Opera update

The only downside of Rigoletto was that it left me almost no time for costuming. Not to mention my Monday chorus group, Tuesday workshop/rehearsals, production of Die Fledermaus that I just got into (yay!) that rehearses 3-4 nights a week, and ~13 hours a week of tedious day-jobbing.


Not much time for costuming, once you factor in the fact that I really do need more sleep than I've been getting. I've already cut ballet and one concert from my schedule (the concert conflicted with opening night of Fledermaus; ballet conflicted with sleep). I'm not used to having to learn so much new material at once. The Monday chorus is pretty easy, but any music is pretty easy to learn when there's no blocking to go with it and you're surrounded by people singing the same part that you are. The real trick was Fledermaus (I'd been listening to it in Deutsch, and we're doing it in English - d'oh!), and the Tuesday opera workshop. I'm singing an aria that I thankfully have performed before, Susanna in the "Canzonetta sull'aria" scene and duet from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Sophie in "Bonjour grande soeur... Ah! Le rire est beni... Des larmes qu'on ne pleure pas..." (and whatever else is included in that scene) from Massenet's Werther, and the Second Spirit in the "Bald prangt... Du also bist" trio and quartet from Mozart's Die Zauberflote. If two of those pieces weren't Mozart, I swear I'd be done for!




How does this fit into my costume blog, you may ask? That's the thing. My main interest is opera (though if anything happened to my voice, costuming would be my next career choice), so lately I've been thinking I need an outlet for opera rants more than costume chats. 
As of now, my blog is officially dual-purpose! (Cue fanfares) 
I hope the costumers find my opera posts interesting, and vice versa. The way I do things, I keep opera and sewing pretty closely related. One of the things I love about opera is being able to wear the wonderful costumes and take regular trips back in time to the 18th century. I'd also like to find more people interested in opera to casually chat with - I'm hoping this blog might aid my search for a kindred mind or two. 


There may be a few design changes around here to accommodate the shift in focus. Nothing major - it's not a major shift, since the blog was already leaning heavily in an operatic direction.


I'm hoping the official change to an opera and costume blog will also inspire me to post more regularly. I miss writing when I've been away for it from a while.


Yours musically,
Allegra

Rigoletto!

The show last Sunday went fabulously!


My two minutes of solo fame couldn't have gone better, according to my teacher, and I trust her in all things vocal. I'm also quite pleased with my performance, including my time being seduced and spurned in Act 1, which was just as fun and silly as it had been in rehearsals, nevermind the 1000+ people in the audience.


I don't have pictures from the performance itself, but my costumes were too epic to miss keeping records of. So, a few days before the show, I convinced my mom to act as photographer and co-artistic director with me on a shoot in our backyard. She did really well!

Costume and mask from Act 1. I'm glad I supplied my own mask, I love having souvenirs from my performances! That necklace is glinting a very eerie green... No idea why it's doing that. The necklace wasn't really a costume piece, just a suggestion of mom's.

Did I mention that I got to be Gilda's "stunt double" for the abduction in Act 1, Scene 2? Gilda made her exit, we switched places in the wings, and Ceprano swooped in a few minutes later to carry me off. That dress was absolutely gorgeous, I need to recreate some version of it! It's a pity that the audience couldn't see much of it, but that was the whole point of having a "stunt double". It worked; many people I spoke to had no idea I was me!

The page! Now, that's what I call a frock coat. The fabric for the coat, breeches and vest was rather low-quality and of decidedly non-period materials (I could tell just by touching it), but it looked great from a distance - and up close, for that matter! See that bit of shirt around my neck and wrist? I found a very multi-century men's shirt at a TDF costume sale some weeks ago, took it in slightly, and now it's perfect for all and sundry costumial things, possibly even for dressing as a girl. And yes, another souvenir.

Oh, the epic shoes are mine as well.

Photos of S.C. in costume by Dianne D.; Costume pieces, unless otherwise specified, from the NJAVO's vast costume warehouse in PA. (I need to visit there some time!)

One thing at a time: Subito RenFaire!

Now the Fringe play is over and done with, I can shift my focus back to my main areas of interest: opera and costumes!

My voice is skipping happily along as it usually does, which is especially good since rehearsals for this fall's production of Rigoletto have begun!

