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That was an intense few weeks. Our deadline was November 7th for 10 doublets. The ballet company was away on tour until October 12, so I cut right into fabric to get ready for fittings.
I did one set of fittings on October 14th and another set on the 18th. 15 minute fittings was what was scheduled!! They worked out fairly well, Took photos and notes and luckily the designer was happy with what I had cut.
Then.....
on the 25th of October, there was a complete change of casting! I had to remark what I could and hope the almost finished costumes would be able to be refit and altered by the ballet staff for the new dancers.
Then 2 costumes were added so there would be something to fit the bigger guys in the other group.
On Nov 1st we were told they were cut and those wouldn't be needed. On Nov 3 there was speculation that they were back in.
We finished at 6 pm on the 5th.
We were vibrating from working so hard. (Well it also could have been the wine we had in the afternoon).
Oh I forgot, the boiler in the building broke down, then the back-up boiler broke as well, so we had no heat. Luckily it wasn't too cold overnight, but we were sewing with our coats on and space heaters at our feet as it was only about 13 degrees in the studio.
Anyway, I have no idea if all of the costumes now are in or out. Only the choreographer knows for sure.
After the opening, I'll show you a few pictures of what we were up to.
Right now I am still recovering. I ventured back into the studio to draft my next job today. I didn't get too far, but it was a start.
It's so funny to read it. Here it happens the same way, some costumes added later and some cut. It's a mess! And I thought it was a thing of small productions!
ReplyDeleteI work as a costume designer in Brazil, and this season I'm sewing some too. I'm gonna use that sleeve idea you talked about. Thank you so much! Have a nice rest!
So many people have said to me that this happens in ballet all the time!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that is true or not. Many people have the idea that all the dancers are similar in shape and size, and again maybe the women are closer in size to each other, but the men were not- I had size 36 chest to 42 chest and heights of 5'8" to 6' 4", so when the casting changed I wasn't sure how they would compensate.
Otherwise , it was a great job to do and we all enjoyed it very much. Off to the invited dress rehearsal today.