Spring track meet 1985

In the spring, my elementary school would have a city track meet.  Much a like a real competitive track meet, the elementary school track meet was a series of games for the student to compete in.  After all we were just grade school kids. Track and field is a sport which includes athletic contests established on the skills of running, jumping, and throwing

 The name is derived from the sport's typical venue: a stadium with an oval running track enclosing a grass field where the throwing and some of the jumping events take place. Track and field also includes road running, cross country running, and race walking.

Carl Lewis was a big name in 1984, and he brought attention to competitive track and field events during the Olympics that year.

Our PE coach would introduce the class to what a “track meet” was.  He would explain each event and at times demonstrate the event or explain how the score was kept.  Your score would result in a placement when awards were given.  Some of the events were simplified for school age kids. There was no pole vault and no huddles for example.  There were other events such as running the 100 yard dash. It was 1985, and the distance was not measured in meters but rather in standard length.  There were throwing event like the soft ball throw and a long jump contest.  We were also put in teams for a relay race. 

The local high school coaches and athletic team served as judges and score keepers.  They ran the track meet.

In the month before the track meet, our PE class would practice for each event during class.  This practice also acquainted us with rules. As with most contests, if you break the rules there may be a chance you get disqualified. 

My coach also encouraged each student to practice at home.  And I like a fool, believed him.  I thought if I tried, I might be a runner. The goal was to increase stamina and endurance. I would put on my only pair of athletic shoes and would jog around the block. He failed to tell me that if you’re an overweight kid, one month of practice would not make much difference.  I guess when you are a kid, you don’t yet see if you are fat or not. My naive self just wanted to be successful and win an award. 

The day of the track meet, we were told to dress in a t-shirt and shorts. Since the event would be held outside in the afternoon.  We usually wore long pants during a regular school day. I really had no clue how unflattering I looked in shorts until that day.  The classes were loaded onto buses and we traveled 10 minutes across our little town to the high school track.  There we were met by adult and coaches. We unloaded from the busses and walked on to the track.  There were bleachers along the side of the track.  Each class sat together and awaited their events to be called.  From the bleachers, we could also watch and cheer on the kids as they ran the races.  The most excitement happened during the relay races. 

I signed up for the soft ball throw and the long jump. Everyone had to do the 100 yards dash. And of course, the coach put me on a team with three other boys who were not my friends. But we had to run together as a team.  They put our fastest member as the last leg of the race.  I was third in the rotation.  The theory was that if I was slow, he could make up some time.  In the end, it didn’t matter. Our group placed last. Only the top three teams got ribbons. I was last in my 100 yard dash as well. I had proven that I was no runner.  

My individual events were only slightly better. The long jump seems simple.  You run and jump. That’s sounds simple.  They measure your marks in the sand to see how far you went. So I ran as fast as my legs would go at full power. I ran down the approach and jumped as far as I could. In case you were wondering, fat kids don’t fly very far. I hated this event, especially since I ended up with sand in my shoes and somehow in the shorts.   I got sixth place out of my group of six.

I did enjoy one event, the soft ball throw. Basically, you had to throw the ball as far as you can.  And thankfully there was NO RUNNING involved!  Finally something, I could do.  Each kid got three balls, and the best of the three attempts was your final score.  I got second place and a red ribbon!  I was so happy that I was good at something.

 I have never understood, why people encourage you to compete in things, you are not good at. I think each person is good at something, but you have to find it for yourself.  

Today, I’m not a runner; because that is not something I am good at. But there are lots of other things that I excel at.  That is the way life should be. We are all different; some are runners, and some are not.

The Red River

My parents used to take us on day trips. Once my dad said, I’m taking you swimming. Something he never said or did. But once, he actually did. He took us about 20 miles to the Red River.  In my 10 year old mind, I could have been Red River Colorado; instead it was only the river that separated Oklahoma from Texas.  I remember my Dad  fishing, while we played in the muddy red water.  We came home with clay red under wear and socks. And so much sand in our shorts  it chaffed us. For some reason, this trip was not fun.  The ride back was no fun either. We rode in the back of the pickup camper shell. It was hot even with the slat windows cranked open.  The air was ripe with the smell of fish and dried bait.  I was glad we never went back to swim in the Red River again. 

