Malotke Sews

Finishing the waistband. This past weekend I wanted to make a simple skirt to add to my closet. With the temperature getting warmer and warmer every day I decided I needed some other options for my work attire besides my go to ankle cropped dress pants. I went through my pattern stash and discovered I didn't have a simple skirt pattern in my size. I went onto Mood Fabrics blog - Mood Sewciety - and searched their free patterns for a simple skirt option. I landed on their short A-line skirt option called the " Juniper Skirt ."  I printed out the patterns and then based on their size measurements chart I selected my size and cut out the pattern pieces and tapped them together. I was hesitant on the over skirt flap that was shown with the pattern and actually ended up not adding it to the skirt. I decided that instead of following the directions, I would treat this as a mock up skirt for my personal body type and fashion tastes. I used a black/brown/gold cotton fabric with ...

"Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers, & More" by Linda O'Keeffe is a small, lovely book I snagged at a used bookstore forever ago. It may be small but it has over 1,000 photographs of shoes. Written by Linda O'Keeffe with photography by Andreas Bleckmann, I thoroughly enjoy using this book as a reference when trying to describe to others specific shoes. It was published in 1996, but it's still one of my favorite shoe specific books in my reference section of books. Cover Shot It has great images and each section has a good variety through history. For example, when discussing sandals you don't just start at discussing Salvatore Ferragamo's straw sandals from the 1930's, the book takes you back to Egyptian sandals in 2000 B.C. and walks you through the history around the sandals and how they evolved over time. The book is broken down by types - Sandal, Heel, Slippers, etc - and each type has a "Master of Design" and a "Sh...

For Goblins and the Gravedigger I have started diving into research for the 1840's and working on my Mood Boards to get in the zone for designing costumes. I enjoy using mood boards as a solid starting point for characters' looks. 

One of the things I love about costume design is all of the research that goes into creating the looks for the characters. There are a lot of things to consider when designing a character's look for a show. For example, yes you need to think about the time period and the setting, but beyond that you need to consider the economic status of the character within that setting & time period. This can factor into what colors you can or can't use due to social status, as well as fabric choices and even accessories. Everything from sock height to button sizes, vary going from one time period to another. You need to consider sleeve variety, when women wore corsets, when did the zipper become popular, and more when thinking about a character and what would be a reasonable outfit for them to wear within the show. Now not every show's director is going to want you to be so time specific, maybe you're not doing historically accurate or you're doing a fantasy show. But, it...