my Instagram either during this time.

But why, you might ask? Well, between my part time job and my internship (which starts tonight - yay!) I'll be working full time, and on top of that I have some health issues I'm dealing with. Lately I've also been feeling the need to get off the internet (social media in particular) and focus on my sewing skills on a more technical level without the distraction of everything on internet-land.

I really enjoy blogging, but it's just another thing I have to keep up with and as I mentioned above, I'm gonna be pretty busy. That's not to say I won't be posting at all during this time. If I have the time and feel like it I'll still post here and there, but it probably won't be very regular.

I'm planning on returning to my regular blogging in September, which will be after my crazy summer is over and I'll actually have the time to dedicate to blogging again.

Until then, have a great summer everyone!

June Updates

It feels like I haven't posted in forever. I've had a lot of things going on in my life recently that unfortunately have been keeping me from doing much sewing and I've been procrastinating on writing up blog posts because, frankly, I've just been too tired and lazy to get it done.

So finally, I'm writing something up. Today's post is going to be a catch up post so I can share a few things that have been going on, some costume related, some not so much. Here we go...

Last month was Aviation Day and I premiered my 1930's aviatrix outfit. I want to do an official post about it soon, but for now here's a few details.

While I'm really with how this looks, most of the pieces are modern clothing items. The helmet and goggles are authentic WWII British, which I found at a local antique store. I made the jodhpurs myself, but the rest is all modern. I plan on replacing these with authentic pieces as I find them, but for now they fit the part.

This was a really fun and really comfortable outfit to wear and people responded really well to it. Most people thought I was dressed up as Amelia Earhart, however it's not intended to be anyone in particular but rather to represent all women pilots (known as Aviatrix at the time) from the era.


May the Fourth came and went, and I'm still not close to done with P19. I got most of the bodice embroidery done, but I got tired of all the embroidery and had to put it down. It's sitting in my UFO pile, but I want to get back to it soon.

I didn't end up having any special Star Wars day party like I usually try to do, but I did celebrate by watching a few of the movies with my siblings. We had a bit of a thunderstorm that night which made it an interesting night.

I landed my first Costume Design Internship! I'm interning for the Village Theatre's Summer Stock production of Beauty and the Beast and I'm so excited! I'll be meeting with the cast and crew at the end of this month and production goes through August.

Not costume related, but I got my wisdom teeth pulled. I was pretty much incapacitated for 4 days, but I'm back to normal now.


Well, that's about it. I'm planning on getting back to my regular blogging routine and should have the last post about the Grey Gown up soon.

My Story

For the majority of my life I didn't know what I wanted to do. I've always been drawn towards film and in more recent years towards theatre, but I was never one of those kids that from the age of 3 knew exactly what I wanted to do. It seems like the majority of people you talk to or read about online knew since they were a toddler exactly what they wanted to do. And for someone who never had a clue, it was a bit worrying to be graduation high school with no idea of where they want their life to go. So if you can relate, know that you're not alone.

I've been doing some re-branding with my costuming on the web lately, and while I was updating my blog I had the idea to add a page titled "My Story" with... Well, my story. After I finished it I thought it would make a good blog post, hence this post.

So, how exactly did I get into costuming? Let me tell you a little (er, long-ish) story...

Growing up I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do for a career. When I was 6 I wanted to work as Snow White at Disneyland and when I was older I wanted to be Indiana Jones... Er, an archaeologist. But I decided that archaeology wasn't exciting enough in the real world and continued life without having a clue, or really caring much.

Me with my hero, Snow White, at Disneyland in 2001

Life continued and I started making short films with my sisters and brother, which eventually lead to making a few with friends, which lead to, well, no where actually. I was drawn towards the costumes, especially when we made a film about a princess's coronation in a fantasy land. There was fancy dresses, a murderous plot, and terrible acting. This video remains safely hidden on YouTube where no one can ever see it. Thank goodness.

You would think I would start to get a clue around this time that I was drawn to costumes. But no. I knew I was interested in film making in general, but that was it.

Then in 2010 (or maybe 2011, or was it 2009? I honestly don't remember) I saw a friend's costumes that she had put together at a homeschool fair and I had a total "ah-HA!" moment. I remember thinking to myself  "that's what I want to do. I want to make costumes!"

