"The Light in the Darkness" A Marching Band Show

photo by Beth Sison

 My youngest daughter was a member of her high school marching band's color guard for 4 years. And like many high school activities, parent volunteers were needed in a number of areas. I started as a chaperone during her freshman year and then helped with uniform fittings and making costumes.

The first project I helped out with was making modifications to the color guard uniforms for a marching band show called "The Light in the Darkness."  A show based loosely on the story of "Little Red Riding Hood." Uniforms were purchased for the guard - black unitards with removable red hooded shrugs. The coach's vision was to have the guard dressed in these uniforms with a few wearing long red circle skirts in the beginning of the show and then all transforming into wolves by the end. Everything we made had to be easy to take on and off quickly. 

Idea -  A black zippered vest that looked "wolf like", a wolf mask, fur somewhere on the arms and legs.  Long red circle skirts that opened on one side, lined in black, for a dramatic effect when the kids performed. We needed to make 15 wolf sets and about 8 skirts.

And here is how we got there:

The vest was made from black spandex with a front zipper. Each vest was trimmed in fur, front and back. Half of the vests were trimmed with a black/white fur blend and the others in solid grey. Masks were made using a basic black face mask found at a local craft store. Ears were made from sturdy felt, trimmed in fur to match the vest and then stapled to the inside of mask. 

The next step was to figure out how to add fur to everyone's arms and legs. We made elastic fur cuffs for the wrists - easy to take on and off. The legs were trickier - first thought was to make them as we did the wrist cuffs but they were hard to slip on and off the legs and didn't fit very well. So we decided to attach fur to a strip of elastic, wrap it around the leg and secure with velcro. Easy to take on and off, and it could be adjusted if needed.

For the circle skirt, I used a pattern. I know there is a mathematical way of figuring out how to make them but I like using patterns, I just do. I used a circle skirt pattern from Jalie Patterns:  

https://jalie.com/jalie3457-circle-skirt-pdf-pattern

The skirts needed to be floor length so I just added additional inches to the pattern piece. The skirts were two layers -  red spandex for the outer layer to match the shrug and the inner layer was a lightweight black spandex.  The skirts were more like "circle wraps", they were held together with velcro at the waistline.

We had a dress rehearsal at practice... to make sure everything fit.  Love this group!

The guard trying on their "Red" costumes

The wolves at band camp practice

I have to say, it was a challenge for the kids to change into wolves in a short period of time. I can't remember how many "counts" or "beats" they had, I'm pretty sure it was under 15.  I volunteered for the shows and had to turn my back because watching them change made me too anxious. For the first few shows of the season, some went out with wrist cuffs and no leg cuffs, some went out with no masks but by the later shows they all managed to transform into wolves, successfully.

Guard at the beginning of the show
(photo by Sigga Lara)

Those wearing skirts have removed them
(photo by Sigga Lara)

The Guard transformed into wolves
(photo by Sigga Lara)

Thank you to two incredible band moms, Sigga Lara and Beth Sison, who captured these moments and many more with their cameras.

A Friend with Great Style

 I have a friend who has great style - she just has an eye for what works and what doesn't. She came to me a few weeks ago with a bag of things to alter and an idea for a dress she wanted me to make for a wedding she was attending in New Orleans. One of the items she wanted altered was a long linen skirt her mother's sister brought back from Egypt many years ago. Her thought was just to yank it up and turn it into a tube dress with some elastic -- Easy, she told me and my thought was, "um, maybe?"

Over the next few weeks we tossed dress ideas back and forth -- emailed pictures, talked budget but couldn't land on the same page. She decided to wear something she already had and we went to work on transforming her linen skirt.

Linen floor length skirt

Detail of lace bottom and sides - the sides were open with lace
overlay from bottom edge to waist

She wanted something simple - a rounded neckline, sleeveless, short with a deep v in the back.  The first step was to make a muslin pattern - a must because I had one shot to make the dress so I wanted to make all my mistakes and adjustments on the muslin before I made any cuts to the linen skirt

The pattern I had was for a tank top so I needed to cut my muslin

longer for the dress.

Playing with the back of the muslin pattern,
the "v" I cut was not deep enough so I made 
adjustments and marked my tissue pattern in red.

As you can see, we made a few adjustments to the back.
  The lowest line is what we decided to go with.

With the muslin pattern adjusted, I started taking the
 skirt apart - first removing the lace along both sides
and then the original stitches.

