Sunday, November 2, 2014

Sew What?! Sketching A Showgirl

I am of the completely-unqualified opinion that everyone has at least a little bit of OCD.  Whenever I become self-conscious of my own bizarre behavior, all I have to do is observe the "highly-questionable" conduct of others and silently express my gratitude for not being totally out of control like the lady I saw on TV who must perform every task on an even minute (e.g. 12:20 flush the toilet, 7:38 turn on the light, 9:44 lock the door, etc.), or my friend who counts his steps (ten steps to the front door, twenty-three to the car).  I am so forgetful that I am lucky to remember to lock the door, let alone count down to the appropriate tick of the clock, and so lazy that I max out around fifty steps before I call it a day.  I suppose we're all lucky that our own little exhibitions of compulsive behavior don't seem that weird to us.  One odd way in which my OCD manifests is in designing/creating a sewing project, especially when it is a Halloween costume!

Until I begin cutting and sewing, I will endlessly sketch pictures of the design concept.
Unable to focus on any other form or figure, I will obsessively draw and redraw the same (or
similar) image over and over and over again on almost any available surface - napkins, shopping
lists, envelopes, paper plates, bills; nothing is safe.

Like obsessively...
I think the only reason I sew (a practice I've always viewed as a necessary evil), is simply to get the
idea out of my head and into real life, finally allowing myself move on to the next great obsession.

Creative sewing can sometimes mean releasing conceptual control and allowing the materials to dictate the direction a project will take.  Burdened with yards and yards of a ruby red, swap-meet-quality fabric that we'll refer to as velveteen (more like flocked "velvette" or something akin to those weird moleskin-type, inflatable neck pillows used for flying), and a couple yards of floral, raspberry brocade, it was obvious that Mary's Halloween costume would have to be some kind of showgirl.  The saturated hues of the velveteen and floral brocade were crying out, "Make us a saloon girl!"  Not willing to abdicate total power, however, I thought about something a little less specific - western influenced maybe, but hopefully evoking a bit of Hollywood glamour as well.

After nearly a zillion rough drafts, this was the final design, very
much inspired by showgirl costumes of '40s cinema.

Sure, there have been far better and far more elaborate showgirl costumes but I was actually pretty proud of myself for this design - mostly because the only thing I had to purchase was the zipper and, unable to find anything suitable, I drafted my very own pattern.  Having absolutely no technical knowledge of legitimate pattern drafting, I used Mr. Tiny's tried and true hope-and-pray method.  I was even more proud of myself that, however far from perfect, I only had to make a couple of minor pattern adjustments before cutting into the fabric. 

Breaking out every bit of red fabric and and red trim I could find, I
learned that every value of red matches if one just uses them all.

The majority of the fully-lined, boned, strapless, one-piece garment was made of the velveteen, featuring the brocade at the center panel.  The princess seams were finished by a red gimp studded with red rhinestones.  The bust was adorned with two-layer bow and the seat was finished with a giant detachable bow and tails.  The choker was a remnant piece of velvet ribbon tied at the nape of the neck.    I even got ambitious and made a matching drawstring purse.  After having made them for at least two other "Sew What?!" projects, I still couldn't get past the water wing/arm floaties; I think they finish the costume in a far superior fashion to some corny, store-bought gloves.  With the body of the costume well under way, it was time for me to tackle the headpiece.

Always the dreamer, I had visions of a giant headdress with a towering arrangement of ostrich plumes.
Given my millinery budget of zero dollars and zero cents, I settled instead on the two random pheasant feathers from my stash; already red, if a little dark, I gave them the old rattle can once over.  Built upon a fabric-covered buckram frame, the hat's bottom layer is a gathered length of red, nylon netting.  The next layer is the raspberry brocade trimmed in pom poms, topped by the red velveteen adorned with red rhinestones, and followed by a final spray of red netting.  

Hoping to teach Mary some kind of responsibility (insert laughter - or maybe sad trombone - here), I put her in charge of stockings and shoes.  Let's just say that the day before Halloween I was driving her around town looking for nude fishnet stockings; on the day of Halloween, the Imelda Marcos of the Americas still hadn't figured out her shoe situation.  In what must have been her attempt to elicit an anxiety-induced coronary, she handed me a pair of the most random, lucite-heeled, yellowing, plastic mules I had ever seen.  I immediately reverted to my hope-and-pray method for an extreme shoe makeover.

