So I started working in the Costume Shop here on campus last Friday. I spent my first day rummaging through our extensive catalog of costumes, looking for the right shirt for Simon and the right dress for Mrs. Neggins. Or whatever. It was super fun – we have an amazing array of costumes available. But I felt silly because I didn’t have keys, so I couldn’t open any doors for myself, and I didn’t really know where anything was, so I just tagged along with Megan Hall while she searched. Not yet bad-ass.
But then! On Monday! The real bad-assery began! It turns out that one character needs to be wearing overalls. And it turns out that we don’t have any overalls in the right colour scheme for the show. AND – the plot thickens – it turns out that the costume shop does not have any patterns for overalls!
So my project begins: I must create a pattern for overalls from scratch, and then make a mock-up of the overalls to fit exactly to the actors’ dimensions, and then construct the overalls to fit the actor. So exciting! First I start looking for pant patterns – lo and behold: We have only one pattern for pants, and it is basically just an outline of pants to lay on top of material and cut – no wiggle room whatsoever, and very difficult to custom fit! So I discard the useless pant pattern, and begin to envision pants in my head.
That sounds like a costume designer pick-up line: “Hey, baby… I can totally envision your pants in my head. On my bedroom floor.” Okay it’s a bit awkward, but it could work. It could work, is all I’m saying.
Now this next part is a bit technical, so just skip it if it gets overwhelming.
I made some overalls!
It was really fun. They looked really sweet on the dude, and totally also fit the time period.
Conclusion? I am a bad-ass.