Next I needed to find the center lines, front
and back - making sure the beaded design
 was centered between both edges.

As you can see, the pattern was wider than the skirt.
  My solution was to find fabric that was a close match to 
make the original skirt wider so the pattern would fit.

Not a perfect match, but I liked it and I knew I could 
camouflage the line with the lace trim I was putting back on.

In addition to adding a side piece to both the front and back,

I also added a piece to the bottom to give a few more

 inches in length.

The zipper was my next challenge.  I couldn't sew a seam
up the center back because of the beading. I found my center
 line and folded the fabric, marked a 7 inch line and sewed a 
basting stitch 5/8" from the fold line. Next I cut down the fold 
and and sewed in my zipper, one side at a time just 
as I would any other invisible zipper.

Placing the original lace back on the new dress.
 I was trying to get the spacing similar to what
was on the lower edge of the original skirt.
  I don't know if you can notice where the new piece
 of fabric was added to give some length to the bottom
 edge.  As I hoped, the lace did a great job 
camouflaging the additional fabric.

Here is a close up of the beadwork -
it was absolutely beautiful, unbelievable.
 Every bead sewn by hand. 

The dress turned out the way we had hoped.
And she had something she could wear to
the wedding in New Orleans.  

You make everything beautiful!  

Thank you for asking me to make something new 

out of something old.

A top from scrap

A few posts back I shared a project involving two dresses - one that was shrunk at the dry cleaners and one that was used to rescue the first with the hope leftover fabric turning into a top.  The top turned out the way my friend was hoping it would so I would call that a success in my book.

After figuring out how much fabric I had left to work with, I found a pattern that was similar to the dress style because I knew that style fit my friend and she was comfortable with it, taking out all the guess work for me.  She did want the bottom of the hem to hit around her hipline.

This was a great project to complete, using the fabric from one piece that could have just been left as scrap but instead became something new, something fun to wear.

After ripping out the side seams of the scrap dress, I had a front piece and back piece.  Folding both at the center, I placed my pattern pieces trying to leave as much room at the bottom as possible to allow the finished piece to hit at the hipline.

A "technique" I use to make a mark to cut without using tracing paper? I just use a sharpie.  Yes, you need to be very careful what fabric you are working with because the marks made with a sharpie are permanent.  I only make them for cut lines using chalk for darts and placement marks.  I like the sharpie because it leaves a mark with just a small amount of pressure.   Could a washable marker do the same, probably I just haven't tried it.

After my pieces were cut, the top was not as long as I wanted it to be so I removed the bottom trim, and added a two inch wide piece and sewed it to the cut edge of the front and back before replacing the trim.

Reattached the trim to now longer front and back with a serged edge to prevent any fraying.

Original dress with added gussets

Top made from extra fabric used to fix
original dress

Rescuing a mishap at the dry cleaners

Sizing down, taking in sides, hemming... it's all pretty straight forward.  Taking things from snug to "ahhh, it fits again" takes a little more thought especially when there's little to no seam allowance.  I learned a new technique the other day and then got to try it out and was amazed.  In the alteration world they're known as gussets and some even refer to them as footballs and triangles.  There are a lot of times when I have to take a few minutes (sometimes more) and figure out how to make something work and I enjoy that part of sewing.  However, it's really nice when you come across a technique that is perfect for what you're trying to do and it just works, every time.

One afternoon, I sat back and was amazed at the ideas coming from a woman pulling miscellaneous items from a bag that needed to be rescued, lengthened, or transformed. Yes, transformed -- that was the only word that kept coming to mind as I was listening to her ideas.  She pulled out two identical dresses but in different sizes and said one dress had shrunk at the dry cleaners so she bought another dress with the hope of using it to save the first dress. With the remains of the second dress, she asked if I could make her a sleeveless top.  And my thought,  "I have a technique that might save that dress and hopefully transform the scrap dress into something wearable."

For the dress, all I did was open the sides by ripping the side seams while she was wearing it.  I opened the seams to the spot where the dress fit comfortably, her waistline.

From there I measured the opening and made a gusset in the shape of a inverted triangle.  My first was made from a piece of muslin -- I only had one scrap dress to work with, I didn't have any extra for do-overs.

Looking at the dress I was using as scrap material, I wanted to keep the bottom in tack because of the hemline, so I cut from the upper part of the back.  Once I had my triangles, I used trim from the neckline of the 'scrap dress' to finish the top edge so it would match the existing arm hole.  From there, I just sewed it into the dress.

