Skip to main content

Gum Nut Costume

 Gum Nut Costume

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Amateur theatre production September 2021. 
Murray Bridge Players and Singers


I started this costume in July 2020
 

Peta as the Gum Nut on roller-skates!


In the original production the Australian flowers are gum nut, wattle and banksia.
a version of the original Costume design by Charades-theatrical.com

 I decided not to make the banksia and made just the gum nut and wattle costume instead.
Imagine this costume worn with roller skates and zipping around the stage because that's how the actor wore it!


I started by cutting a lot of strips of different pink fabric. 



I sewed these into tubes and turned them through.


This was my general idea


I sewed all the tubes into a fringe


I need a skirt for my gumnut so I used this metallic knit dress.


Added a tulle underskirt


I pinned the fringe to the skirt top so I could trim the ends level


I glued a yellow pom pom to the end of every tube


This is the finished skirt fringe




Once the skirt was constructed I made a pattern for the nut and cut it out of a green grey velvet.
I padded the nut shape to bulk it out. The bottom of the nut is pleated in to create the round nut shape.



The arm holes have a padded binding




Layers of net under the sparkly skirt help bulk it out.


The back is has a velcro closure.



Headpiece





The head piece gum nut is mounted on a hard felt cap. I covered the cap in the sparkly fabric from the skirt. Using the tubes trimmed from the skirt fringe and left over tubes I made more fringe. 


experimenting with different lengths of tubes


tubes with pipe cleaners added to give shape

using only long tubes with pipe cleaners.

After some experimentation I settled on using long tubes. I inserted pipe cleaners into each tube so they could be bent into a curved shape. 
I hand sewed the tubes in place through the felt. A time consuming process but I couldn't trust hot gluing them in place. 






I hot glued a pom pom to every tube



The baby gum nut is an onion shape I made with the velvet. I added pin tucks to create definite vertical lines that showed the shape and contours of the nut. I stuffed it with wadding and hand sewed it to the cap.







So many pom poms!

photo by Jason McCullough

photo by  Jaybirdy Photography

Popular posts from this blog

Frill Neck Lizard Costume

Frill Neck Lizard Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Amateur theatre production September 2021.  Murray Bridge Players and Singers I started this costume on November 7th 2020 Alex as the Frill Neck lizard rehearsal photo by Jaybirdy Photography Classic Australian icon the frill neck lizard appears in the original stage production.  design by Charades-theatrical.com While I love this design it has many elements, pants, top, shin covers, cod piece, girdle and sail. Way too many things for my actor to put on so I narrowed it down to a top that zips up the front, some stretchy pants and a headpiece you need a pilots licence to drive. My initial design done with Pret-a-template app This is probably the most labour intensive costume I made, purely because I went back to my skills in a freehand machine embroidery and machine sewed all the decorative embroidery into the fabric making it unique. Unlike the professional above costume where printed stretch metallic lycra has been used, I started wit
Read more

Cockatoo Costume

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo worn by Cassie Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Amateur theatre production September 2021.  Murray Bridge Players and Singers Jo and Cassie - rehearsal photo by Jason McCullough I started these costumes February 2021. In the final scene all actors come on stage in an Australian themed costume, the 3 Divas don a sulphur crested cockatoo costume. Off all the complicated costumes I made this was the easiest but also very time consuming. I looked at many pictures of cockatoo's on Pinterest to get an idea for feather direction, size and concentration. I also looked at other companies cockatoo costumes for design ideas.    Charades-theatrical.com My design allowed my actors to choose comfortable undergarment because it was not strapless.  Design done on Pret-a-template app. I had to use the bridal design background so I could draw in white. I started these costumes in February 2021, a journey begins with just one step, well a cockatoo costume begins with just one
Read more

Sophie Mamma Mia

Sophie Mamma Mia I made this costume for a friends daughter who wore it to their Mamma Mia themed 21st birthday part. The design is based on the costume the character of Sophie wore during the credits of Mamma Mia where the cast sang Waterloo.  The original costume was designed by Ann Roth for the 2008 movie Mamma Mia. image from Pinterest  Fabric used Pink Rainbow dot shimmer lycra from Tricia's Discount Fabrics Hot Pink Glitter tulle from D K Fabrics Stretch Silver sequin off-cuts, hot pink foil spot fabric, pink acetate lining and light weight white buckram and blush stretch fabric for lining all from my stash. Sophie provided me with a padded bra with removable straps to build the dress onto. We decided this would give her the most support and best fit on the bust line. I divided the costume into 3 sections first test run in Trace'n'toile second version I used a photo of the costume from Pinterest and some notes I took after watching the movie. Bra Bodice: The original
Read more