Laurel Arts Extravaganza

I am so excited! I'll be one of the artists participating in the Laurel Arts Extravaganza - just in time for holiday shopping!

This is a juried event so everything is hand-crafted and the artists' products pre-approved. Best of all, the proceeds will benefit the Laurel Rescue Squad.

Come see me in the old PG Office Supply building at:
342 Main St, Laurel MD 20723 (next to Laurel Board of Trade)
on
December 10, 2010 (5:00 pm – 9:00 pm)
December 11, 2010 (10:00 am – 5:00 pm)

For more info contact Gail Reinhardt at the Laurel Board of Trade at 301-483-0838. Or RSVP at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=165758556788297

Fashion ER

Just got 2 calls for sewing ER services.

The first is a bride getting married on Friday. Her corset needs a last-minute alteration by Wednesday! My friends at Bra-La-La sent her here since I’ve done this type of alteration before. So glad to be able to relieve some stress for a bride.

The other call is for an Indian costume for Peter Pan. I'm letting my imagination go wild on this one! The Laurel Mill Playhouse is mounting this show and it opens next week!

Even under pressure, I love creating things and making other people's lives easier.

Halloween Babies and the Sound of Music

I just got back from North Carolina where I spent the weekend being a grandma to my adorable new grandson, the Halloween baby! Of course he's the most adorable baby ever!!

I left my studio in the biggest mess ever as I literally finished the costumes at 7:30am last Friday after 2 all-nighters so I could deliver the Sound of Music costumes before leaving to visit my son's family for the weekend. The costumes weren't actually due for a few more days, but I so wanted to see the new baby I moved the deadline up and made it happen. Once finished, I ran home, packed, and hit the road.

What I'm not looking forward to is all the clean-up--piles of scrap fabric everywhere, patterns to sort out and file away, floors to vacuum.... Oh, well. Part of the job and it was totally worth it!

It's Not all Glamour in the Costume Business

I had fun helping old and new clients pick out Halloween costumes. They're all back in the studio now and being laundered before being put away.

People always think of the glamorous parts of costuming—silks, sequins, sparkles, and sheens—and don't realize there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff. TONS of laundry and HOURS of stain removal, folding, ironing, and repairing. Proper cleaning and maintenance greatly extends the life and look of costumes and clothes alike.

Costumes come back to me with tares and even blood stains—both real and fake. Believe me, I've seen it all. So, if you have a stain removal issue, call me!

The Adventures of the Interns at the Sewing Design Studio

Things are moving along and picking up speed as my trusty interns, Brittany, and I pump out costumes for Sound of Music. We'll fit the principals' costumes on Thursday.

My interns learned the intricacies of pattern sizing and tracing this week as they prepped the uniform patterns for the Von Trapp girls' dresses. They learned to use a serger, too!

We reviewed and discussed their design projects this week. They're learning it's not so easy to bring a 2-D design from a sketch on paper to a 3-D reality. They have to show the front and back views of their designs and then come up with a materials list. The final step is to describe in detail how it will be constructed.

In all, a very interesting day! But then, nothing's ever dull at the Sewing Design Studio.