Friday, November 07, 2008

Emergency Costuming

Well, just a smidge.

The annual high school theater festival district competition is this weekend. I haven't been involved in it at all; the one-act done by The Actors school is a musical, performed by the Choral Magnet Seniors (they are scheduled to perform for competition tonight).

To my delight, the musical is a cutting of Godspell.

Last night was the 'sneak preview' performance (aka an open dress rehearsal). A number of the kids also performed their selections for the individual event competition; The Actor and a classmate did a very nice rendition of 'Who's On First', so we were there to see the show.

Now, I've loved Godspell ever since I first saw it performed by a touring company at Clowes Hall in Indianapolis as a teenager...By My Side was sung at our wedding. So I may have been predisposed to enjoy the show, and my opinion that the kids did an outstanding job may not be entirely objective. But one teeny thing did catch my attention: there was no real visual distinction between Jesus before and after his resurrection.

Right after the show, I got flagged down. Could I possibly do a little sewing before they compete? Jesus actually had on the classic Godspell Jesus Superman T-shirt under his button-down shirt, but he didn't have time in the few seconds he was 'buried' (obscured by other actors) to unbutton the shirt so that the Superman logo showed. Could I put some velcro on the front so he could get it off in a hurry?

How could I possibly say no?

It worked out well in that the Flute Player was home frantically trying to do a two-week-project in one evening (there's a mini-rant about that on the other blog; I'm not going there here), so I suspected I was going to be up late while she worked anyway.

So, I came home, changed the thread in the sewing machine, and put velcro patches down the front. I did it so that the button side of the shirt was on top...it'll feel backwards to the actor, I'm afraid, but hopefully it will sort of appear buttoned from a distance. Ideally I would have taken the buttons off and replaced them with velcro, then made a band with the buttons on one side and velcro on the other and buttoned it onto the shirt but there just wasn't time for that.

Then I washed and dried the shirt. It, um, wasn't so fresh after being worn for the performance. The Actor took it in this morning.

Now I guess I'll just have to go back tonight and see the show again to satisfy myself that it worked ok...


Oh, and while I was up last night I finished sewing the lining for the Weekender bag; it's all put together and ready to go in. I *should* be able to finish the bag itself today...maybe even get the lining in it? We'll see...the auction's tomorrow...

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like a full night! You'd be the right one to fix that shirt - I hope it works as planned.

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  2. Just a quickie tip... when we velcro a shirt we sew the buttons on top of the holes after applying the velcro between. No extra band... and since they're nonfunctional you can sew the buttons on by machine (drop the feeddogs and zigzag carefully).
    Sometimes, every extra second you save counts towards getting it on stage!

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  3. Thanks,Kathleen! I have had *NO* luck sewing on buttons w/my sewing machine...somehow, the needle thread doesn't properly engage the bobbin thread and I've got 120 stitches all held in place by 1/8" of bobbin thread, which pulls straight out with the least little tug.

    But if they qualify for the state competition, I may go back and do a better job if it looks less than perfect on stage. I'm hoping it won't be noticeable...

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  4. My goodness! You were there at just the right time to save the day! I hope you were wearing a Superman logo on YOUR shirt because you certainly deserve it! Good luck with the weekender bag. I hope you can get it done this weekend.

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  5. The Weekender's done! I'll post a photo Monday...hopefully, it will be a desirable item ;)

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  6. Hi, Lisa! I just wanted to check back in with you and see how your projects were coming along and I'm so glad to hear your Weekender Bag is done! I hope you will have time to post pictures this next week. I'd love to see it. I hope you can also talk a little about how you made it. I have some beautiful fat quarters that I bought (I'm not a quilter but some of the fat quarter fabric is so beautiful I just couldn't resist). I think I could use some of them to make beautiful bags. I just ordered a digital camera and should be receiving it next week. If I canfigure out how to take pictures and how to post them to my blog I'll be able to start posting pictures of my projects just like you do! Next, maybe I can learn to sew as well as you! :-)

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