I get to be tossed around by a few principals during the first act, and then dropped on the floor in a comical manner and forgotten about. I'm learning many interesting facts about royal courts in the 1600s, when our production is set. Men like the Duke of Mantua could decide to have an orgy to celebrate Tuesday, and the diritto feudale (ou le droit de seigneur) was in its prime, so with relative ease the Duke could treat said orgy as a feast for every sense, in every sense, as he'd already had a good deal of fun with most of the women in attendance. For the sheer novelty of it, now seems as good a time as any to seduce your jester's virginal daughter, no?

Anyway, I'm getting a bit carried away with the prose, here. The ball scene in Act I will be played as a masked ball, and I've decided to help develop my chorusey character by purchasing my own mask to match the costume I've been fitted for (alas, I've had no time to make my own). I've been thinking of adding lace or tulle around the top for a bit of extra flair (the character would like it so), but that might carry it over the top. I'll experiment with it.

The erstwhile corset of last July is still in production, but at the second to last step! I only have to add the bias tape and grommets, and it's ready to debut. Not a moment too soon, either. This Labor Day weekend, the yearly party I attend will be renaissance-themed. After singing an aria for the group two weeks ago that was received unimaginably well, I feel like I'm on a roll. I'd love for my costume to make a good impression. Also, I find deadlines to be a wonderful incentives to finish something quickly.

It's reversible!

I'm going to modify the design slightly, and combine two separate Simplicity patterns to make a fully-boned corset with detachable "sleeves." Everything will lace together with grommets, and interchangeable with other pieces made from the same or similar patterns, in case I want to do something more "harlequin" in the future.

I'm aiming to design an entire outfit that will be ready to wear to the faire in Tuxedo, NY before it closes, which I think will be on Sept. 20th. I planned to make the corset (with straps/sleeves), a matching skirt, and possibly a simple blouse if I can't find a cheap one. While wandering around the garment district today, however, I was forced to change my plans when I encountered a gorgeous, 1.5yd remnant of dark green wool crepe. There wasn't enough for a full cape, but it's perfect for a capelet, maybe even one with a hood (if I can figure those blasted things out).

So, a list of my costume pieces:
- Capelet (green, woolly)
- Corset (sleeves optional)
- Skirt (to match corset)
- Leather bracers (with the aid of grommets)
- Leggings (I think I have a pair somewhere)
- Boots (fancy, leather, waterproof, already mine)
- Jewellery (to be crafted)
- Belt (made of tassels) (More on that later.)
- Small satchel (to coordinate with the belt, possibly out of the green wool)

I think that's the largest single costuming task I've ever set for myself, or bothered to plan ahead of time. Gasp! I think I stand a chance of finishing it all, which would be fantastic for so many reasons. I'd always thought of doing something baroque first, but a Renaissance/Medieval woman of a generally unsavory character (part pirate, part cutpurse) is a fine first step into semi-serious costuming.

Ze coat, she is feeneesht! (Almost)

That's right. This coat, which I've been working on for months than I'd like to count, is nearly finished! All the machine-sewing is finished, unless I decide to sew the buttonholes with the machine. All the major handsewing bits are done as well, the linings all turned under and the raw edges neatly hidden. What's left now is to sew the buttons on, probably add more embellishments in my wonderfully shiny silk shantung, and then grab up the courage to actually wear the coat some time.

Also, I've decided to try my hand at haberdashery and shoe re-covering. What internet blog-surfing can inspire me to do never ceases to amaze me.

For the hat, I plan to make a modernized tricorne suitable for daily wear from mid-fall to early spring. It'll be done in black felt, and I'll probably make a few clip-on cockades to attach or leave off depending on the occasion.

The shoes will be done in a light cream fabric, possibly silk, but most likely whatever inexpensive remnant I can find that would suit a shoe. I was chatting with my voice teacher this past week and mentioned that I plan to rework some shoes, and she said that it would be a wonderful idea for me to make myself a pair of character shoes. Plain, this pair will look 1700s, but I'll make some clips and bows and buckles to add if I'm acting the part of another period (or a higher class). Just when I thought I couldn't love opera any more, I find that it's a legitimate excuse to pursue costuming on the side. Meraviglioso!

Here's some hat progress -- exciting, right?

The shoes are a bit more satisfying to look at, at this point. There's one original shoe, on the left, and the shoe I've been deconstructing, scattered around the rest of the frame.

 

I'd rather do the hat first because I love the idea of not having to sew anything for a while, but it would be wonderful to have the shoes finished in time for this weekend's concert. Vedremo.

