Malotke Sews

One of the things that was fun to work on this show was to create my own personal "washable dirt" to use to make the costumes look worn and smudged, but that would wash entirely out without using stain removers or extra washes. Since everything I used for this show was a rental, I needed to make sure everything could be washed and returned in the exact same condition as it came in (although some are in even better condition because I made a lot of repairs).  Image from a rehearsal. In the past, for "A Christmas Carol," I used a little mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg to create a dirty appearance on some costumes. It worked great for the show! I would mix the two in a bag, put the individual costume pieces in the bag, tie it shut, and shake.  Due to the lighting on "Trestle at Pope Lick Creek" I needed to make it a little darker than my previous dirt recipe.  For Trestle I used a mixture of the following: Cinnamon Clover Instant Coffee (swap for...

I have been looking for small projects to use up scrap fabric pieces and decided why not make a bunch of bow ties ? Here is my first one, it's a black and white plaid cotton fabric that has been sitting in my stash forever. I have already cut out 4 more bow ties. Next step is cutting out the interfacing for them and sewing them together.  I've been trying to use my stash of fabric to make small functional garments and accessories. So far I have a handful of makeup bags and detachable collars. I figured I can use some of the larger pieces that can't be used for actual clothing garments to make some bow ties. I'll be slowly adding all of the pieces I create into my Etsy shop here: Malotke Made .  I will try to do a step by step tutorial for sewing the ties when I make another one.

Want in on my trick to make brand new shoes appear dirty, without using actual dirt? Here's what I did for Gin Chance's shoes for "Trestle at Pope Lick Creek" -  I took a black pastel stick, r ubbed it on a paper towel, and then took the t owel and rubbed it onto the shoes. Since in the show Dalton takes his mom's shoes off, I needed to make sure the pastel wouldn't come off onto their hands during the show. My solution was to spray my art fixatif on the shoes. And it worked!  So far we're two weekends in and the shoes are looking great. I had purchased the shoes so I am able to do whatever needed to them for the show. I know you could pull this off with several different methods, but I really enjoy my pastel stick trick.

Here are a few pictures I took from the Costume Parade on Monday, July 1st, 2019. Top left is Pace & Dalton, top right is Gin & Dray, and the bottom image is Chas (without his jacket) & Dray (with added shirt and hat). Once I get the pictures from the show I'll post the more professional images.

Here is the trailer for "Trestle at Pope Lick Creek." It does include a little look at everyone in the show, which is great because you can see the costumes in action. Opening night was Friday, July 5th!

One of the best things to look into for doing historical shows is photographs from that time period. Above is a collage of photos I found for the time period that helped me design the looks for the characters for "Trestle at Pope Lick Creek."

Finally adding more colors. While my style is somewhere between geometric print goth and forest witch, I have been in the process of trying to add a little more color into my closet. I wear a LOT of black and white patterns. While I absolutely adore my black and white section of my closet, I have been trying to introduce more colors into my wardrobe. Stripes for days. Pictured left is a small portion of my dresses & blazers section of my closet. While there is some classic black and white stripes and houndstooth happening, I have added some solid fun blazers to mix with all the patterns & prints. I've also managed to add some variety in colors to this portion. Slowly but surely I am figuring out my style and if after all of this my style is still very heavily geometric print goth, then it is what it is and I will rock it.  A lot of my closet comes from second hand stores. Sometimes I'll find something that I would want to tweak just a tiny bit, so it gives...

Tonight is opening night! So to celebrate, below are my other mood boards for the show, "Trestle at Pope Lick Creek." Once I get pictures from the show I will post side by side images. Until then, I've included descriptions of the looks. For Gin Chance I wanted to give her a darker palette than Dalton, but still use similar coloring because of their close bond. Gin wears a long sleeve blue plaid dress. I paired this with neutral socks and a pair of character style two tone heels in cream and grey. She also has a short sleeve over jacket that is solid blue with red piping and a red straw hat. She may not wear the over jacket or hat, but they will be on stage with her.  Dray Chance isn't affectionate and singles himself out from his family, so I wanted to give him a separate color palette than them. For most of the show he is in a white sleeveless tank, dark brown corduroy trousers, and light brown and cream patterned suspenders. Chas Weaver is a very pass...

One of my favorite methods to work through designing looks for shows is using mood boards.  For the "Trestle at Pope Lick Creek" I sourced a lot of historical photographs, advertisements, and clothing patterns to build the silhouettes and clothing ideas for the characters. As for colors, I started out with simple color palettes for each character and how they worked together based on the characters' interactions.  While some things have changed color wise, my basic design ideas have stayed the same. For example, for Pace I wanted a simple short sleeve, collared dress in a green pattern. However, after searching for what I wanted there was the perfect dress, but in brown! While it's not green and doesn't a pattern, it's still a rich color and the pockets are weaved so it has a lovely texture to it. Below are my mood boards for Dalton Chance and Pace Craegan. The show opens Friday, July 5th, 2019. After I get some action shots from the play I will post side...

Meet my blindstitch machine! Do you have that one machine that you're like,  " How did I function without this in my life? " When I only had my sewing machine I was ecstatic that it could do button holes. My mind was blown! Then I got my serger and was constantly in awe at how great and easy it was to now finish projects like I did in classes. For a little background, my major's sewing lab was all industrial machines and there weren't a lot of available specialty ones if everyone was working on classwork. Having my own serger and sewing machine at home allowed me to cut everything out in the lab and then sew at home whenever I wanted. Well after starting Malotke Made, LLC I thought, how great would it be to have an embroidery machine to do more personalization for customers. So then I got my lovely embroidery machine and I am loving using it.  After those 3 machines I figured, how great would it be to not have to hand sew hems? Therefore I got my blin...

For Mother's Day my husband and I elected to pick out some kitchen towels for his mom and that I would embroider them with something vegetable related.  It's a cute brown basket holding a pumpkin and a squash with some floral branches and a carrot.  Unfortunately even after practicing on plain solid, colored fabric, I didn't think the design would turn out the way it did. I was definitely expecting it to be more defined and larger. I made it the largest size it would allow me, but it was still a tad small.  We had chosen the black and white towels based on his mom's kitchen colors, but I thought the stitches would be heavier and more defined than the way they came out. However, it looks great in person and his mom loves it! Next time using this design I will plan on using a solid color fabric.