Costumes by Samstress

GUMBY PANTS Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Amateur theatre production September 2021.  Murray Bridge Players and Singers Back in 2019 I started making the pattern for these pants. I couldn't find a pattern to make these specialised pants so I new I would have to draft my own from scratch. Pattern drafting was not a skill I had so I enrolled in a course at the WEA.  I learned to make a bodice and pants block, from this beginners course I enrolled in an advanced course and my tutor helped me work out the shapes for the panels for these pants. The first three pairs I made were from a one way stretch fabric. It had horizontal stripes and a glitter finish. I found that the one way stretch reduced the manoverability of the pants. For the remaining pairs I chose a two way lycra in foil finishes. To reduce the amount of fabric required I laid the pattern pieces in both directions which meant the stripes didn't match up but that was just too bad. My first sample of one leg of the...

 Casino Shirt Dress Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Amateur theatre production September 2021.  Murray Bridge Players and Singers Worn by Katelin as Marion with Kurt as Tick - photo by Jay Birdy Photography The Casino in Alice Springs has a unique uniform we choses from the Hawaiian shirt range sold at Lowes stores. The very pink shirts have a 90's vibe we thought perfect for an outback nightclub come casino. We bought these shirts for several of the actors playing the roles of staff to wear but the character of Marion (who is the secret wife of Tick) needed a managers dress to wear.  I used 3 shirts in the 2XL size to make a long sleeve knee length dress. I wanted the palm trees design to flow down the bodice and have the blue border print at the hem and cuffs.  original mens shirts Actors in the casino dance scene. Photo by Jay Birdy Photography  left original 2XL shirt and right the start of the dress transformation from 2XL. To make a man's shirt into a wome...

  WATTLE COSTUME Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Amateur theatre production September 2021.  Murray Bridge Players and Singers I started this costume in October 2020 Tracey as Wattle - photo by Jason McCullough  Aversion of the wattle costume by charade-theatrical.com For this costume I used two shades of green velvet the costume dept had in their stash. Along with scraps of other green velvets for the leaves and yellow net and tulle for the blossoms.  I used view B of Simplicity 8768 pattern for the dress. Back Front Showing the true colour I completed the dress ready to decorate with flowers and leaves but I felt the skirt was too floppy. It didn't have any shape. My options were to add a full petticoat underskirt or use buckram to stiffen the shape. I chase buckram because I already had that. I lined the buckram and added it to the inside of the skirt. The buckram is lined with some old parachute fabric I had It is hand sewn to the vertical seam lines from underne...