Upcoming Projects

Okay folks, here's a preview of some dresses I've got on the drawing board. If you like what you see, let me know, If you have any requests, let me know. If you have any suggestions or don't like what you see, PLEASE TELL ME! Most of my inspiration comes from those comments.

First up is a 1953 vintage reproduction dress. I originally made this dress as a bridesmaid dress in chocolate brown.

The pattern was easy to work with and the dress was a really great shape, and I thought that the brown wasn't really doing the dress justice. So I ventured out into the world and came back with this fabric for the dress:

The next is the Paris Original dress. It's been named this because it's the pattern used in a production of "How to Suceed In Business" for the Paris original dress that all the secretaries end up wearing to the party. It's such a cute dress, and has pockets!

I already had some fabric with another pattern in mind for it. But I felt this fabric would be perfect for this dress. A great new springtime dress if you ask me:

Keep an eye out for them in the upcoming weeks in the Etsy store! If you want one of them before they go to Etsy, let me know and we'll work out a deal.

Thanks for all your love and support. Let me know what I could be doing better!

Pants on the Ground!

“Look at these pants! They go clear up to here!”


This was an exclamation that I heard over and over again at the Children’s Theatre the past week. They’re doing a 1940’s Radio Mystery. As the costume designer I had been asked to costume a period accurate piece. It was pretty good.

But it brought to light an issue that comes up over and over again in fittings for me.
“Where’s your waist?”

“Here.”

“Right… Where’s your belly button?”

“Here.”

“Okay… Where’s your hip?”

“Here.”

“Okay…”



Nowadays, people think that their hip is their waist. This is a universal belief as demonstrated to me over the weekend. The show at the Theatre was cast entirely in girls. When talking about where their pants and skirts were positioned on their body, they all thought it was too high. I asked them where their waist was and every single one of them showed me their hips.

Likewise, a young man approached me to alter some dress pants. When I told him that his pants fit him perfectly and rested right on his waist where they were supposed to, he got a confused look on his face. When asked where his waist was, he shifted his pants down to his hips. At which I replied “Pants on the ground, Pants on the ground, Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground!”

So where is your waist really?

As I demonstrated to some of the kids at the theatre, and was later asked to do for the entire cast later, it’s simple:

You put your hands on your sides. You bend right, you bend left. Where you bend on your torso is your waist. Easy:)  Generally this area is about 1 inch above your belly button (assuming you have one…) just below your ribcage. This is where costume designers and custom clothing makers, like myself, measure for the items they make. If you can feel your hipbone, then you are at your hip. If you are below your bellybutton, you are at your hip. There are two hip measurements that we take as clothing makers, but we won’t go into that here.

If you keep ordering items from people, and they don’t fit like you thought they would, it may be that you are measuring your hip instead of your waist.

To review, hands on sides, bend, waist!



If you want to learn more about how to take measurements, let me know!

Date Night

So, we got one of those quote a day calendars on clearance right after new year. It's a "Date a Day" calendar. It is quite interesting. Some dates are quite lame. "Volunteer to teach a Sunday School class together." Really?!
One I found particularly hilarious. It was the one for my birthday; "Play one on one basketball." Not funny you say? Well, my boyfriend happened to be having eye surgery that same day. I wanted to do it so bad because he would have been SO entertaining to watch.
There are also some pretty decent ones. "Have a theme night. For example, eat French food and watch "An American in Paris" Don't forget the accent, Monsieur!" I've had success with this one. Except we did Chinese. I made my wontons, a favorite in my family. My boyfriend made springrolls (they need some refining). We were going to make fortune cookies and write our own fortunes but were unable to locate the recipe. Then we watched 'Forbidden Kingdom', a Jet Li-Jackie Chan joint adventure. It was a quite fun and highly recommended date.
If you'd like to keep up on the Date a Day calendar, I've been posting them on my Twitter account: twitter.com/jotaysom
With commentary of course;)

Bandito, the Most Guapo Villian Around

I accomplished absolutely nothing this weekend business or school related.
Although I did get to see Pickleville Playhouse's production of the "Hanging of El Bandito". They sold out so many shows over the summer they decided to do a limited showing here in town over the weekend. I was disappointed because I didn't get to see it over the summer, many thanks to a job that has killer hours. By the time I had time to see it, they had sold out all the remaining performances. So my mum brilliantly got us tickets for this weekend like three months ago.
And boy was it worth it.
TJ Davis, the writer of the Bandito melodramas, has a knack for timing and humor. The cast has a repoir that is hard to find in other theatre companies. (Believe me, I've worked with several.) The onstage chemistry is what makes the shows move from great to brilliant.
This melodrama reprises several characters from the previous Bandito Melodrama, "Chuck Wagon's Wild West Showdown". Bandito was the villian in that one, and is in "Hanging". That's who Bandito is, "the most guapo villian around." Bandito's catchphrases, such as "I'm gonna punch you in the neck", great costumes, and tendency to return to the scene of the crime, is what makes this such a great character.
The original songs are nothing to be ignored either. All written by Davis, they add flavor to the show. The opening number sets up the feel for the show, and the rap number in the middle reminded me of another Pickleville western melodrama, where characters danced to a Brittney Spears song. It's unique, fun things like this that make Pickleville worth it.
Thankfully this is not the end of the Bandito melodramas. Pickleville has released their lineup for the summer and it includes "Bandito Rides Again" as the melodrama. I'll be sure to get my tickets early, and call in a sick day at work to make it out to Bear Lake to see it.

The Purse

I made myself a dress out of this cute black with pink polka dot fabric ages ago, during my first season at the opera. With the leftover fabric I made a lovely clutch, not because I needed a clutch. Just because I could make a clutch. This is a lovely clutch, there's nothing wrong with it unless you don't like polka dots.
The thing is, I'd like to make more purses but just am not sure what people are looking for. I love getting requests and suggestions. So maybe you all can let me know what, if anything, I should do.

Well, I'm going to try blogging again. Hopefully this time will go better.