Stepping Out 2024 - Finale Costumes

Stepping Out

Finale Costumes

Murray Bridge Players and Singers

2024

Photo by Ian Walton

I designed the finale costumes for the cast of an amateur theatre who were staging a production of the musical Stepping Out.

The original movie, starring Liza Minelli was set in the 80's.
A group of women and one man are all students at a beginners tap dancing class. It is run at the local community centre. The class is invited to perform a tap dance number at a dance concert showcasing professional and practised amateur performers.
They have around 3 months to practice. Their performance, while spirited and courageous, is somewhat abysmal. The audience can see their potential and is very supportive. As the recognised underdogs, they are invited back, a year later they perform a polished and spectacular tap number, all in coordinating costumes.

There were 12 female tap dancers and one male.

For construction on all costumes I used Maxi-Lock Stretch thread in black and white, from Boodesigns.com

Female Costume

My brief was for a leotard with sleeves, a skirt with a long back and a bodice that would allow the actors to wear a normal bra.
I searched Pinterest for inspiration but it really came down to finding the perfect base pattern to start with.

For the costumes I used the pattern company Jalie. Founded and based in Canada, Jalie has a large range of excellent figure skating, gymnastics and ballet costumes.

Jalie 4237 Fiona - Raglan sleeve leotard comes in the following sizes in one pattern

- sizes 2-13 child or F - Q

XS -2XL adult (4 - 24) or R - GG

View A: invisible zip at center back, mock neck
View B: invisible zip at center back, neck binding
View C: easier-to-sew pull-on, scoop neck style.

Jalie 4237M Fiona - Raglan sleeve leotard comes in the following sizes in one pattern

- 1XL - 5XL (20 - 36) or DD to MM

Jalie 4237A4 Fiona set in sleeve leotard, same sizing as 4237.

Jalie 4237AM4 Fiona - Fiona set in sleeve leotard, same sizing as 4237M

Jalie 4237 Pack A1 - Skirt add on sizes F to M included in the pattern

I used the original Fiona pattern 4237 for the briefs in conjunction with the set in sleeve Fiona 4237A4.
This bodice add-on is designed for the FIONA leotards (sold separately). It is compatible with the skirt and pants add-on you will find in the mix n' match collection. It includes new front, back and sleeve that will allow you to create a set-in sleeve leotard, dress or unitard with zip back.

So I used a combination of
Jalie Fiona 4237A4 & 4237AM4 set in sleeve: bodice
Jalie Fiona 4237 & Jalie Fiona 4237M (purchased separately): brief
Jalie 4237A1: Skirt

I had not made leotards before but I found the Jalie range very easy to construct and perfect for design alterations.

As I need to fit women ranging in size from an Australian size 6 - 26, I decided to make 15 sample sizes.

I used both the raglan sleeve and the set in sleeve versions for the samples. I added a skirt using view B from Jalie 4237A1.

I used budget spandex for these costumes.

The only draw back was this fabric had a bit less stretch than the expensive spandex I would make the final costumes from. When the actors tried on the samples I advised that a snug fit meant the finished costume would have more give and not to choose a loose size.

Jalie 4237 Fiona Leotard Size S & Size Q

Jalie 4237A4 Fiona Leotard size U & size T

Jalie 4237A4 Fiona Leotard size V & Jalie 4237 Fiona Leotard size W

Jalie 4237 Fiona Leotard size Z & Jalie 4237A4 Fiona Leotard size Y

Jalie 4237AM4 Fiona Leotard size BB & Jalie 4237AM4 Fiona Leotard size JJ

Jalie 4237A4 with standard skirt view B - 4237A1 - left

Jalie 4237A4 with altered skirt view B - 4237A1 - right

The actor playing Vera, wore one of the sample leotards in the show.

Photo by Ian Walton

Now that I had a working leotard I had to design a costume worthy of a finale. Here are some of the first design ideas.

This design was the base for the final costume

Ultimately, it came down to fabric selection. The best fabric store in Adelaide with the widest selection of dance fabrics including lycra, mesh, velvet, sequins etc is Tricias Discount Fabrics.

I went there and spent a while looking for the fabric that spoke to me, the one I could see sparkling under the spotlights when it moved.

I chose a diamond pattern foil spot on a black fog finish lycra. It sparkled and had lots of movement. The wrong side of the had a solid black, this was important because I didn't want to line the tails skirt. If I had chosen a printed fabric the wrong side might have been white.

Fabrics used in the costume

- Black Fog finish with holographic foil dot grid $40m used on the bodice side front and back, outer skirt & cuffs.

(left) White Pearl fog finish - faux shirt centre front.

(right) White poly spandex lining - centre front

Black mat finish Lycra - Faux vest centre front

Black poly spandex lining - brief Black spandex - outer brief

Glitter stripe black velvet - front V skirt

Design Changes
I designed a tuxedo style costume using the set in sleeve pattern as a base.

Fit Alterations

The pattern was very true to size across the range of people. I did have to shorten and lengthen sleeves and torso but that is to be expected.

Body
On the front bodice, I drafted a centre front panel to look like a shirt worn underneath a jacket. Because I was using white for this panel, I decided to add a lining. When some spandex fabrics are stretch out they become more transparent. Several of my actors had full busts and I didn't want this are to be sheer. On the test run leotards I found this happened because I used cheap spandex.

I made one test sample to check the fit and look when the bodice was stretch out on the body. I decided the expanse of shimmering white was too much across the chest. To fix this I added the faux black vest over the white.

The faux vest is not lined, it is just a single layer of fabric. The upper V neck of the vest is just a cut edge. The buttons sewn down the front hold it to the other layers behind it.