At the time I had absolutely no sewing experience, so I asked my mom to teach me. She pulled out the old sewing machine, which was probably from the 70's from the yellow plastic and ancient looking design. My mom taught me what she knew, which was only the sewing basics and I started making all kinds of small projects - bags, pillows, and clothes for my stuffed animals.

Eventually I became bored with these trivial projects and I decided that I wanted to make a dress. I decided a nightgown would be the perfect first "real" project for me, so my mom and I went to the fabric store together and picked out a Simplicity pattern, which should have been simple enough, but would soon drive us nuts. I never finished the nightgown and there were several moments when I wanted to run away screaming because the pattern just didn't make sense. I still don't like working with commercial patterns to this day and it's largely because of this project (thanks Simplicity).

Well, fast forward three pillows, six bags, and a whole stuffed animal wardrobe to May 1st 2012 when I decided I wanted to celebrate May the 4th (Be with You) - AKA Star Wars Day - by making a costume. I had found a lovely tutorial/walk through someone made for Leia's senatorial gown from A New Hope and decided to give it a shot.

My mom and I made a quick mock up (my first mock up - yay!) out of some old tan sheets and went shopping the next day for materials. We searched all over for a suitable fabric, but since neither of us had any clue about fabric types and had a budget the size of a grain of sand we ended up buying some  white sheets. For our first real project and making it in 3 days, it actually turned out fairly good. All things considered. I mean, it was easily recognizable as Leia. So that counts as a win, right?

And that, my friends, was my first ever costume. I continued sewing and continued creating my own patterns vs. using a purchased pattern. I learned mostly just from trial and error for those first few years but as I progressed I started researching and reading more, both books and blogs to try and build my skill even further.

My 2nd project, Danielle de Barbarac from Ever After

As I continued, costuming soon became something more than just a little hobby. I spend the majority of my time sewing, researching, thinking, dreaming... Okay, you get the point.

Then in last year I was asked by a group of film makers known as Rogue Zohu (who happen to be the same film makers I made the princess/coronation/murder short I mentioned before with years ago. Needless to say, they improved much between then and 2016) to be Wardrobe Assistant for their short film Save Lives. Apologize. I quickly said yes. There may or may not have been some excited squeals that day.

That project is one of my best memories and favorites because it was that weekend when I discovered that costuming was what I wanted to do with my life. For the first day of filming I was in charge of dressing 20+ extra's, which consisted of elementary aged children, in 70's clothing. It was chaotic, exhausting, a little stressful (thank goodness for our amazing AD! I would have been lost without her), but mostly fun. Okay, all fun.

After that first day of shooting and on the way back to our home for the weekend (we were staying at a friends house for the shoot) I just knew that that was what I wanted to do. There was no doubt. Since then I've been digging further into costuming.

And that's my story.

Now when people ask me what I want to do with my life I can finally give them an answer. Though I'm past the age when people ask that the most (right after you finish High School and "should" be getting ready for college and your future career), but I still have to dodge the question of "are you in college?" #homeschoolerproblems

How about you? Have you always known what you wanted to do? Or are you like me and have/had no idea?

A Little Update

Posts here have been few and far between lately. I have been working on projects but just haven't had time to post them here, as that usually requires editing pictures which takes forever on my laptop and I procrastinate a lot.

But, I have good news! I have a new computer that is due to arrive next week, which is going to be way better and faster than my laptop which means I'll be able to edit pictures faster and easier, which means more blog posts.

I've been trying to update my Instagram regularly, and is a good way to follow my current projects. My Instagram is @ThePhantomCostumer

A couple of projects I've started but haven't posted about yet;

• My 1871 day dress. I haven't really posted anything about the actual dress here yet but have shared a little bit on my vlogs (which I also haven't been able to do in a long time). The skirt is mostly done, just needs to be hemmed and embellished and the bodice is mostly stitched together, just missing sleeves.
• I started knitting a sontag, which is type of shawl that was popular in the 1860's. I was inspired by the shawls on When Calls the Heart and decided to make one. I'm about half way done and it's looking quite nice!
• Just the other day I started the mock up for my Halloween costume, which is Alice from Disney's calssic, Alice in Wonderland. The bodice mock up is practically complete and just needs sleeves, and I already have the skirt pattern. My sister is going to throw a Disney party this fall so I'll also be wearing it to that.
• I've been doing some research on Rey's costume from The Force Awakens, which I'll be making for the premier. I've only just started researching, but I hope to get it mostly done before Halloween because I'll be busy in November with NaNoWriMo on top of work and won't have a lot of extra time.

