#WhatsUpToday February

February has been a short month, but a productive one! We finished our kimono sets, sent away several alterations and creations for Carnival celebrations in Trinidad and Italy, created a fit muslin for a wedding dress, created costumes for the Annapolis Film Festival Red Carpet Oscar Viewing Party, and dove into the stacks for inventorying purposes. We are slowly but surely adding each section of our Costume Closet to the website, so make sure you check back regularly, keeping in mind any themed parties you may be having in the future!  So you will see an emerging theme in our February #whatsuptoday... and that is... all our STUFF.

The Academy and Costume Design

The Oscars are this weekend, and we've been hard at work putting together a few red carpet-worthy dresses and one brilliant gold Oscar costume for a party.

Trevor in Oscars glory... literally!

The costume design nominees this year are unsurprising: Anna Karenina (period), Les Miserables (period), Lincoln (period), Mirror Mirror (fantasy/period), and Snow White and the Huntsman (fantasy/period). This is not a commentary as to whether these nominations are deserving; having only seen one of these I can't judge (and I have heard wonderful things about the subtlety of the Lincoln design, for one.) This is a commentary on the clear bias and/or lack of understanding that goes into choosing in the first place.

Costume design can be about big, glitzy "wow" pieces, or accurate period research, but it is also about the interpretation of a world, and telling characters' stories through the way they choose to present themselves. Subtle color, fabric, and silhouette choices are all vital aspects of storytelling that often get overlooked. Sometimes a costume piece can be the very thing that allows an actor to fully embrace his or her character; the structure (or lack thereof) gives them a physical basis from which to do their work.

Simply because a film is set in the present does not mean an incredible amount of costume research and painstaking design work did not go into the character design. And while work does not necessarily constitute brilliance, brilliance can be subtle. And subtlety takes work and ingenuity that is not always recognized by the Academy. Gorgeous couture gowns are worthy of acclaim, but so are a fisherman's cap and a perfectly distressed yellow t-shirt, if it tells the right story.

Great films tell a story, and when all the technical elements come together the story comes live for the audience. Costumes can be memorable and iconic whether the costume piece is Cinderella's ball gown or Juno's orange and white striped shirt, a fact we hope the Academy realizes the next time this great honor comes around.

What do you think about this year's nominees? Do you have any favorite modern costume pieces?

Pink and Red and White

Here at the studio, we're celebrating Valentines Day in the little ways.  Meghan will be making roughly 1 million cookies to share with her fiance and the group, Sara will buy herself a chocolate bar and go into tech, Marilyn will make her famous chocolate lollipops for her family, and I will go on a date with my fiance (...in about two weeks when my show is over.)

Our first gift to you is a week-long sale in our Etsy shop... 10% off all red items when you use the coupon code REDHOT.

And our other gift for you is a Meghan and Brittany dress update. NICK AND STEVE GO AWAY.
If you are not Nick or Steve you can get a refresher on our dress stories, since it's been awhile.


Some of Meghan's key update inspiration comes from this picture (see more on her Pinterest board):

Source: onewed.com via Meghan on Pinterest

And some of my key update inspiration comes from this one (and there's more where that came from):

Source: marielhannahblog.com via Brittany on Pinterest

So after months of no updates we are currently... sleeveless! And my dress is actually in five pieces so please forgive the fact that my picture prominently features safety pins.  But I promised you a dress update, and a dress update you shall have.

Here's Meghan:

And here's... not me, but my dress:

What do you think? Are we on our way to achieving our goals? How will you be spending your day today?

#WhatsUpToday December to January

At the beginning of December, we started a weekly series on Twitter that we've been tagging #whatsuptoday, and we recently reviewed all the pictures we've been taking.   What resulted is a slice-of-life trip down memory lane that we hope you enjoy as much as we did looking through it.    Our pictures range from Christmas decorating to ipod listening, from retail to custom to costumes.  Since we finished the 1812 project we have worked on inventorying our rental Closet, updating a vintage mink jacket, altering two different Inaugural gowns, creating several geisha costumes for a local production, and so much more.  We look forward to bringing you more slices of studio life, and we hope you look forward to seeing it!


December

 January

Looking forward to what February has in store? Check out our Twitter feed for real-time updates, or check back at the end of the month for our next #WhatsUpToday review.

RAYvens!

We here in Maryland are pretty excited about Super Bowl XLVII this weekend, and we here in the studio will watch the game decked out in our purple and black (15% off for the 15 points that got us here when you type RAYVENS at checkout!)

We have been the personal costumers of Poe, and his former cohorts Edgar and Allen, on several occasions over the years.  So while you're enjoying your beer and brats, enjoy our walk down memory lane with our good friend Poe...

The Studio Goes to the Inauguration (By Proxy)

Everyone is talking about the fashion at the inaugural balls:  the who, the what, the "wear."   We had a personal investment in the inaugural balls, so that was what we talked about most!  We altered two very different beautiful gowns on their way to two different balls.

The first was for a woman who needed a dress bought several years ago to be taken in.  We pulled it in at every single seam to show off her new trim body, and added some bling to the back of her jacket to bring it up in style.  She dressed it up with a bejeweled necklace and bracelet brought over from India by a friend.

depending on the light, this dress could be green, bronze, or silver

The second was a brand new dress that needed hemming; our lovely lady was already a perfect ready-to-wear size, but the four hems of her stunning mermaid dress needed shortening, and the edges of her scarf needed evening out.  When she came in to pick it up, we had some fun helping her style the dress with a chunky, sparkly necklace and earrings.

all the right statement pieces work together to make a beautiful whole

Then we watched the inauguration from the warmth of the studio.  How did you mark the occasion of our 57th peaceful transition of power?

Sewing and Organizing Tips: Tuesday Tip Roundup I

Every Tuesday on some of our other social media outlets, we publish a tip from Marilyn on how to keep your sewing area organized and efficient, from DIY substitutions to why-didn't-I-think-of-that organizational advice. Below is a roundup of our first ten Tuesday Tips:


1.  Sort and store your fabrics, threads, and notions by color.

2.  Make your own pattern weights using two 5/8" zinc cut washers hot glued together on the flat sides - costs about 30 cents each

 3.  Extend the life of your pattern tissues by keeping them in 9 x 12 manila envelopes. Cut the pattern envelope and glue it to the manila envelope; the tissue doesn't have to be folded so tightly and the patterns go in and out easier.

 4.  Freezer paper is useful as a substitute for pattern paper: sturdier and cheaper. I use the kind that is waxed on one side. Wax paper is also useful as a tear-away stabilizer: If you're sewing a fabric that doesn't want to flow under your pressure foot, back the fabric with it and tear away when done stitching.

5.  Don't forget to press your pattern pieces before laying them out on your fabric - set your iron on synthetic and no steam.

6.  Keep pin cushions at both your sewing machine and your work table - saves jumping up and down for pins.

 7.  Use a tomato pin cushion to store slightly used machine needles - use a marker to divide it into sections for each type (Universal, 60, 70, etc.)

 8.  Don't sew over pins - it can nick both the pin and the needle and cause burrs that then can cause pulls and runs in your fabric

9.  A good substitute for a velvet board is a thick terry cloth towel.

 10.  You can make your own seam stick by going to the hardware store and getting an 18" piece of 1/2" half round moulding

We hope these have been helpful! We will do another round up in a few months, but in the meantime, you'll see our updates in real time every Tuesday on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.