ELISSA HEM
Small section left to fill plus a couple of filligree pieces on the top of the red band. And stones. But once the tabs are tacked in place.
Tag Archives: phantom of the opera
ELISSA SKIRT
ELISSA SKIRT
Reminding myself of how this will look finished so it is worth being worked on.
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NOT EVEN RESISTING ANY MORE.
NOT EVEN RESISTING ANY MORE..
So that red wig? Guess who has gotten her Carlotta on?
Inspired, yes, by Rachel Anne Moore’s interpretation (inspired by la Divina, Maria Callas) but also because the red dress Danielle Everette wore in Carlotta Side Story was just the most glamorous version possible (in part because she’s stunning and tall and so the lines all create this perfect vertical 188os silhouette- my legs are long so I can get a similar effect even if not as tall!)
Anyway. So I’ll be using my ruined Cleves gown velveteen for the velvet parts so as to recycle something I can’t wear now.
I also have 10m of magenta/fuchsia silk organza to turn into ribbon for the pleats.
And I’ll be making a second bodice for my Elissa gown.
And a fake head! Time to grab a male wig form and cover it with muslin! Opening cadenza at everyone!
So.. .. extra wear out of some of my projects 🙂
Hopefully I can do the bodice and wig soon and then the red dress next year.
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FOR THE PHANTOM FANS:
FOR THE PHANTOM FANS:
Adelina Patti as Marguerite! From Images of Show Business From the Theatre Museum (v 384?) ed .James Fowler, Methuen, London.
Jean-Baptiste Faure as Mephistopheles and Mario as Faust.
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ELISSA/HANNIBAL BODICE TRIAL
ELISSA/HANNIBAL BODICE TRIAL
Angel of music,
Your final warning,
Stay away from my mind.
Angel of music I have a court order,
And I have friends in Star Wars.
Sorry, my costume wardrobe behind is just Mina and All The Star Wars props.
If she knows Shae, Erik, you probably should back off.
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ELISSA TEXT UPDATE
ELISSA TEXT UPDATE
I have bound the top and bottom with gold ribbon and the belt is actually looking good 🙂 So I’ll see if I can line all those applique pieces so they also look nice when taken off 🙂
Cold of heck is still here so I am seeing my GP tomorrow just in case.
Also, I managed three goes of Think of Me in a row with no fatigue in my upper range so I may be busting out my Mozart aria CD if I can find it and playing around with this new lightness (possibly due to the cold and how I am holding my soft palette and getting a lot of resonance in my nose proper- not nasal but I can feel the bones all around vibrate more than usual.)
The inner smile trick works, inner smile combined with breathing through a cold and yawn. Seems to be the trick 🙂
Oh also, I am now just down to a bucket of trims for the gown. Trims, not all the things to make, just the trims. It’s a 10L bucket.
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ELISSA/HANNIBAL BODICE
ELISSA/HANNIBAL BODICE
Front and back views of the upper applique snapped in place and the belt and lower appliques pinned in place.
I decided I did like the twisted braid after all and I’ll probably do a mix of Aussie and US styles here too: big stones and braid on the middle three seams. The loopy braid on the side and back seams.
I had to stop singing the cadenza at one point today. Yeah, but I managed a few scales as well and some good leg stretches (also if I support both hands I can still bend really far back and see upside down, so there is that!)
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UPDATE! AND CAT PURRING! I HOPE.
UPDATE! AND CAT PURRING! I HOPE.
Worked a bit on the Elissa and Elsa bodices (Elsa spanx thing so as to have that super flowy effect of the bodice and skirt which will not have any support- I’d cut the fabric on the bias if I could.. sigh)
Just left the Hannibal bodice like this, the applique is just laid on. The only wiggly trim I could get is my braided cord and I twisted it to make a good cover for the zip.
The bodice before gold trimming.
The inside of the bodice! Tight weave cotton mix. Herringbone twill tape (will need to install some as a waistband too) herrinbone stitched to hold the boning in. These means easy removal to alter seams. Cunning plan for a bodice supposed to be used in the theatre.
Utilispanx! Two layers of heavy stretch lingerie, bra cups denuded of every thing and covered in shaped fabric.