I'll be writing up more detail posts for most of these and will also post Part 2 of making the Jellyfish in the next couple of weeks when I have my new computer set up. Until then, stop by my Instagram for more updates!

Cinderella!

If you've been reading my blog for long then you should know about my love for the Broadway show Cinderella. For the last two years I've been following Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella on Broadway, waiting for it to go on tour and Sunday I finally got to see it! My sister Alina and I went to see it together and we had a such 'a lovely night'!

Our seats were near the back of the theater, on the 3rd mezzanine, so we were pretty far back but they still ended up being great seats. Oh and the theater was so pretty! This was my first time going to the Paramount and it's beautiful! It would be the perfect place to do a photo shoot for costumes.
Please ignore the quality of some of the images, I only took my phone with me to the theater.

We had our own little section with just 2 seats so we didn't have to sit by anyone :D

This was the view from our seats.


Cinderella was the first Broadway show that I really loved so it was really special that it was my first Broadway show that I've ever seen live in person. It was even more amazing than I thought it would be. Everything from the costumes and the dancing to the sets and the actors was beautifully put together. And those costumes are more amazing in person (even from where I was sitting)!

I was so excited when I found out that Paige Faure and Andy Jones were the main cast. The played the rolls on Broadway right after Laura and Santino left, and they (along with the whole cast) were amazing!

Our cast :D

By the end of the show my hands hurt from clapping so much. I laughed, I cried. It was a great show. And at the end there was a standing ovation, which was very much deserved.

After we got out of the theater my mom and dad joined us to go to the stage door. I got to meet some of the cast, get pictures with them, and they also signed my playbill! I got to meet Paige Faure (Ella), Andy Jones (Prince Topher), Kecia Lewis (Marie/Fairy Godmother), and David Andino (Jean-Michel).

With Paige Faure

With Andy Jones (he's way taller than he looked on the stage!)

With Kecia Lewis

I splurged and bought a program and a Cinderella T-Shirt, which I have been wanting forever! The program has beautiful pictures of the original cast with Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana and it talks a little bit about the show and some of the costume designs.

You can't really tell here, but it's sparkly

Here's my autographed playbill. It was so amazing to actually meet them! Now I can check 'meet famous people' off my bucket list. :)

And my shirt. Sorry for the poor quality, I'm horrible at taking pictures in the mirror.

I'm goign to be seeing Phantom in a few months, which I'm even more excited for now than ever! If I ever get the chance to go to New York, all I'm gonna do is see Broadway shows ;)

Guys, if you have the chance to see this show, see it! You will not regret it! 

A Couple of Updates {Plus a Question for Y'all!}

Ah, where to begin. Okay, so I got a job and started on the 2nd which is great because it means I'll be making more money and will have a bigger costuming budget. The not as great part is that I work between 12 and 4, 4 days a week which takes away some of my time that I would spend on costumes.

So my costuming progress may be a little slower. Although this week I have gotten a bit done on my Christine wig! Which brings me to my next 'update'.

I took a break from working on this because I ripped out 7 wefts and replaced them with the new long wefts only to realize I stitched them in too tight making it so the wig didn't fit my head properly. So I had to rip out all 7 of the wefts and stitch them back in again.

But I got it done and that's the important part, right? I also found it's much easier to do your wefting with your wig on a wig head. Before I just held it in my hands and hair was getting all tangled and in the way. It's much easier to do it on a wig head.

The wig I got was curly and the new wefts are super straight, so when it's down it looks ridiculous! I braided it before putting it on to get a look at the length, and this is what it looks like. Sorry for the poor quality, it was dark and I didn't want to wait 'till the next day to get a picture.

The braid is almost a yard long!

I'm doing some curling tests with some left over wefts to find the best method for curling this thing, I tried putting it in foam curlers and then using the hairdryer to get it warm. But it didn't really work. So now I'm trying it with boiling water.

I also want to find out how long the curls will last. I've heard that synthetic hair will hold curls for a long time, which would be really nice! So once I find the method I like I'll be testing that.

Okay, the last thing is actually a question for all of my followers. I've been thinking for a long time about starting a costume vlog. I haven't come across anything like that before and think it would be kind of cool.

I've never done a vlog before and have thought about doing it but I don't think I would have enough to put in for my everyday life. But I would have a lot more content if it were a costume vlog because it's something I'm really passionate about.

So what do all of you think? Should I give it a go?