what a tulle.

heres an update on my day!  Im currently putting in some hours as a stitcher over at the Kansas City Ballet.  I usually help them out right befo

re their big shows, since they only have two wardrobe people on staff, they like to use my sewing skills to bust out some costumes. 

 I spent the day on the ruffler, a converted sewing machine that drives like a train (CA-CHUNK, CA-CHUNK) but makes ruffling a breeze.  I made miles and miles of tutus, okay, your right, it was only eleven tutus, but still, as you can tell from the photos by the end of the day we were feeling a little tulle-crazy....

....okay, okay, a LOT tulle-crazy!

...he's there, inside my mind!

no, joke, he really does haunt my mind!  awake or asleep all i hear is phantom medleys over and over!  

you may wonder why I am seeing a half-mutilated opera singer inside my mind?!  easy, thats because I am currently working on the broadway tour of Phantom of the Opera.  We are in the fourth week of a four week run!  I can smell the finish line! 

Because not everyone understands what happens when I work a show I thought I would take this chance to elaborate. When I "work a show" that means I work on the wardrobe crew.   I come in everyday for a 'sewing call' which means I do basic maitenance and repair sewing on the costumes.  Sometimes I do small builds, but mainly it is maintaining the integrity of the costumes, some of which are as old as 16 years, which means thats a lot of wear and tear on some pretty elaborate costumes.  I break for dinner and then it's show time!  During the show I dress two members of the male ensemble, each of which have about eight changes.  Sometimes this entails actually buttoning and dressing the performers (generally during 'quick changes') and sometimes it just means that I lay out their costumes on a chair.  No matter how long the hours (and weekends are really long, because we have four shows in two days), the adrenaline rush of the show is always there.  Once the show starts on stage another show starts backstage.  There are probably twice as many crew members as there are performers for any show and they all perform very coreographed functions backstage, from wire work, to props, to hair and makeup and of course wardrobe.  All of this activeity goes on without the audience ever knowing !  until now that is!  

Anyway, thats what I ve been up to for the past few weeks, there's been no time for anything else, but I have lots of fun stuff to blog about as soon as I get a chance to breath!

salt and pepper.

I recently visited my boyfriends home town of Hutchinson, Kansas.  Although the primary goal of our trip was to watch NCAA basketball (Rock Chalk Jayhawk), we also visited the famous, Carey Salt museum .  Beneath the town of Hutchinson lie miles and miles of salt mines used to provide road and table salt.  We went on a tour of the museum with my boyfriends family and travelled 650 ft underground into the pure and pristine salt mines.  I expected the mines to be dirty and dark like the mines I'd visited in grade school in Colorado, but the salt mines were pristine and clean.  In fact the salt is such a good preservative  that many famous movies, like Gone With The Wind, and costumes (batman, Superman, James Deans shirts) are stored in a salt mine archive!  I had a great time learning about the salt, and even got to take a hunk home!  (although all I really wanted to do was lick the wall, apparently that is against the rules!!!)  

I found this cool artist, Motoi Yamamoto, who uses salt in a completely differently way (not as road salt, but as art!)  ENJOY.  

copy cat.

so my fabulous and fashionable friend, Angela, who i've mentioned before has a nice blog, Thoughts on Spots, showing all her fabulous creativity, and im gonna copy her because she has been posting all of her outfits and they are totally cute.  So yesterday I had to go to work real early (I am currently working on the Wardrobe crew of Phantom of the Opera)  So I have to wear dark colors back stage and comfy shoes are an essential, especially on the days that I have two shows.  

I am wearing my favorite jeans by BDG, from Urban outfitters, an old mens button up from goodwill, a kids raincoat and my favorite embroidered backpack that I've had since middle school.  (that's Simon chilling on the floor)

Super Duper!

       So, i know i've been absent but i just had to post about this real quick cause its REAL awesome!  so, here's the deal, yesterday I was at work and i got a text from my friend Lily who was like 'hey, didn't you just make a Supergirl costume?!  I think its on the cover of Ink'  (Ink is one of Kansas City's local, weekly papers)  So, I ran out and nabbed a paper on my break and low and behold, right on the cover is my supergirl! 

   So heres the low-down: a few weeks ago a real cute girl named Jessica contacted me through another friend, Jessica is a fitness competitor who offered to dress as supergirl for a friends both at Comicon.  Instead of ordering a pre-made costume she found me and had her very own costume made!  It was a pretty fun project, I combined a few of my boss, Lola's, trusty patterns  (Ballet skirt, Rockette panties, long sleeve leo).  The hardest part was the "S" logo, which I ended up doing in reverse applique.  She looks great, a total cutie, what a treat that my piece will be on the cover of the paper all week!  Check it out at http://www.inkkc.com/

rut, rooow.

Well, I've been woefully absent from my blog and for this i am sorry, i really have no good excuse, I've just been avoiding my computer in general lately, but I have been busy, so I have lots to tell!  

I went a little over the top on Valentines day (very time -consuming).  I LOVE vale

ntines day, not just because I have someone fabulous to share it with, but because how can you hate on a holiday that just wants to promote love!?!  I think its a great time to let everyone in my life know how much they mean to me.  So, I made valentines for everyone that I love.  For all of my out of town friends I made these little postcards that have a fabric heart cutout from some of my old dyeing projects.

For all of my local friends I made these cute little fabric bags and filled them up with home-baked cookies (they were white chocolate and craisin flavored, and really delicious)

To top off all of my crafting I made this really cool little vignette for a

 'Valentines craft swap' through the  Free People Blog . http://blog.freepeople.com So I made this and sent it to a girl in Washington state and I recieved a great package from her (full of valentines jewels!)

The little birdies are needle-felted, which is my new favorite crafting project!  I was introduced to this kind of needle felting (the 3-d sort)  at a great store in Denver, called Fancy Tiger! www.fancytiger.com

whew, all of this valentines crafts and im still not done, best save the rest for later (this is what I get for procrastinating so long!)

things i love.

one of the best things about living in Kansas City is my amazing group of lovely, talented and inspiring girlfriends!  im lucky enough to have a great bunch of girls who are interested in similar things as i am (fashion, crafting, music, and being fabulous in general!)  I thought i'd take this moment to showcase one of these great girls... here is a pic of my pal Angela, who is looking adorable and wearing one of my personal favorite styles (high-waisted jeans)  I was actually with her when she bought this gem of a pair of pants and i tried to squeeze my substantially larger bum into a tiny size, alas, they were made for her and she looks fabulous, as per usual!