Not too much is left to do with the Passion Play costumes…

Let’s see, I still need to understitch the neck edge on the angel costume, blind stitch hems (resurrection and angel costume) and one last toss into the washer and dryer. Of course, they’ll need to be ironed and pressed once more before they’re whisked off to my Lutheran church for the people who’ll be wearing them.

The director wanted “shiny fabric” for both costumes and seemed to be gravitating towards satin. Satin has been around for centuries, I don’t think it existed in the first century, which is when Christ was on earth. However, even though I’d have preferred to use linen, I honored his request and I still had fun with this project.

Next up on my list are sewing a few pretty outfits for my daughter and I’m planning on designing a few outfits for myself to.  I really love how my sewing machine (Brother PC420) and my serger/overlock (Brother 1034D) did with these projects.

A few of the costumes that I’m designing for the Passion Play have neckline facings.

 

Facings are great to use when turning or creating a professionally finished hem is impossible. I like using facings around armhole openings or necklines since it’s quick and produces professional results.

Neck and armhole facings: Don’t forget to clip or notch the edges

 

 

In the above picture you’ll see the notched edges around this costumes neckline. Why make notches? Doing this step enables the facing to curve and lie flat against the garment. This is a step you really don’t want to skip since if you avoid it, you might notice that your facing won’t lie flat and an unnotched/unclipped facing can cause the fabric to pull in odd ways. I’ve noticed with the major pattern companies they leave out this reminder since at times they assume that a sewer will know this. That’s not necessarily true, especially if the person is new to sewing.

 

I used my old Wiss pinking shears that I inherited from my mom. These shears are older than me (over 43 years old) and they’re still doing a great job. I really love these pinking shears, they’re heavy and they’ve obviously lasted a long time! If you don’t have pinking shears you can either make notches (using scissors) like the ones above or simply clip close to the seam.

I must say that the seams that my newly acquired Brother sewing machines did was excellent. My Brother PC420 did a wonderful job sewing straight seams and my Brother 1034D serged everything quite nicely. Thus far, since I’ve used these machines, the only issues I have were my fault and those mistakes were easily corrected.

 

 

Well… it looks like I’ll be headed back to the fabric store today. I decided to modify the costume for Jesus’ ceremonial robe, so that’s why I’m headed back.

I’m short about one yard (the director wants the robe to have a hood).  Since I need it ASAP, I’ve decided to purchase the fabric locally at JoAnn Fabrics. These days, most of my fabric is purchased online I can find better deals and much better quality fabric at reasonable prices.

Fabric Mart, is one of my favorite places to purchase fabric online. It has great customer service, nice selection of fabric and a quick turnaround time. It helps that the fabric store is located in Pennsylvania.

The good news is that I should be finished the Passion Play costumes today! Yesterday, I received my vintage skirt marker. It’s in like new condition. Oh, I’m really loving my chakoner, I’ll have to write a post about that soon, and of course, take pictures of the lines it makes.

Tomorrow, I most likely will start creating my daughters Easter dress. I purchased some lovely fabric from Fabric Mart, I just haven’t had a chance to post a picture showing the fabric.

I was hoping to have all the Passion Play costumes sewn by now, but it looks like I’ll just have them completed by this Saturday. Which is perfect since the first performance is Sunday evening. In all fairness I didn’t get the last set of measurements (angel costume) until this Monday.

Mary Magdalene’s costume was done and was worn at the full dress rehearsal last night. Christ’s resurrection robes will be finished by tomorrow. They would have been done by now, but I decided to tweak my own design a bit. Let’s say I received additional inspiration while watching the full dress rehearsal last evening.

This weekend, my nephew will be hanging out with us for a few days and so my daughter and I are both looking forward to spending time with him.

Here’s hoping I actually remember to take pictures of the remaining costumes before they are given to those who’ll wear them. At times, I get so caught up with the creation process that I forget to stop and take pictures.

My chakoner aka chalk wheel finally arrived.

 

The first thing I noticed was the packaging, isn’t it pretty? It’s nothing elaborate but I’m impressed by the little touches. When I had my natural skin care company, I received a lot of compliments on the little things I did to make my customers experience memorable. So yes… my packaging was always attractive.

 

 

I ordered my chakoner from Sarah Veblen, I found her site when I was searching for chalkoner’s. I sent her an email asking did she have any in stock, and she responded quite quickly to assure me that she had. She also told me she was forwarding my email to her assistant so in case I placed an order it would be processed quickly. I thought that was thoughtful! Included with the package was my invoice and Sarah’s assistant, Marcie, included a nice note. I thought that was a very nice touch. Thank you! 🙂 I used to do the same thing with my business.

So yeah… I’m already having warm fuzzy feelings about Sarah Veblen’s clothing originals.  An added bonus is that she’s published a sewing book about sewing perfect fitting patterns and she teaches advanced sewing classes, and she lives in Maryland.

I’m not being paid to link to Sarah in fact you’ll find me linking to various sites quite often on Celebrate Life. I notice that some people are quick to complain when they receive poor service and that can be helpful since it alerts the reader of issues they have, but I think it’s important to recognize exceptional service too. Jennifer, over at My Blissful Journey, is really good at doing this too.

But on to the chakoner. This  handy chalk wheel chakoner came at a perfect time, since I’m sewing costumes for my Lutheran church’s upcoming Passion Play. Hopefully this weekend, I’ll have a chance to post pictures of it in action as I mark up the fabric that will be turned into costumes.