Hamilton sewing project.

Our friend Kevin asked for some help with his first contest, Mr. Club Changes.  Kevin is an actor and teaches at a local Fine Arts Academy. We attended two of his plays at local community theatres. He and his husband Chris enjoy going to Club Changes.  Kevin was inspired to enter the contest.  Kevin likes the new Musical Hamilton, I must admit, I was not familiar myself when I started the project.

I remembered Hamilton from the Tony Awards.  Kevin has chosen the character King George. The musical selection is King George who sings “You’ll Be Back” in the show. I asked him to send me a few pictures.  I was instantly over whelmed at the detail. What had I gotten myself into?  I generally do not make men’s costumes.  I told him I would call him after work that day. It was a Tuesday. The contest was on Saturday.  We spoke by phone and I got an idea of what he wanted. I told him yes, I could do it but it was short notice. I would have to start right away. I was able to get fabric that evening and found a selection of trims that might work.  Scott was helpful in helping me picking up on the details of the reference photographs. The costume needed to look authentic and professionally made. It would be a true challenge. I was pressed for time and I didn’t want to let Kevin down.

I found a pattern for a revolutionary war era costume.  I would change a few coat details but it could work. The costume would be three pieces. Coat. Vest and Pants. The shirt would need to be white and ruffles could be added. Kevin got out easy, he would need socks, shoes and wig/crown for the character. I would also have to find fabrics that would be regal. The costumes from Hamilton were red satin or possible silk. But on a budget I found a red suiting fabric that would work.  The trims would need to be wide.  I found some ivory woven trims and used gold fabric paint to transform them in to gold. After the jacket was completed, it would be painted with gold glitter fabric paint to give the look of gold threads. I worked in the coat first, as I knew it would be the most time consuming.  The sleeves were cuffed with large folded cuffs trimmed in more large gold painted trims.  I added stiffness to the cuff with interfacing.  The coat also had red buttons and gold ribbon loops on the opposite side of the front opening.  This was also mimicked on the sleeves as part of the decoration. The red and gold really made the costume take on a regal look.  I now had to make the vest and pants.

Rather than build a complete vest, I used a manufactured vest and refaced it with the same red fabric as the coat. I used fusible web spray adhesive to bond the fabrics together. I trimmed it with gold bias tape and top stitched the arm holes.  You have not lived until you have to sew new button holes over the top of existing button holes.  (That was supposed to be sarcastic.)  I used double fold bias tape was used to hide all the raw edges.  The same gold painted trim was added to the vest.

The pants were made by following the pattern. I added elastic inside the waist band so they would be easy to put on. I added 1 inch elastic to the calves, since the style is short pants.  This worked out well. 

I found white ruffles with red edges.  I created trapezoid shaped ascot, which was tied in the back with strips of bias tape.  I added ruffles two inches apart in rows across the ascot.  I used the same ruffles on the sleeves of a dress shirt. I added two rows sewn together along the inside and outside of the sleeve.  This ruffle would be showing past the cuff of the coat. The double rows added fullness.

The costume was finished on Saturday afternoon, and I was very pleased with it. I worked very hard on it.  I had never tried to make something like this. Kevin was pleased as well.  He did very well in the contest, and his talent was the highlight of the contest.  Needless to say, he won!  

Hamilton Costume

Broadways Hamilton, King George

Costume created by Mattie Madison 

Jacket construction - back

pattern cutting

Costume pattern

Kevin Paris as King George

Ruffles added to a white dress shirt

Vest refaced in Red with gold piping

Trims were painted with gold fabric paint. They were originally ivory. Then were hand painted with glitter paint to make them look like gold thread. 

white shirt and jacket before pressing and lining was added.  Event he lapel flower was hand made.  

I made a new dress

ME and my friend Chris

I made a great Wonder Woman dress last week. I have worn it twice and it has been a hit in both events. I have noticed that there has been a surge in graphic print clothing.  These fabric pants have been an inspiration lately. 

Korina, Mattie and Scott.  I am wearing my Budweiser dress.

