Pirate...er... power?

Three meetings later and work on the Pirates of Penzance costumes is on its way! Overall, I think I understand the vision for the show, and I think what I can also picture for the show is in line with that. I have a few reservations about the amount of work we've seemed to have taken on, but I'm just going to have to set my own priorities and worry about the lesser things later on.

At this point I'm more or less in charge of the main male characters in the show: the Pirate King, the Major General and Frederick. This is fine. I picked up a perfect coat for the Major-General from Kensington Market, an old band uniform as it would happen. I added on some bullion fringe as epaulets to the shoulders and it is even more perfect! It's a little snug on the actor's underarms/upper arms, but I'll think of something. Probably some underarm gores. Hopefully nothing so intense as making new sleeves. Oi. Anyway, I've picked up the fabric and now I'm going to start to work immediately on the Pirate King's costume, which I'm quite looking forward to actually! Frederick will follow eventually. I still haven't even seen the actor yet... y'know, kids are really hard to nail down.

Over the weekend I worked on the nightcaps for the daughters' second act costumes... So all 22 of the nightcaps are sewn, however, I still need to add ribbon to gather some of them. The pattern was mostly my own, but it was inspired by the muslin cap pattern in Jane Austen's Sewing Box by Jennifer Forest. I also made a little bonnet for Isabelle (the youngest daughter). It's made out of white cotton, with eyelet ruffles, ribbons and small white flowers sewn under the brim. The pattern I used for that was based on the instructions in Elegantly Frugal Costumes by Shirley Dearing. So... 23 hats down, about a million other jobs still to go!

Nevertheless, no matter how much complaining might follow this entry, I'm so happy to be working on this project! Yay fun!