Theatre Sewing

Beauty and the Beast was a success. We had 6 shows and 5 were sold out. It was by far the most exhausting of all the shows I have been involved in, but on opening night when everything came together the students performance, the music, the tech and the costumes...what a thrill!

La Bella y la Bestia fue un éxito! De las 6 funciones 5 se vendieron completamente. De todos los expectáculos de que he participado ¡éste por poco acaba conmigo! Pero una vez que se abren las cortinas de la noche de estreno, todo se olvida cuando veo lo bien que todo ha quedado.



 So what did I make? I made Belle's blue dress, Mrs Potts apron and the wolves' hoods (12 of them!).

¿Qué yo creé? El vestido azul de Belle, el delantal y sombrero de Mrs Potts y doce capuchas de lobos.

McCalls 6793 was used for the neckline and originally for the sleeves.  The sleeves ended were so binding I replaced them with new sleeves made the pattern from the Dorothy dress (which I made for the same student) and I narrowed the shoulders and lowered the armhole for a good fit. I do not recommend this pattern except for the neckline which was pretty and exactly what I was looking for.

The skirt which I attached to the top, was recycled from a dress in the theatre closet. I shortened it and added the lace ruffle.

The corset (Simplicity 5582) worked great. I added the zipper in the back, trim to the neckline and created a "faux" lace up. I also added flannel as an interlining to give it body. I did exhaggerate the point in the front so that it would show better on stage.

The apron is my own, just a rectangle with ties and lots of trim :-)


Usé McCalls 6793 para la blusa la cuál pegué a la salla que era parte de un vestido que teníamos ya en el closet. La salla la hice más corta y le agregué el encaje. El patrón de la blusa no le recomiendo excepto para el cuello pues las mangas quedaron muy apretadas y el hombro se caía. Paré cortando el hombro y quité las mangas. Usé el patrón de Dorothy y corté nuevas mangas (ya yo había hecho ese vestido para la misma estudiante el año pasado).

El corset (Simplicity 5582) fue perfecto. Le agregué el zipper atrás, el encaje en el cuello y inventé el frente para que pareciera de verdad.

El delantal me lo inventé, un rectangulo con muchos adornos.

Mrs Potts apron was made from Simplicity 5961(it seems to be OOP) . I added a lining and an interlining of flannel to give it body. The pink is purchased bias binding. The fabric is from Joann's home section. The hat is from my colonial costume (see link below) with an added pink bow trim.


El delantal de Mrs Potts lo hice de Simplicity 5961. Agregué forro y franela para darle más cuerpo. Lo terminé con cinta al bies que compré. El sombrero ya estaba hecho, parte de mi disfraz colonial, sólo le agregué el lazo.

 For the wolves hoods I used Simplicity 2853. I looked at many pictures of wolves before drawing the ears for the pattern. I used felt for the hood (we needed a cheap fabric) and I splurged on the small amount of white fur for the inner part.



 Para las capuchas usé Simplicity 2853, miré muchas fotos de lobos antes de dibujar las orejas para el patrón. Usé felpa para la capucha (necesitabamos tela económica) y agregué piel blanca en el centro.

 Here are some backstage shots.

 Isn't this a fantastic piece?

What did I enhance? Belle's yellow ballgown was very pale so I made a collar and added a sash to the skirt of a very bright embroidered organza.


¿Qué mejoré? El vestido amarillo de Belle era muy pálido así que le hice un cuello y le agregué a la salla un adorno de organza bordada.

 For the neckline I used Burda 2479 as a base with some modifications to fit the dress I was working with. I love how it came out, it framed the student's face beautifully and the back fluttered when she waltzed. Because of these modifications we didn't have to pay for this dress.


Para el cuello usé Burda 2479 como base y lo modifiqué para que le quedara bien al vestido. Me encantó como le quedaba el color a la cara de la estudiante y cuando bailaba el cuello atrás se movía de lo más lindo. A la señora le gustó tanto que no nos cobró el alquiler del vestido.

We had a tea before the last mattinee

With my husband's help ( he created a perfect little platform that held the feathers straight up and in place) we added the feathers to the hat that Babette (the feather duster) wore. I also enhanced her dress (which was rented) with more feather boas.


Con la ayuda de mi esposo le agregué plumas a un sombrero para Babette (el plumero). Al vestido que alquilamos también le agregué más plumas.

Another mom and I also repaired, ironed and enhanced most every costume we rented. The enchanted objects were in poor shape and needed lots of love; we had 10 teacups ( we wired the rims for better shape), about 15 silver ware pieces (straps were redone and fitted to the students) salt and pepper (body pieces were falling apart, so we took them apart and fixed them).  I replaced zippers, fixed seams, took in costumes, let out costumes...you get the picture.

La cantidad de trabajo que se llevó esta producción fue increíble. Con la ayuda de otra mamá reparamos todo tipo de disfráz. Teníamos 10 tazas a las cuales les agregamos alambre para darle mejor forma, las piezas de cubiertos tenían unas tiras para aguantarlos al cuerpo que tuvieron que rehacerse, etc. No sé cuantos zippers paré cambiando, ajusté, agrandé...bueno ya se imaginan.



For this show I also took on finding costume sources and dealing with the lady that we ended up using because she had great costumes for reasonable prices. She also liked what I made and bought from us Babette's hat, Mrs Potts apron and hat and the wolves' hoods! We kept Belle's dress, too much work went into that dress, I would never get a fair prize plus we should be able to use it in another production.

Además para esta producción tuve la responsabilidad primero de encontrar el vestuario y después ser la que me entendía con la señora que nos alquiló. A ella le gustó tanto lo que hice que compró el sombrero de Babette, el delantal y sombrero de Mrs Potts y las capuchas de los lobos.

Here are some shots of the show

Babette's hat looked wonderful with the enhanced dress

Do you recognize the dress on the student second from right? Yes my colonial gown has now been on stage.

I hope you enjoyed learning about my experience, I sure had fun!


Espero que hayan disfrutado leer acerca de mi aventura en el teatro, ¡me divertí muchísimo!