The silver insole notwithstanding, these turned out better than I thought.
Honestly, I should have taken a before picture.

I covered the heel and the strap in velveteen, having the exact length
 of leftover gimp trim to finish the raw edges (how's that for a Halloween
 miracle?).  Never satisfied to leave well-enough alone, I of course made
bows to match! 

The funniest part about this design is that I'm normally not one to make costumes that might be deemed provocative.  In the best of circumstances, I am wholly confused by the parade of overly-sexualized costumery (as outlined yearly by our pal, Kimmie) that marches forth during the Halloween season.  The fact that this costume is rather bare didn't even occur to me until we were at our friends' unbelievably-awesome and atmospheric Halloween party where I caught a couple of creepers ogling Ol' Stretch.

Rather than "sexiness," the intention of this costume was about invoking the spirit of
Annette at The Golden Horseshoe and other similar cinematic showgirls; I think it worked!

Well, what do you think?  Was the obsessive sketching worth the effort?  What was your costume this year - tell the truth, was it sexy?  More importantly, did you Trick-or-Treat?

"Trick-or-Treat" (1952)

We hope that whatever you wore and whatever you did, your Halloween nightmares dreams all came true!  We're already excitedly planning for next year!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!


Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

18 comments:

  1. You ar a genius, and your wife is utterly gorgeous! What fun you both must have had

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    1. Hahaha!!! I'm blushing at the thought of "genius," but I thank you. Mary is my sister and I'm lucky enough to have her wear anything I make for her!

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  2. It turned out so gorgeous! I'm so impressed, and laughing at little thinking of mary handing you those heels. As you saw on Instagram, I was Divine this year so my outfit was much "sexier" than I usually go for. I bought this tacky red strech with silver glitter tiger stripes club dress that was SO SHORT. but I think I let Divine's spirit enter me fully so it wasn't too embarassing! Ha!

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    1. Thanks, Rae! You have to know how much I loved your filthy couple's costume - killer!!!!

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  3. Thats wonderful! I'd say you have quite the skills in pattern making. She looks great!

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    1. Thank you so much; I will chalk it all up to a Halloween miracle. Honestly, I couldn't believe it worked...but I'm so glad it did!

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  4. Hello, you are so TALENTED!! Love the sketches, I tht the pretty girl was your wife too! Aren't show girl costumes the best ever? I have seen some killer costumes with feathers in Las Vegas and Paris shows. ANd I have a collectn of Rhinstone vint jewels from Europe that are so huge I swear they had to belong to show girls. ANyhoo.... how did you learn to draw are you self taught and sewing? How did you learn to use the machine????? Gorgeous work!!

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    1. Thank you very much! I promise, Mary is most definitely my sister. Yes, I am mostly self-taught with tons of sketchbooks filled with years' worth of terrible drawings to prove that I am still trying to improve. Both of my grandmothers sewed and my mom is super crafty, so maybe a little bit of it is inherited. Thanks again!!!

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  5. You are a humble and talented man. I don't dress up but my 4 year old wanted to be a mermaid, & I found myself struggling to make something that was not showing too much preschooler skin. I ended up making a purple sequin halter top that tucked into her matching blue sequined mermaid tail, and she looked great. My 10 month old was a piece of sushi, which was fashioned from pieces of felt sewn on to her onesie. They both looked adorable and got many compliments, and my hope is to keep the handmade Halloween costume train rolling for as many years as possible!

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    1. It sounds like they looked awesome! Good for you for keeping things homemade!!!

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  6. You know I'm a fan of just about everything you stitch, and this costume just confirms that! I feel it rides the lines of glamor and sexy (without being over sexed) just like the big studios did with the Legion of Decency. All that is missing is a large feather fan, and a "Kiss my foot, or haaaaave an apple!"

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    1. Thanks, Mick! I knew you would understand what I was aiming for.

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  7. Amazing costume, as always. I always love how you do the sleeves :)

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    1. Thanks, Van!! Please don't encourage me, I'm already tempted to make water wings for ALL of her outfits. Hahahaha!!!

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  8. I was a mermaid with shell pasties, hahaha. It was a hit and I won the costume contest! (and was called "boobmaid all night but it was hilarious)

    For some reason nudity empowers me so it was a really fun night.

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    1. It sounds like your costume stole the show! I would never shame or begrudge anyone their sexy time, it's just not my usual go-to. Isn't Halloween the best for giving us an added dose of freedom to do/be what we want!!!

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