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.