Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Quick Costuming for Your Easter or Christmas Dramas


By Catherine Castle
 

The past few months have been spent getting ready for the Easter drama at our church. I had a part and decided to make my own robe for my costumes. I decided on a quick, easy method since I had other things to do for the drama like paint sets, memorized lines and hunt for props.

Here’s the no-pattern, unstructured robe I came up with.

Using a length of striped fabric, selvage edge to selvage edge, I cut two lengths measuring from my shoulders to about mid-calf. Then I measured the width of the back of my shoulders and added three inches on either side of that measurement for a slight drop shoulder cap “sleeve”. Using a tape measure, I found the center of the fabric and created an inverted pleat, pulling the top of the fabric to the shoulder measurement I’d taken, and basting the pleat into place.
 
Then I cut the other length of fabric in half lengthwise. I turned down a three inch facing on one side of the pieces. This would be the center facing of the front of the robe. Then I measured the front of my shoulder, from the edge of the shoulder to the base of my neck and I pleated the top of the fabric into the number of pleats necessary to fit the measurements I’d taken, leaving the three inches of the cap “sleeve” unpleated.


 

Matching the outer edges of the fabric, I stitched the shoulder together with a 5/8 inch seam. Then I turned down 5/8 inch on the back piece between the shoulder stitching to create a tiny facing. A hem in the bottom finished off the costume.
 
The robe hung nicely and didn’t interfere with the lapel mike or flap open like the other costume robes did at the neck. I finished the project in one afternoon. And I got plenty of compliments on my robe. J
 
This Week's Giveaway:
Bidding on the Bouquet by Stitches author Catherine Castle
Comment on any post now through April 9th to get your name in the drawing! Winner will be announced in the April 10th issue of the Weekly Windup.
 
About the author:

Multi-award-winning author Catherine Castle loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, theatre, and quilting. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her books The Nun and the Narc, A Groom for Mama, Bidding on the Bouquet  and Trying Out for Love boxed set on Amazon.

 

10 comments:

  1. We had costumes similar to that at our old church. Yours is a bit fancier, LOL. Ours were pretty basic but servicable.
    perrianne(DOT)askew(AT)me(DOT)com
    Perrianne

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  2. Hi, Perrianne,
    Isn't it amazing how a few pleats can fancy up something? Thanks for dropping by.

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  4. :) we have something similar too
    You are very handy!

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  5. Thanks for the instructions. I am keeping them for future reference!

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  6. Reminds me of my costume several years ago for an Easter drama. Simple and quick when there are plenty to do for a drama. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. I especially liked the simple cutting. One cross cut and one lengthwise cut.

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