The result was good, the dress fit like it did before the mishap at the dry cleaners and it didn't require a lot of extra fabric so making the top was going to be possible.

The person who this dress belongs to is one of my most favorite to sew for, she brings me things with ideas that only she would think of.  It's both challenging and exciting every time.

Adding a Little Bit of Whimsy

This past spring I was able to help a grieving mom in a very special way.  Her mom had passed suddenly and she found herself juggling family life with everything that comes with losing a parent and on top of all of that ... it was prom season.

As her daughter and I were figuring out whether or not we could make her prom idea come to life in a very short amount of time, she sat quietly on my sofa skimming through images on her phone and next to her sat a black dress suit.
For the prom dress, time was a factor and we quickly realized that it just wasn't possible due to time restraints and a schedule that required both her and her mom to be out of town.

Turning my attention to my friend, she asked if I could do a small favor for her.  She held out her black suit and asked if there was any way I could give it a little more flare.  Her idea was to add some ruffled trim to edge of the skirt and maybe some to the jacket, but not too much just enough to make a subtle change. If there was anything I could do to comfort her now, it was changing her suit, adding a little bit of whim to match her personality and in the process, giving her a lift during this difficult time.

I found one inch wide black organza trim that looked like it was made for her suit. Starting with the edge of the skirt I added her bit of whim by pinning it and then stitching it in place.

The black organza trim was a subtle change, added just the right about of whimsy.

The jacket trimmed in leather around the collar and across the waistline.  Adding ruffled trim to the lower edge would give it a new look.

After adding the trim to the edge of the jacket, the sleeves looked like they needed some too. Too much? Not in my mind. Knowing the woman who was going to wear this, adding a little more trim was going to be just right.

Perfect.

Losing a loved one is hard, one of the most difficult moments a person will go through in their life. Making a simple change to a black suit was something I could do that hopefully comforted a grieving mom even just for a moment during this very sad time.


P.S.   If you're wondering about the prom dress, they were able to find something to wear, so that worked itself out too.

Making "The Dress" Fit Even Better

Prom alterations are one of my favorite things to do because every dress is different from one to the next -- similar yes but identical, never.

Beading has become a new love of mine. I've done minor repairs in the past, replaced beads here and there and added a few beads to a bodice on my daughter's prom dress a few years ago. One thing I've learned about beading is there's not a right way of doing it, it all depends on the pattern and you can make that up as you go along adding different beads in all kinds of sizes, color, and "degrees" of sparkle --- it's all personal preference.

This past prom season I worked on a dress that was almost as beautiful as the sweet junior who was going to wear it, almost. The dress fit like it was custom made except in two areas - the front of the bodice and the straps.

The dress gapped between the side and front princess seams - the two long curved seams sewn into the front and or back of a dress to add shaping. The back of the dress fit perfectly. Taking it in at the side seams would pull the gap in but make the back tight, too tight. Standing back and looking again, I thought why not make a dart right at the widest part of the gap. The seam of the dart would be camouflaged by beading and the back of the dress would not be effected.

Because of the beading, I decided to just pinch the gap and measure how much to take it in. Then, I marked a dart on the inside with a blue water soluble pen and sent a little prayer to the sewing gods that the pen would indeed hold true to its name and rinse out when I was finished.

Next I ran a basting stitch to hold the beads in place that were not being removed. After the beads were secured along the 'V', I started removing the gems, seed beads, and sequins... carefully.

 I made an identical dart in the lining of the dress.

Once the beads were removed, I folded the dart in on itself along the 'V' lines and stitched - doing the same to the lining of the dress.

And finally... began beading.  I used the same sequence as what was on the dress -- sequin, seed bead, seed bead, seed bead, sequin with a few big jewels attached in spaces that looked like they needed a gem -- personal preference. The beads and gems were sewn using matching thread and a beading needle.

Working from the bottom to the top, I filled in the space.  Beading slows me down and every bead added adds a little bit more beauty.

Finished.
If you look closely, you can see the black basting stitches of where I secured the beads that I didn't want to remove.

Basting stitches removed.
Looking closely again, you can see the dart but I think the beads do a good job camouflaging the stitch line.

The straps needed to be taken up about an inch on each side.  I needed to remove beads to make the adjustment.

and then replaced them when the straps were the right length.  And all blue marks disappeared,  thankfully.

Thank you sweet Tori,  for asking me to help with your dress this year.