Oh, and yesterday my Italian genetics suddenly reared their tricolore heads, and I cooked my first real, fancy-style planning-ahead meal for myself. Sliced and fried (on the stove, in olive oil) eggplant with freshly cooked semi-saucelike grape tomatoes (sliced and cooked in olive oil with a bit of garlic powder) that were hot enough to partially melt the smoked mozzarella sitting between the sauce and the eggplant. To excuse this deviation from my normal crafty pursuits, yes, I took pictures.

Wow, a costume! : The Basilio(etta) hat

Now for the first bit of actual costuming in this supposedly costumial bloggish enterprise (pardon my speechisms, I've been listening to far too much Goon Show). In the infinite wisdom I tend to acquire at 2 a.m., while "functioning" on about 6 hours of sleep, I decided that my first costume project should and would be... a hat. Smart, no? Nyah.

Well, it's not as insane as you might think. I found an excellent tutorial at americanduchess.blogspot.com on how to make structured hats. I didn't follow the directions exactly, but when I saw some needlepoint plastic (which as I reread the tutorial I see might have worked better as canvas - whoops!) while out shopping for petticote fabric, I knew I had to make some sort of silly hat for myself. I couldn't have done this without the tutorial - thanks, Ms. Reeser!

And here's the haberdashical inspiration:

(That's two inspirations stacked on top of each other, on top of a harpsichord.)

The side and front views

Back and front

And more from the front. Pardon the awful image quality, the only images I could find were screen captures from low-quality YouTube videos.

This hat design will never cease to make me giggle whenever I see it. For those not as geeky as I am, that's Don Basilio (and "Don Alonso") in the Met Opera's latest production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Hence, this hat will be referred to as 'the Basilietta,' literally a 'little, feminine Basilio' (or 'little Basilia,' if you want to be technical.)

After messing around with the needlepoint plastic for a while, I caved in to opera geekery and the fact that I couldn't think of any other type of hat to make. Really, this hat is so huge that it leaves no room for other ideas inside one's head - and so wide that the actors had trouble fitting through the doors on-stage. (I love that production of Barbiere! Ha!)

I intend to scale down the brim a bit and make it not out of felt, but a nice, thick, grainy-type satin or silk and add plumes, ribbons, pins, etc. That way I can pass it off for a respectable ladies' hat at any costumial gatherings I may attend, while giggling to myself about the idea behind it all. Also, I've got some friends who might appreciate the epic win of this hat -- or the equally epic weird. Either or, I still love the idea.

My production of the hat:

I started off with two sheets of needlepoint plastic, some sheets of felt a friend had given me when she cleaned out her old house about a year ago, some leftover fabric from one of my mother's sewing projects (she uses patterns - pah!), and a bunch of 20-gauge wire.

I cut a roughly head-shaped circle in the center of a sheet of the plastic, and cut felt to the size of the circle and the remaining plastic, which would become the brim. After threading numerous lengths of the 20-gauge wire lengthwise through the edges of the hat that were to be curled upward -- and destroying my fingertips in the process -- I stitched the first piece of felt to the circular piece and gave the brim a little test-curl.

All the materials, sewn crown, wired and curled brim.

Just the stitched crown and wired & curled brim, with a barely-readable ruler for size comparison. (No, my skull isn't octagon-shaped. I fixed that later.)

At this point, I realize that after the hat's covered in felt and fabric and stuck on my head somehow, there's no way that the brim-curling will stay put with measly 20-gauge. While I anxiously await the morning, work, and the after-work wire hunt, I get the rest of the felt on the brim and all ready to stick a bunch of wires into. It's starting to look something like a hat now, which is awesome. Oh, and I got the band together (knew I was missing something) using part of the second sheet of needlepoint plastic and a bit of incongruous scrap yarn.

A trip to the local hardware store and a bit more fingertip-destruction later, I've got some 16-gauge wire to run between the felt and the plastic, and stitch securely to my brim. Those curls ain't goin' nowheres.

Now there's just the problem of the wires poking out from inside the felt whenever I test out curling the edges a little, but that's easily fixed by stitching little folded squares of felt over the corners, where the wires could pop out of either end of the brim.

So, after getting the wires in and covering the whole thing with felt, this hodgepodge is starting to appear distinctly hat-like in form. Yay!

None of it's stitched together yet; that'll come after I cover the whole thing in fabric. Then we get to the tricky part: attaching the crown and band to the brim (and making that whole transition appear seamless.) (Har, har.)

