One last Malleus post...

It's still available on You Tube  as of today; the production starts at about the 15 minute mark.

  I finally got a copy of the cast photo...

Now, I have to admit something.  I hadn't really gotten to SEE everything all on stage at once.  And I was flabbergasted at how well all of those randomly chosen old costumes coordinated on stage.  The dancers, most of whom are seated, were all new costumes; we made the tunics for the tiny dancers but we made use of fast fashion sources for the cropped pants and the adult tunics.

What can I say?  We pulled it together in 4 weeks.

See, that's what grace does.  Grace isn't there to excuse indulgence...grace is there to give us the power to do that which we coudn't do otherwise.

Like costume a production in 4 weeks that ends up looking like everything was coordinated.

I should finish the data entry from the weekend tomorrow. I stayed after work today to clear out my stuff from the sewing room.  I'll likely go back in on Friday to pack up the remaining costumes and extra fabric and such.  The theater is rented out very soon and the room we used for costume holding and construction...which is actually used as a dressing room...has got to be cleaned out.

Still don't know where we're going to put the stuff but I am sure someone will come up with something.  We still haven't found a workable place for costume storage.  The theater is rented too much to keep stuff anywhere there.  The home ec sewing room is much too centrally located and is pegged for the expansion of another ministry.  Which is a pity because it would be perfect.  But...location, location, location. Costumes don't need to be right off the public spaces.

We've got about a week to figure something out. Or rather, someone does.  That's above my pay grade, lol.

Problem solved ....more or less...

 But it took a couple of tries.

After the first dress rehearsal, the costume comments were that the floof on the red drapey thing (which our dancer referred to as 'the affliction') was a little too much and needed to be toned down.  And the magnets just didn't hold it toghether well enough; she actually had to try and keep it hung up in the skirts as she danced.

So, on Thursday, I  worked part of the day and then clocked out and went back to the sewing room looked it over.  I took off all of the pieces that weren't actually sewn down, moved them around and actually left one off.   The result was something that had longer, less floofy loops; notably, the bulky bit in the front was now gone.  Good enough.   My sewing cohort Miss K. brought me some larger, stronger magnets and I switched them out.  These were STRONG...'get the ends within a half inch of each other and they jumped together with a click' strong.

Thursday night's dress rehearsal ran through the presentation twice.  The first time, the magnets were too strong and 'the affliction' didn't even come off at all.  Before the second run through, I recommended that the magnets be hooked together  on the opposite side...the one that had all the turned back fabric, so they were connecting through (she counts) 10 layers of fabric instead of two. The bond there was not as strong, so that should work.

And it did...but somehow, in the movements of dance and dramatic crawling, she managed to actually step into one of the longer loops, despite it being on top of the underskirt.  Which meant it caught on her leg, nearly tripped her and had to be pulled off to finish the dance.

So...I tied a couple of knots in that puppy on Friday.  More than one way to shorten a loop...

We were going into the Friday night service without that contraption actually working correctly once yet. My townsperson character wasn't just jockeying for a place to see what Jesus was doing...I was actually trying to see...praying...that it would work.

It did.

Afterwards, several folks told me that that moment brought tears.

Whew.

I took a couple of  pictures backstage so you can see the costume:

Here's our dancer (an official church photo), before the affliction is removed. You can just see glimpses of it through the layers.

And just before we started tonight, she showed me that the shoulder seam on the brown over tunic was starting to come unstitched.   So I have a wee bit of mending to do tomorrow.  Probably will just needle-and-thread it.

Two services tomorrow...and then it's all done but the laundry.  And the data entry.

Just for grins...I made My Sweet Babboo wait to change after last night's service so we could get a picture.  Our costumes are OLD...but so are we, lol.

Problem solving

 Ok, firstly, I need a picture for Facebook's thumbnail ...cause I don't want the one below to be  pasted up with just the middle bit showing, lol.  So here's a gratuitous kitty pic.  Hard to believe it took her 8 years to decide it was ok to relax on a lap.

Ok, so.... here's a thing I made to go in between some layers in a costume for a dancer who will play the part of the woman with the...issue...in the Easter production.  The two layers over it are slit/  slashed, so the red peeps through as the lady dances.  I meant it to be ugly, and lumpy, and knotted, and twisted, and uneven.  All highly symbolic.

It fastens with magnets, so it can be quickly undone at the appropriate moment.

It's very lightweight poly crepe de chine...so as to not overwhelm the magnets.

But it's so lightweight that it doesn't fall...it just kinda hangs up in the layers.  So the dancer, 'Jesus' and I conferred. I reconfigured the streamers a bit and I put a very slight weight into one streamer end, so our dancer can kind of throw it out as she kneels, and 'Jesus' will step on the  that bit when he speaks to her so when she stands up it stays on the ground.

I finally saw the whole event put together tonight at tech rehearsal.  I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with what the team has done.  If all the variables come together, it should be moving.

But...just bein' honest, I'm tahred  (Southern for weary to the bone; I've 15K steps on the fitbit and didn't do any fitness walking.  Just what I needed to do to get stuff done today).  I have just about decided to use some of my comp time for a day off next week.  I think I've earned it. 

It will be live streamed ...6:30 CDT on Fri and Sat, 9 and 11 AM on Sunday.  The Rock Family Worship Center on You Tube.  If you are inclined to see the costumes, lol.  We made about a dozen for this production...the little dancers, the prisoners, the magistrate.  And the woman with..the issue.  Although, to be honest, I'm not sure how it will come across on the live stream.  Not like watching a made-for-TV edited production, but it should get the point across.

I may or may not get another costume post up before the weekend....we'll see...