Skip to main content

Roman Gladiator Costume

 Roman Gladiator Costume

Rehearsal photo by Jay Birdie Photography

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

For the Venue scene the back up dancers wear RTW (ready to wear purchased garments) glitter dresses we added gold belts and shoulder straps too. The boys wore pleather skirts and a shoulder shield with RTW hot pants. 

I used some firm felt backed pleather I got from the home furnishing dept at Spotlight. It is the same fabric I used on the Diva's silver dresses for the petals and binding. 
The fabric has a cross hatching texture and doesn't need to be lined or finished as it does not fray.
I used gold and bronze for the costume. 
My Pretty'a'template sketch of the design

Pteruges: Skirt of leather

Pleather in bronze and gold

I drew a long strap shape with a curved end and cut these from the gold. I used the bronze pleater cut into narrow strips as binding to edge each panel. 
Sewing the bronze binding onto the gold with straight stitch

working out the number of panels to fit on the waistband


added circles to the diamond to match the waistband detail
Waistband has narrow 1/4' strips sewn to define the shape. 
wide velcro is used to hold the waistband closed and allow a quick change


Shoulder Shield

I again used the gold pleather, my costume assistant cut multiples of the leaf shape. These were stitched to a backing of heavy weight buckram. Each row was pinned then straight stitched in place before adding the next row. 
 



We decided to use a brown sharpie and edge the leaves so the shape of each was defined and visible from distance.

A strap of pleather edged in bronze was used to secure the shield to the actor


The band is shaped into a curve by cutting into the top edge and overlapping the pieces to the desired curve. This meant I didn't was it fabric cutting a curved strap out. 
Gold elastic stitched to the underside of the shield hold it to the actors arm. 


Rehearsal photos by Jay Birdie Photography

Popular posts from this blog

Gothic Queen of Hearts “Alice in Wonderland” Youth Theatre Murray Bridge Players and Singers 2018 Concept drawing created on Prêt-à-template I volunteer my sewing skills for an amateur Theatre group. They have stage a production once or twice a year. For the second half of 2018 the Youth Theatre staged an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic story of "Alice in Wonderland". The Director of the play oversees the set design and costumes as well as directing the play. This director was also part of the youth theatre herself at only 16. She requested a Queen of Hearts costume with a pants suit and a high low jacket with large collar instead of a more tradition dress.  The above drawing is my submission for the costume. Some changes were made during the construction process to suit the actors proportions and the need to walk up stairs and sit. Pattern For this project I used McCall’s 7641 as the base for my jacket.  Kwik Sew stirrup pants patter
Read more

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

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