Hello Again

Hello all!

Sorry for the long absence, I have been in New Jersey shooting a feature for the past several weeks, so I haven't been able to do much (or any) blogging.  Look forward to a couple recaps in the next week, and once we're up to speed we'll be back to our regular weekly blogging schedule.

I'm so glad to be home and back in the studio, and so excited to share all the awesome projects we have coming up this summer!

Checking In and Studio Walkthrough

Hello everyone! It's been a bit crazy here at the studio and I apologize for the lag time between posts. In the meantime, if you haven't already you should check out our video shot by meetlocalbiz.com, and see a bit of what we've been up to!

C Street Arts Festival Submission Deadline for Artists Extended!

The submission deadline for artists has been extended to March 16 for the C Street Arts Festival! If you're interested in submitting (and we know you are!) please sign up here!

The Arts Festival will be an outdoor market for artists to display and sell their wares along C Street on Saturday, June 9 from 10a-5p. There is detailed information regarding fees and provisions on the sign up page. We signed up this week for a booth and we are so excited to help with this cause!!!

For those of you who don't know, Marilyn is a founding member of the Laurel Arts District Exploratory Committee, or LADEC. A large portion of Main Street in historic Laurel has been designated as an arts district, and LADEC was formed as a means for the business owners and artists already here to help guide the formation and atmosphere of said arts district. We have had a few meetings and are really excited for all the potential Main Street, using C Street as ground zero, have to offer. We're thinking performance spaces, galleries, coffee shops, indoor and outdoor venues, everything an arts district can and should be. We can't wait to get this off the ground and there will be many more posts in the future regarding this project, so stay tuned!

A few weeks ago, Venus Theatre hosted an event called "See, Get, Give," (see a write up of us in the Baltimore Sun!) in which people gathered to literally cover the walls with ideas and inspiration for the future of Main Street.

Marilyn and Caroline discussing plans in front of one of the signs

Did you know?

Adding to the fray

Flashback Friday: Quilting Bee

Here at the studio, we're gearing up for the March 15 Laurel Board of Trade Business After Hours event that we will be hosting (it's from 5p-7p and is open to the public, so feel free to stop on by!)

We're excited to show off the studio and hang out with some great business owners in the area. We don't often host parties, but Marilyn teaches group sewing classes on the weekends and the studio provides a great space for communing and creativity, as you can see in this week's Flashback Friday! Here, Marilyn reminisces about a good, old-fashioned quilting bee she hosted here for some clients.

"I was contacted by a woman whose family was scattered around the country, but several generations were gathering 'home' for 'mom's' birthday. The idea was to have a quilting party at my studio, where all the women would gather to make memory quilt blocks that would be sewn into a quilt for 'mom' to keep.

I helped her design the size and block style for the quilt and gather the materials. On the day of the party I had work stations set up around the studio. They brought in refreshments and we had a PAR-TAY!

Tons of fun, each block had a special meaning between the creator and mom."

The pioneers had it right: there is something wonderful about getting together and sewing or crafting in a group. Somehow having one's hands busy, especially if they are busy working on a labor of love, can make the room more welcoming and the flow of conversation never feels strained or awkward. The result in the end is something with even more sentimental value, because you worked on it together.

Have you ever participated in a sewing or quilting bee? What other kinds of "labors of love" have you worked on with a group? How did you feel afterward?

Etsy Love

Hello all! This is just a quick note to let you know that from now until midnight on March 17, all green merchandise in our Etsy shop is 10% off! Just enter LUCKOTHEIRISH at checkout. We'll be doing more of these themed sales, and we'll announce them through Facebook, Twitter, and our
monthly newsletter.

Stay tuned for our latest Flashback Friday later today :)

Presidents Day Redux

Happy Presidents Day, one day late! And, according to one of the roughly 2500 documentaries I watched yesterday about the Presidents, this tardiness might have been accepted in the Clinton administration, but definitely not in the junior Bush's. Just a little tidbit I thought I'd pass on.

