La Tosca
Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festical, 20053/31/05: A new year, a new opera ... Eventually, I will scan and post pics from previous productions here, too, or at least link to galleries from here, or something. For now I'll start chronicling putting together this year's production of Tosca. I have dreamed of doing a Tosca for years and I may actually structure the budget in a way that I get to make the act II dress, which is traditionally based on Empress Josephine's coronation gown. drooooollll. 7/28/05: Regency, Empire, etc.... Well, I am coordinating the costumes for a 58 member cast for this show, because people do not usually have Empire dresses hanging in their closets, I do not have the time nor the budget to build costumes for 58 cast members. The stupidity of the whole thing is that chorus is usually on stage in this opera for about 10 minutes in the first act. That's it. Our director decided they'll come on stage for the second act as well - usually the parts are sung off-stage -but if we're going to dress them we might as well see them. I agree. The only dresses I am making from scratch for this show are both dresses for our leading lady, Tosca, and a couple of dresses for practice runs that will go on the chorus. I've made it through one dress so far, while learning how to use my serger. What fun! It took an hour to thread it but sewing with it was very quick indeed. I have it set up right next to my regular machine because it's easier to switch machines than it is to convert the serger to not cut the edge on a joined seam. The first chorus dress is in a shot linen, for lack of a better word. It is woven with a yellow warp and a red weft, so it looks like a coral peachy color but it doesn't have that silk sheen to it so it doesn't really "change" color like a shot silk does. It is very pretty though and linen is such a dream to sew. I am rather unfamiliar with period construction of this time period. I have a Folkwear pattern and found this period pattern from the Republic of Pemberly very helpful. My draft is a combo of the two, maintaining the characteristic seaming on the back of the bodice. I am deciding at this point how to close it... probably hook & eye. (The yellow lines are my seam placement and general directions). The second dress I've started is actually the first one attempted, I had one night to make it wearable for a publicity photo shoot the next day. Once it is finished it will be the first act dress for Tosca. It is a bright yellow ribbed taffeta with an embroidered organza overlay. The sleeves are only organza, and I have a bunch of yellow ribbon roses I'll use to catch up the organza overlay at the skirt hem. It has a slight train and a nice sweep to it. Still working with a disposable camera so I'll post pics as soon as I develop them... ugh. All of these are building up to making the second act Tosca dress, which MUST be red. Yummy! I'll make the under-dress in this white sari fabric and the over dress in this matching red sari fabric. The white arrived today from India and the red should be along any day now. I also bought this amazing bullion zari trim but I may save it for a dress of my own... 9/2/05: Recounting the saga... Well...with hurricane Katrina in the news, does anyone remember the horrible storms and flooding in Bombay? I do, because my red saris and trim got swept away in them. It was a horrible tragedy and the poor vendor I bought them from lost 90% or her inventory. :-( My white saris did make it to me before the flood and a frantic search for any gold embroidered sari that was red and actually NOT IN INDIA was a very frantic search indeed. I finally found one from in importer that already had it in northern California and she sent it to me very quickly. I had 5 days left before the show when it arrived and much to do. Not to mention, I got that lump in my throat when it came time to cut into it because it was SO beautiful! I must get myself one just for me when I can find another I like as much. The white underdress went together rather quickly. It is a complete dress that can be worn by itself without the red overlay, and is the sheer white sari lined in plain white cotton sheeting. I scaled up the pattern I developed for the coral linen sample, and added fullness across the bust for a gathered drawstring style. The soprano is a voluptuous woman and I thought this would flatter her most. Also, I am selling this dress to a costume rental house when the show is over and adjustability is desirable. I did end up having to cut into both white saris to get the gold sequins/embroidery in all the places I wanted it. I thought it came out rather well, though the pics are on my dress dummy which is my size, not hers. The overdress was a simple "jumper" style modeled after the Empress Josephine's overdress in the painting above. If you've ever worked with saris, you know the embroidery is never all over the entire length of fabric. There is a heavily decorated end-piece called the Palau (that's the part that drapes over the shoulder when traditionally worn), and usually a border that runs down one side of the fabric length. If I remember correctly, the Palau was about 54" long, and the border was an extension of the same pattern on the Palau, which gave me approximately 12" of embroidery down the full length plus the edge border design, which was uninterrupted down the whole length of the sari. I made the 3 panel skirt part by cutting the edge design of the two edges off the Palau and joining them to two gores cut from the embroidered extension, with the edges left on. This gave me a wide, tapered, trained piece with the edge design around the whole skirt. This I joined to the waist band with about 10" open in front and the surplus gathered tightly in back. The edges I cut off the Palau were used to make the waist (under-bust) band, and two angled "straps" that ended in a "V" at the back waist. The were lined with red silk because the sari was sheer and any other color would have shown the seam allowances. Sadly, I had absolutely no red fabric in the house and it was very late at night, so I cut up two holiday napkins I had in the linen closet for this strap lining. LOL! Guerilla Theater, indeed! Anyway, here it is on the lovely Shana Blake Hill... Strangely enough, I know I took lots of pictures on the creation process, yet they are not on the camera I just developed. This means there is another disposable somewhere in the house, and who knows what other treasures I will find when I find it! Well, that's it for now. The show went very well and I will have pictures of the production soon. | 
