costumes

costume projects

  • corsetry,  costumes,  personal projects

    1911 Corset Project

    I came across this blog when I was doing research for my new corset line. I have been reading it here and there. I hadn’t checked it in a while, but came across this sew along last week. And because it is in nice bite sized pieces, I decided it would be fun to do. The 1911 corset is to go along with the centennial of the Titanic this year. When I mentioned that to a friend, he asked if there would be any re-enactments. Not sure that is something that I would really like to re-enact, but to each their own I suppose. I am not sure if I…

  • costumes,  official piper ewan

    six and a half costume notes

    Once again I was asked by Miss Lisa Degrace (if you remember the giant skirt in Flying Iron) to design costumes for her new production called Six and a Half. Her character “Lily” goes out into the world where she encounters people who could be real or apparitions. I put Lily in a red dress; in part as a reflection of her personality, and to separate her from the world she enters. Red reminds us that we are alive, and that she is alive in the land of dreams that she is traveling in. Her red contrasts her from the people she encounters who alternate in between being people, ghosts…

  • costumes,  official piper ewan

    I WANT TO STOP WANTING part two

    i just spent several hours last night with tracy draping her dress on her body. this is my preferred method of working in some cases. the elements of the design get to be tried out on the body, and we are guaranteed a perfect fit. i started out with some of the pieces cut out, some put together: the sleeves, the skirt. we spent the better part of the evening pulling and pinning, her trying out some movements very carefully (so she isn’t stabbed with pins) and chatting while i stitched the pieces together after we had them worked out. all that is left to do is make a couple…

  • costumes,  official piper ewan

    I WANT TO STOP WANTING part one

    photo of tracy broyles and meshi chavez in COCOON BIRD by jon springer in the spring of 2007 i met with tracy broyles of theory1:dance to discuss the possibility of costumes for her production of COCOON BIRD. she arrived with a couple of pages torn from a magazine, a bag full of paper leaves with little phrases written on them, and a list of words. we used this as the basis of the costumes for this performance. and this spring i have the privelege to work with tracy and meshi again in their upcoming performance of I WANT TO STOP WANTING that will be held at disjecta in portland at…

  • costumes,  official piper ewan

    flying iron

    earlier this fall, i received a request to make a costume for a performance my friend lisa degrace was working on. i met lisa while making the costumes from last year’s production of cocoon bird. she told me it would involve a giant skirt to be fitted over a metal frame. sounded intriguing. we met up a few days later to talk about it in person. the performance involved her crawling into and buckling herself into this skirt that she was to be trapped in until she had to fall out and get back in. she had been looking into ordering a 30′ parachute to be somehow fitted to this…

  • costumes,  official piper ewan,  Uncategorized

    black swan act II

    he last two days have been spent coating a cheap tank top in “feathers” made out of tulle, organza with sparkly bits, and silk scraps. deconstructionist fashion at its best. triangle scraps of fabric with their ends free make the body of the swan, with the rest sewn down for texture. tomorrow we fit on the body. i can just have my client put it on, and i will pin and tuck until it is the shape we want. then we will decide what to add to the crinoline. we decided that the swan would be sleeping. regular couture conventions are thrown out the window with costumes. costumes are a…

  • costumes,  official piper ewan

    black swan

    every now and again i will take on a crazy custom project that is so whacky, i just can’t turn it down. this month it is a version of the swan dress bjork wore to the oscars that the whole world had to make fun of, but in black. it is for a client of mine to wear to an oscar theme party. at my suggestion, she brought me a fluffy crinoline (one of those big square dance skirts), a top to deconstruct and cover with fancy bits, and a selection of tulle, netting and sparklies. true to form, i spent the last few days thinking about how to make…