Because we are so close to DC, we have had the chance to work with the White House Historical Association, among other organizations, to create historical costumes relating to politics and DC for various events and anniversaries. Today, Marilyn shares some of her experiences with the White House Historical Association:

"The first project I did with the White House Historical Association is called First Kids and the focus is on the children who have lived in the White House while their Dads were President. Each vignette is based on true stories. The idea is that these kids and their stories are presented and then the students get to dress in the costumes and act it out.
This program goes into the elementary schools in the area and brings the costumes I made with them. The design parameters were that they had to be historically accurate, washable, wrinkle-resistant, durable, multi-sized and easy-on/easy-off over the students clothes. I was provided with pictures to work from along with the script.

"I created costumes for Theodore Roosevelt (pants, frock coat, vest, shirt, cravat) and 2 of his sons…a nightgown for one and a sailor suit for the other. I also created a white cowboy suit for Roy Rogers…the one we all used to see on TV. That was for the re-enactment of David Eisenhower’s 10th birthday party at the White House hosted by his grandfather, President Dwight Eisenhower. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were guests who performed for the party.

"The second project I did with them is called the Path to Freedom and again is based on actual events. This one is geared to middle and high school and the students go to Decatur House in DC and there’s a house tour followed by a presentation about Abe Lincoln and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation during the New Year’s Day reception hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. It was also Katie Sewell’s Coming Out party (her father was Secretary of State, he’s the one who bought Alaska from Russia so it was called Sewell’s Folly and the family is from Westfield NY just up the road from where I used to live) (Westfield is also the home of Welch’s Grape Juice, it started there before the company bought Ocean Spray about 25 years ago and moved the headquarters to Boston)

"The design parameters were the same but this time I made 35 costumes, dressing Abe and Mary Lincoln, Katie Sewell, Admiral Foote, General Ulysses Grant, a couple of Supreme Court judges, the British and French Ambassadors, Elizabeth Keckly and many more.

"After the presentation and tour, the students act out the entire reception complete with the signing. It’s all captured on film and the class receives a CD of their performance.
I worked from tons of historical photos provided by the White House Historical Assoc….they are fabulous to work with….I sub-contracted with 7 stitchers for the project and figured out a million details that allowed the costumes to look accurate and yet be washable, multi-sized, etc. I don’t want to brag, but I really came up with some clever things that I’ve never seen before or since."

We're currently in the middle of a rehaul of our website and photo archives, but hopefully very soon we will be able to share some images of these costumes.

If you got the chance to put on the show of your choice with the White House Historical Association, what would be about? Who would you play?

Flashback Friday : The Bride Guide

Hello all! This week's Flashback Friday is an excerpt from an article Marilyn wrote in 2009 for The Prince George's County Women's Journal. This was one of three stories about different brides who have walked through our doors and the unique challenges and ideas they brought with them.

"One of the most challenging wedding gowns I worked on was actually custom designed by Judith Brooks of Anjoorian Silks for a DC bride. Judith suggested that the bride get in touch with my to fit the muslin and actually construct the gown.  After fitting the muslin, Judith arranged for the bodice of the gown to be hand-beaded in India based on her interpretation of a crochet pattern selected by the bride.


Here is Molly trying on the fabric before it was a dress.

"Several weeks later I received the beaded georgette, silk charmeuse and pattern. In order to sew the lining, close the darts, and create the scalloped hem, the entire bodice had to be sewn by hand so the beads weren't disturbed and went 'to the edge.' Fortunately, the skirt for the ensemble was not beaded and could be sewn using my machine!  The final results were well worth the effort of all the hand stitching and the bride had just the look she wanted in a truly unique ensemble."


Our bride sees herself in the finished ensemble

Flashback Friday: Vintage and Sentimentality

This week we’ve been working on a beautiful vintage coat that a woman brought in to be remade.  She loves the vintage style and fit, but the years have not been kind to the fabric or lining.  If we were to try to let the seams out per our client’s request, it would fall apart.  Instead, Marilyn will remake the coat, using a tracing off technique, to give our client the vintage look and feel she wants.