Just four bones in there so far but there will be a panel of them down the front or some sort of extra elastic stays. The cups are deliberately dimensional so they should fit right over to the top neckline.
I have also admitted defeat in the dyeing of the lining of the Maleficent tabbard. I’m going to just use the soft charmeuse after all. I wanted silk but it’s so horrible to dye.Unless I can get 6 packets of those tiny dylon packets which is impossible as it seems only Spotlight stocks it here and they have not been restocking the shelves- they are on sale.
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HANNIBAL/ELISSA GOWN
HANNIBAL/ELISSA GOWN
I have used more than half of the steel boning I snaffled just on the bodice. 6 bones, one each side of the zip and then side front and side back.
It took the entire Canadian cast recording to just install the boning at the sides. And I may have launched in to a full on singing session with it…. (not now, greek style yoghurt and voice work is nope.)
Tell me again sewing isn’t impressive as other costume elements?
And this is as someone who knows what they are doing and can herringbone stitch like a wizard. Yep, herringbone twill tape and herringbone stitches to hold and sew in one go, and allow the stitches to stretch a little with wear.
Unfortunately it has left my hands useless, this immediately makes the damage in my wrists aggravate more inflammation. So time for a wheat bag break, possibly for the day.
But the boning really makes a difference. The bodice feels looser with it in as the fabric doesn’t bunch up around my waist.
In celebration of the way the bodice is turning out I am investing in better velvet for the skirt ropes (I cannot find anything that rolls like the Broadway stuff though, sigh) and a lace front wig. Said wig will have to double for Mina and potentially for Maleficent as well. So… oh, I can afford two wigs surely? Regardless, I’ll have to get a widow’s peak in each as I cannot do round wig hairlines. They just do not, I repeat, do not work with a natural widows peak and I am not shaving mine off!
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Phone camera deleted oy…
All my photos, sadly including the baby pukeko (luckily I sent one via email!) and luckily I haven’t really done mouch in the way of costuming since I uploaded photos earlier..
But I did manage to record myself using my texture brush so that has gone… Luckily I have heaps to do anyway, and it looks really good, will soften the texture once it is actually all done but yay 🙂 And boo for finally getting camera, clay and me all in one place only to lose the recording.
Also getting rid of a heap of fabric bits and jewelery and everything. I gave friends a chance to snaffle them up but now they are going to charity. Still got a few costume pieces to tidy and pass on as well. But about 200L worth of stuff is going byebye. And it’ll be a relief 🙂
I’m an obsessive maker. I don’t buy much for costuming except for shoe bases, wigs to cut and/or style or very rarely a licenced piece that I know I could make but it wouldn’t look like the original injected item. So I have a couple of sonic screwdrivers, a TRON disc, Trek communicator and tricorder and an E11 (white!) all to modify.
But I am at a point where I am pretty satisfied with my catalogue of skills. Not complacent but I am not quite so driven to try new stuff because I need to know now. Also I’m getting older so I really want costume pieces that will work with me.
Hooray for badass older characters like McGonagall, Flemmeth, Granny Weatherwax and co. But Maleficent and my custom costume will work for a long time, ditto all my historic gear. And frankly my Shae Vizla will work really well too. Though I really am so tempted to make the RD16A gear. I really am. Aside from the mystery kidney belt thing. May just interpret it as exactly that because it is very unbalanced (goes up to bust but sits at the upper edge of a belt- yay for female gear defaulting to hip level belts!) Which means you’ve got solid edges knocking and sitting and trying to be in the same place at the same time.
The point is, as I’m zoning out, that I don’t mind letting go of a lot of what I have stashed. And I also don’t need to dispose of it right now, right now, go away! So I can take my time.
I also realised I have been actively avoiding sewing. I mean full on avoidance. Do anything to not use my machines. And I’m not sure why. Even hand sewing. I seem super reluctant to wok on my Hannibal skirt for instance. Maybe it’s that. Maybe it’s the task of putting the skirt on the netting and also fitting the bodice which is basically a corset. It might well be. I have several sets of stays also out back not finished.
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