Wicked the Musical
presented by Murray Bridge Players and Singers 2019
In May 2019 my local theatre group put on an amateur production of Wicked. The company's 57th major production since 1973.As the costume designer I designed and made a variety of outfits for different characters.
Katelin Kneebone, Samantha Pope, Val Schubert, Emma Love
photo by Jay Birdy
Galinda
Galinda “with a Ga” the good witch had the most costume changes of the principle cast members. Her changes from one outfit to another had to be made very quickly and sometimes in under 30 seconds! This plays an important factor in the design and construction of costumes for theatre.
photo by Jay Birdy
My costume concept drawing made on the Prêt-à -template app.
Act 1 opening
This costume was designed to look much like the dress from the Broadway show. I made a bustier and a skirt.Bustier
I used Simplicity pattern 5006 bustier/corset.
I started with a layer of pale green satin and backed it with some heavy white cotton and a layer of black stiffening called tailors interfacing. This was the main bodice.
Embellishments
The decorations were applied to the top bodice before it was constructed. I added a layer of mint green organza over the satin on the side fronts and back pieces. On the centre front I used the pleated mermaid organza.
I cut the selvedge off the pleated mermaid organza and used it as an accent because it was a nice ruffled texture. I stitched these strips onto the side fronts and back pieces.
I had some sequin braid in my stash that matched the colour scheme so I added that to the front seams.
The director asked for frilly straps. I made these from gathered strips of mermaid organza and mint organza. Each edge was roll hem overlocked in metallic thread.
The ruffles were sewn to a strip of satin and then the excess satin was folded under and topstitched. I twisted multiple strands of the cord to make it thicker and couched it over the straps.
detail of selvedge
I couched a mint green twist cord in lines of three over the selvedges on the side front and back. I added a feature embellishment to the top centre front of the bodice to accent the sweetheart neckline.
The director asked for frilly straps. I made these from gathered strips of mermaid organza and mint organza. Each edge was roll hem overlocked in metallic thread.
The ruffles were sewn to a strip of satin and then the excess satin was folded under and topstitched. I twisted multiple strands of the cord to make it thicker and couched it over the straps.
Ruffled strips before being made into a strap.
fitting before boned lining was added
Beading
I love hand beading! For this bodice I added seed beads and cup sequins to the bodice.
Avoiding the underarm area is a good idea as chafing can occur!
The inside of the bodice shows the hand sewing and the bra cups
Lining
I used acetate lining and sewed the boning to it. I added extra boning to the lower centre front and front seams under the bust for additional support.
Rather than sewing the lining to the main fabric right sides together then turning the bodice out as the pattern instruction state I chose to sew the bodice to the lining wrong sides together. This makes a better finish I feel. The raw top and bottom edges are then bound with bias binding made from the satin fabric. I really like this finish, it frames the top and bottom edge smoothly.
Zip Closure
I don't use invisible zips in costumes much. They look great but do not handle rough treatment well. For this bodice I inserted a chunky open end zip. Sometimes the actor is being dressed off stage in semi darkness and a big zip is easier to handle and close.
SKIRT
The base for this skirt is Simplicity 8629. It consists of a base layer of blue heavy satin, 2 layers of stiff net, a layer of the mint organza and at the front a panel of the pleated mermaid organza. All this was gathered and sewn to a strip of satin. I made a wide waistband with heavy interfering and a velcro overlapping closure. Again it needed to be ripped open, fall to the ground so the actor could step out and change into the next costume.
Petals
The 32 petals are self drafted in 4 sizes. They are made from the mint organza.
Each petal has 5 different sequins and 3 different sizes of plastic facet mint green crystals glued to it.
Once I started gluing the sequins on by hand I realised there was no way I could complete this task and finish all the other costumes I still had to make. I asked one of the other costume volunteers to do this part for me. It took her two weeks, working every night.
We used Helmar fabric glue and placed each sequin in the correct spot with with tweezers.
My initial go at adding bling
more bling added for better coverage.
Sequin application time lapse
Wilma, my sequin application Goddess
I added two pleats to the top edge of the petals. This gave them more dimension. I finished them by folding over the raw edge at the top and sewing it closed.
Wilma hand sewed each petal onto the skirt.
Dress Rehearsal photos by Jay Birdy
Katelin Kneebone as Glinda & Emma Love as Elphapa
Brendan Watts as Guard, Val Schubert as Maddame Morrible, Tim Hodgen as Guard.
Stay tuned for more costume blogs from this production!
Materials source
Spotlight Australia
- green satin
- mint organza
- net
- universal tailors interfacing
- boning
- Helmar fabric glue
- mint plastic facet crystals
D K Fabrics South Australia
- sequins
The Remnant Wharehouse
- pleated shimmer mermaid organza