With that in mind, on this Flashback Friday we’re reminded of another vintage coat, this one fur.  This client had been very close to her grandmother, who had passed away. The coat was a hand-me-down from the grandmother but because of the wear and age, it could no longer be worn.  She couldn’t bear to part with it, but she felt leaving the coat buried in her closet wasn’t a proper way to memorialize her beloved grandmother.

We all know this feeling: wanting to hold on to an object from a person who is no longer with us, but being unable to incorporate the object in our regular lives.  This may be because we have different aesthetic tastes from our lost loved one, the article of clothing doesn’t fit, we’re afraid the object may break or fall apart, or we simply don’t like to dust that much.  Sometimes the best way to revere this object and remember your loved one may be to change the object in a way that will allow you to keep it with you in your everyday life rather than on a shelf or in a box.

Marilyn and this client were able to find such a compromise with this coat.  It was a gorgeous Persian lamb fur coat that had been custom-made in the 1920s with her grandmother’s initials embroidered in the lining.  Persian lamb, for those who don’t know, is a very textured type of fur that is almost geometric in shape, often looking like a topography map or a traditional picture of the brain.

For our current client, we are using her old coat as a pattern for her new coat. But in this instance, the sentimentality was connected to the fur, not the style. Marilyn found an area of the fur large and strong enough to create a clutch purse, and used the coat lining for the lining of the clutch.  When the clutch flap was opened, our client’s grandmother’s initials could be seen centered in the middle of the flap lining. The client loved it!  It was small and practical, as well as beautiful, and retained the sentimentality of her grandmother’s coat.

Have you ever taken a sentimental object and changed it to fit your life?  What was it, and how did you change it? Or if not, do you have an object for which you would do this?  Tell us in the comments!

Flashback Friday: Star Wars Cosplay

Hello all! We're starting a new regular feature here at Marilyn's Share and Tell Creative Diary, called Flashback Friday, in which we discuss some of our favorite past projects.

Over the past several weeks, we have been working on a set of cosplay costumes for a fan of Mortal Kombat (images to come!), which made us think of another costume we created for a fan some time ago.  This fan wanted a Zam Wesell costume (the bounty hunter in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones) for a convention, and she went above and beyond in her research for the role.  She brought us a cardboard cutout from the theater so we could measure the stitch length on the costume, and even pictures of the actual Zam Wesell suit from the museum where it is displayed IN AUSTRALIA.  Now that's dedication!

Our final product!

Cosplay is extremely specific, from the fabrics, to the overall look and movements of the character. When I was at ComiCon in San Diego this year, I saw some of the most amazing costumes of characters that some of the wearers had worked all year to create. For the Zam costume, it took three months to determine the thickness of the neoprene alone! Then there were all the stitching tests, with and without backing. Neoprene... now that is one difficult material to work with. Doesn't anyone believe in cotton anymore??

Sourcing the exact thickness and shade of neoprene

According to Wikipedia, "cosplay, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction." And let me tell you, cosplay is no joke. The intricate knowledge cosplayers have of the characters and dedication to every last detail of their costumes is fascinating, and inspiring! Most of the cosplay costumes we get requests for have been for characters that appear in American games, shows, or movies, but I look forward to the day someone walks in asking for a costume from Final Fantasy or Zelda: Twilight Princess... those will be interesting, to say the least!

Just as long as it doesn't involve neoprene... we've had enough of that for a lifetime!

Our cosplayer... and the original Zam, side by side!

If you could pick any character in the world, who would you be? Is it because of the costume, the powers, or the personality?

Our Town Reviews

The reviews are in! We got some nice mentions from Larry Bangs of DC Theatre Scene, Tim Smith of The Baltimore Sun, Chris Siggins of Maryland Theatre Guide, and Patti Restivo on explorehoward.com.  

There is still one more show today, 10/30, at 5pm! Don't miss it!