I had designed the vest to have the points at the bottom. I did not account for the horizontal stretch and when worn and the V flipped up. So I cut it off and sewed the bottom of the vest to the waist seam instead.

I used water-soluble adhesive to hold the buttons in place for easy sewing

Skirt

I wanted a tails style skirt for this costume.
I made the skirt from 3 different pattern pieces.
The centre front skirt is an underskirt made from the glitter vertical stripe stretch black velvet.

I used the front only of 4237A1 skirt pattern.

This is a V shaped skirt and is true to the original pattern. This under-layer gives front coverage and a different sparkle from the holo grid pattern. There is no hem, it is just a cut edge.

Back tails attached to the side front skirt.

For the tails skirt, I drafted a front and a back piece. I used the back pattern piece from 4236A1 to start from. I increased the length dramatically so it had a long tapered back and added two wide pleats in the waist. I angled the centre back seam so it had two points at the base.

For the side front skirt, I used the V skirt as a base and changed the shape. I wanted it to taper down from the centre front to the side seams. I widened the waist of original design so I could add a pleat at the front to create volume.

These two pattern pieces were the largest of all the pattern pieces and consumed the most fabric. As I had a limited amount of the feature fabric I had to design with conservation in mind.

Sleeves

Originally I planned for the sleeves to be in the holo fabric. The supplier only had a total of 16.5m left in stock which wasn't enough to make all the costumes with the sleeves in the same fabric. So I had to change the sleeves to black, 2way stretch mesh.

This turned out to save money and made the costumes more breathable. All the actors were happy with this because it gave them more ventilation.
I drafted a cuff pattern and made this in the holo lycra

Making 12 identical costumes in 10 different sizes was a nightmare of organisation, I labeled everything and spent 4 weekends cutting out fabric worth over $1500 Australian.

I had folders for every person with all the individual measurements.

I cut out the costumes by starting with the bodice pieces and laid out all the pieces onto the fabric for all the sizes. I had to label every single piece as I cut it, with the actors name or chaos would ensue.

Each costume had 21 individual pieces. Not including the bow tie.

Pattern pieces used excluding the cuffs, brief lining, bodice lining and bow tie.

I traced off my pattern in every actors size and made all the lengthening or shortening adjustment to torsos and sleeves etc. Each person had their own pattern traced off in a different colour so I wouldn't get one persons size Z mixed up with someone's else's size Z.

There was a spread sheet with a list of actors and all the pattern pieces required so I could cross them all off as they were cut out.

I still managed to cut 5 things twice, but that's ok.

Mens Costume

Test run of the body shirt and skating pants. Made in the test run lycra

Bodyshirt

For the mens costume I used two Jalie patterns.

Jalie 2802 - Mens and Boys Figureskating Bodyshirt

A pull on bodysuit with hook-and-eye or snap crotch, cut below pants waistline height to make sure the briefs part is not visible when the skater raises his arms.

Choice of banded crew neck (A), mock turtleneck (B) or shirt (C) with sleeve variations: short sleeve, regular long cuffed sleeve or gathered long cuffed

I used the same fabrics for the male costume as I had for the women's.

Bodice - black stretch mesh

Brief - black lycra

Cuffs - holo lycra

The test run proved a bit long in the torso for the actor so I shortened it a couple of inches so it stayed tight.

The mesh body shirt is seperate from the vest because I wanted the vest to have free range of motion and go on over the head so when worn you will only see the sleeves.

The actor can remove the cuffs and he will have a nifty mesh body shirt he can wear out.

Skating Pants

Jalie 2803 Mens and boys figure skating pants

Fitted pants with flat front, zip fly and snap closure, waistband with enclosed wide elastic (1 3/4") for more comfort, belt loops, straight leg with optional pin tuck, and velcroed elastic stirrups.

PDF only with these sizes included
Child’s sizes 2 - 13
Adults chest sizes 33 (XS) - 42 (XL)

I used a black fog finish lycra for the final costume pants to match the background of the holo print lycra.

I made size Large, 34” waist without the velcro stirrups or belt loops.

Vest

This costume has to parts to the body. Originally I was going to have the brief attached to the inside of the redesigned body shirt. I couldn't quite work out the logistics of having the tails sit at a point on the body where the waistband of the pants would interfere with the body rise.

In the end I decide to make a mesh body shirt with contrasting cuffs and a seperate sleeveless jacket that goes on top.

The outer vest is made with the same Jalie pattern as the shirt for its base. I basically drafted off seperate pieces for the faux vest, faux shirt and side fronts. These are all sewn together to make a new layered looking front.

The vest is faced at the bottom V hemline. I did this because it needed reinforcing which would help hold its shape and also because the white fabric stops at the waist.

The top edge of the vest is a single cut edge. It is sewn to the white via the side seams and the buttons.

The front of the jacket is faced at the bottom to get a neat hemline and for strengthening.

I moved the back waistline up from the hips where it is in the pattern.

I drafted off the tails pattern to attach at the back waistline and fall straight down.

There are small metal curtain weights in the hemline of the tails to help then maintain the smooth shape.

I lined the whole of the back tails with black fog finish so it match the pants.

pattern matching the holo grid!!!

Bow Tie

I used Vogue 2826 and the glitter velvet fabric. The pattern has two pattern pieces which made it easy to repeat multiple times.

Conclusion

I do know there is a way to make all the costumes skirts fall to the same height regardless of the actors height. I made these costumes on a volunteer basis, remotely from the actors with only several fitting. I didn't have the time to adjust every costume like they would with the Rockettes for example. I am pretty happy with how they all turned out! I went to see the show a couple of times and the finale was spectacular.