BACK OF DRESS

I saw some Budweiser sleep pants that were made of a knit material similar to fabric that is used for t-shirts. They are very soft and comfortable.   It is light and breathable and best of all it has some stretch. I bought the men’s sleep pants in a 2xl.  I wanted to have the larger size because it had the most material to work with.  I then deconstructed the pants by cutting all the seams and trimming off the elastic waistband and draw string. I set these aside to use later.  I laid the cut fabric out flat, and face to face.  I then laid out my favorite simple knee length pattern.  This dress was sleeveless because, there is only a limited amount of fabric.  But if I wanted to do a long sleeve, I guess I could have brought two pair of pants.  I was able to make a dress out of this printed fabric and I serged the seams. Hemming the dress was easy, as only the neckline and arm holes needed to be done. The bottom of the dress was already hemmed, because it was actually the bottom of the pant legs.  I used the waistband section of the pants to make a stretch belt. I also stoned it with red rhinestones stones just to dress it up a bit.

Top with ties at shoulders

My Wonder Woman dress

It was just a little different with the wonder woman fabric dress. I deconstructed the pants only to find, that because they were woman’s pants that they were too short.  Oh no!  So I added some red fabric and made the yoke of the dress red.  It surged together well.  I deconstructed the remnants of the waistband farther. I removed the drawstring.  It was a red flat woven cotton strap. It had a single white stitch pattern on it.  I used the two sections of red strapping to tie a loose bow on the top of each shoulder.  It created a cute and feminine touch to the dress.  I was very pleased with how my Wonder Woman dress turned out. 

a thought

When I was a kid, my dad liked taking us fishing. We would get up ready early and stop for bait. We would also stop for snacks. Usually that might be a loaf of bread and peanut butter or cans of potted meat and crackers.  Cans were sealed and did not have to be kept cold. That was most convenient.  I used to take cracker crumbs and feed the schools of minnows in the water. And sometimes the duck too. My daddy said it was wasteful, I saw it as sharing. 

showcase my creativity

I’ve been trying to be more creative in my show costumes. I have been learning some better drawing skills for garment design.  I’m so proud of how quickly I have been able to sketch designs now.  Understanding the human form has been helpful.  I will try to add some pictures to this blog of my work with movement and form.

 I have been sewing more. I was kind of in a slump for a while.  One of my more recent concepts was an Asian inspired dress. I found an amazing heavy weight stretch fabric. It was white with a metallic colorful floral print.  Scott helped me mix the music. I ordered some hair accessories and even rhinestoned  chop sticks to put in my hair. I used the color red for a strong accent color. I wore bright red jewelry and red gloves and shoes.  I felt so amazing.  I even camped it up a bit and passed out fortune cookies when the crowd tipped me.  I played coy and placed them in their hands.  I really had a good time with it.  I felt beautiful and felt like no one could ever do what I do in that moment. I think that is the key to being a successful drag queen.  You have to find a way to do what no one else can do.  I felt original.

I have many other concepts that I want to try next. This will allow me to push myself.  One such idea is a star wars theme. I want to be Princess Leia. And I have some ideas for the music.   I also want to be Maleficent. In fact, the costume is now done and it looks great. The only set back is that Scott has been out of town, and I don’t have music for it yet.  Hopefully we can sit down work on it this weekend. 

I love to sew show gowns and character costumes. I have a Dorothy wizard of Oz costume that I made last year. I found a musical parody version and made the costume to go with it.  I even had a basket and stuffed dog Toto.  It was so much fun.  I even had ruffle socks and red glitter shoes that I ordered online.

I also made two puppets to use for a show. I did the opening casino medley from Sister Act the movie.  We ( the puppets and I ) were all dressed the same.  I learned to lip-sync and puppeteer with both hands.  It was so challenging. But I got really good at it.  A friend told me that my puppets were the best he had ever seen.  I too, thought they turned out great and looked professional.  The hardest part is putting on two puppets, it takes some help to make sure they are straight and the clothes are hanging correctly.  Scott was helpful the two times I did the act.  I have aspirations to do a similar concept where it is me and two puppets dressed as nuns.  I have the fabrics, I just need to get busy on the construction.