To be continued -- once I finish getting this petticote together! I tend to take photos of a project and then wait a week or two to post a blog entry about it, so by the time I'm done posting about something I'm ready to take a break from it and work on a different project for a while. But I promise (to myself more than anyone else, as I doubt this blog's been seen by really anyone at this point) that this hat will be finished -- and hopefully before the New Year!

Interlude: crochet and shameless advertising

And at the dawn of time, before costumes, before sewing machines, before fancy hats and opera reviews, there was... crochet.

I've marketed custom amigurumi crocheted dolls on a few websites, but only took custom orders through e-mail, for a few reasons. Business tapered off, and so did the production of dolls. However, with a newfound love of opera comes new ideas.

Is it possible? Openly marketable merchandise of a somewhat well-known character without any copyright infringement? Gadzooks! Apparently, it is!

Lo and behold [my ultimate geekyness] - Cherubino!

Yes, the sprightly pageboy (a trouser role) from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, now in plush form!

Well, with characters whose appearance can change so often, as with operatic roles which vary from one production to the next, how does one know how to costume a doll of one of them?

Simply: whatever the customer (in this case, me) desires. I based this version of Cherubino on the character design used by this season's production of Figaro at the Met Opera. It was the first time I'd seen the show live, I loved the character and the way the actress portrayed him. Hence, immortalized in plush form.

I've also done plush versions of the band Dethklok (including Dr. Rockso) for myself, and Spiderman's Venom character as a gift.

Shelf of plush:

Here's a bit of shameless self-promotion -- I take commissions! Just about any character will do, though copyright laws must be observed. For any commission, I need the name of the character, and at least a full front and back photo. A list of details would also do nicely - the more information you give me, the more accurate the characterization. Prices vary based on level of detail. For this Cherubino, I'd charge about $25 plus S&H.

My current specialty is classical opera characters, as their copyrights generally expired many, many years ago. Any fellow opera geeks up for an adorable (and affordable, as far as customized, handmade-to-order things go) plush of their favorite character?

That's all the rambling and merchandising for now, the next post will introduce my current project: the Basilietta hat.

Ahoy fellow bloggites

How best to begin? I'm a singer turned singer-slash-costume designer, and off-and-on seamstress in my spare time. There's a possibility that I may get paid to costume a small theatre company a few times a year, and along with scouring thrift stores for bargain pieces that could somehow fit whatever show is in production, I've offered my services as a seamstress for any hard-to-find costumial bits that need to be custom-made. But there's a little catch, here: I've done my own costumes before, but I'm one of those insane people who prefers to work with their own measurements and a few wads of fabric rather than with a pattern. I thought it might be in my employers' best interests for me to gain a bit more knowledge of the field I'm shoving myself into, and good for me to have a bit of fun in the meantime, so a few weeks back I stumbled around the internets until I found myself at a number of 18th Century costume blogs. That's my favorite historical period, and I've since spent my nights perusing the web, looking for tutorials, ideas, etc. Thusly, most of the costumes, etc. on here will have nothing to do with the shows I'm supposed to be costuming, but little flights of fancy in case I can ever find a good 1700s reenactment group or society in my area.

At completely random intervals, or when I get bored, I'll break up the posts on costumes with one or two about another craft, or a mildly well-informed opera review. And, that's something I should mention: I'm a total opera geek. Half (or more) of the things I post here will be inspired by a production I've seen at the Metropolitan Opera or elsewhere, and I'd be interested to see if anyone notices my little references. The first one should be pretty obvious to anyone who's seen this particular production - but I'll post that soon. You've been warned, read the following posts with the knowledge that anything could start me referencing - or singing.

Oh, and the name of the blog? Well, though I can sometimes feel at home in a giant, froofy skirt, I feel much more comfortable with the freedom of motion given by a pair of breeches (after 9 years of martial arts training, it's frustrating not to be able to roundhouse-kick at one's leisure). I've got a soft spot for trouser roles in opera, and I'll probably end up channeling quite a bit of that influence into my costumes. I figure if I can pass myself off as a page or a girl in boy's clothing at a reenactment or two (and anyone who's seen me will vouch that I probably can), it'll be worthwhile - and it'd be much easier to wear a frock coat around this city on a daily basis (I like making my costumes multi-task) than to wear a robe Polonaise or panniers. ^^