Malotke Sews

The MoPOP hosts an annual Fashionably Undead Halloween party. It's one night & has a costume contest, late night open exhibits, food & beverages, and DANCING. Also photo ops and other cool things like a scavenger hunt. This past year the theme was "The Goopening" and I was invited to be one of the Costume Contest Judges. It was a blast! First off, what a surreal experience. I loved seeing how creative the attendees were and everyone that entered the contest was excited to show off their work. We had a few items for judging criteria and there were a LOT of entrants. Overall, I loved seeing everyone embody their characters / costumes. The top five got to do a little runway walk to show the audience and then the winners were announced on stage as well. Since I love a good excuse to do a costume AND I was one of the costume judges I felt like I needed to make a fun goopy look for the evening. BUT it also had to be something that I could drive in, sit for a long period...

The Dire Circle - " The circle is dire, much like the outcomes of these stories. In this black zodiac themed anthology, you may come to dislike other people...maybe even yourself."   When I pitched an idea for "The Dire Circle" during 2021, I wasn't sure that it would even get picked. But, once it did and I was given a Black Zodiac to then develop my short story, I decided to do what I do for costuming a character - I made a mood board for my main character.  My Black Zodiac was the Serpent and my short story for the anthology is Twisted Tales, Dripping in Honey . My story centered around a very femme fatale main character with lots of buried secrets. I looked to old Hollywood glamour, dark reds, demon eyes, and other glints of seductress mixed with sweetness to create Melia . For me, coming up with a name was very difficult. After creating what should would look like, having an idea of her voice, her outfits, her drive, everything about her, I still needed the...

Here is a quick breakdown of how I made a padded armor piece for the character Tilly when she's her D&D character, Tillius the Paladin, in the play, "She Kills Monsters."  For reference, here are my Tillius the Paladin Mood Boards: First step was using the actor's measurements I created a very basic front and back bodice pattern. I wanted the armor piece to be comfortable, slightly bigger, and the padded would provide the texture look I was aiming for with the overall piece. It would be worn over a long sleeve t-shirt and the actor would be wearing a belt over it that held the sword. Also worn over top would be a one-armed shoulder armor piece that would be black leather with silver accents. So, while a majority of the outfit was black (base layer, boots, belt, gloves) I wanted this armor piece to be more grey and scream texture to the audience.  Above: I cut out the front and back pieces in the grey fabric for the outer layer as well as striped fabric for the li...

In "She Kills Monsters" there are two evil cheerleader characters, Evil Gabi & Evil Tina. For this show I wanted them to have almost identical outfits for when they played the evil versions. Their look included matching cheerleader outfits, shoes, little black horns, and wings. Then one girl would wear black contacts and the other would wear sunglasses (she couldn't do contacts). This post is about the wings. For the wings I purchased two sets of two sizes of black wings. Then I removed the black glitter elastic straps from all the pairs of wings. Next was placing the small set on the "top" of the larger set. I had to hand sew them together due to the wiring in the wings & the thickness of the wing material.  See above for a photo on sewing the wings together. After sewing the two sizes together I cut and sewed new, white elastic straps to the wings. The cheer tops are white so I was hoping to hide the elastic as much as possible. After that the wings we...

Currently a work in progress , this is one image of the fire gloves for the Witch in "The Kingdom of Dreams: A Tale of Oz." Using conductive thread I was able to hand sew a controller, 9 LEDs, and a mini on/off button to each glove. The actress will be able to use the on/off switches on the thumbs on the gloves to control the lights. My husband, who is a software engineer, is programming the LEDs to create a fire effect in red. There will be a thin glove worn over these so that the LEDs and controller will be hidden. The LEDs are very bright and will be able to be seen through the second layer. Once the programming is in place I will share a video of the gloves in action. Stay tuned for more special effects!

If you read the first part of this blog post you would know that I had finished the Juniper Skirt, but it wasn't quite what I wanted out of a skirt. It was a little too short for my taste and I felt like it needed something extra. I decided to add a ruffle to the hem.  I sewed two long strips together and serged all four edges. I then finished one of the long ends that would be the bottom hem. Since I had serged it I simply turned it up and stitched it, you can see the finished hem in the picture above on the left side of the fabric. After this I sewed two gathering stitches along the other long side (as seen above). After sewing the gathering stitches I pinned the piece to the skirt's bottom. I sewed them right side to right side and then pressed the seams up. Pictured above is me sewing a top stitch, securing the seams to the skirt. Final look! I took the "Juniper Skirt" pattern from Mood Fabrics blog, and added a ruffle hem to it. I actually really love the end res...

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 ...

For "Bus Stop" I had really wanted to make Cherie a wonderful, flashy costume for when she performs her musical number in the show. However, due to the overall look (set/lighting/other characters) and the fact that Bo then picks up and carries Cherie, I needed to scrap my strapless boned bodice idea for a top that would guarantee to not fall down. I ended up using a black tank top and adding some pink floral lace to it that was from the skirt's original hemline. I had constructed the original boned bodice but wanted to be safe and make sure there was no chance for a costume malfunction.  Below are some progress pictures for my bodice. Once I tried it on the actress (it looked spectacular!) I knew that if Bo grabbed her even just slightly in a different position, we could risk it slipping down. While it was tight I didn't want to risk it and we went in a different direction. The top ended up barely being seen due to the actress really loving the dressing robe and i...

More face masks just waiting to have their pleats sewn! Black, blue, and some fun Star Wars printed fabrics. Close up on my Halloween inspired plaid fabric face masks. Masks consist of orange and black plaid, black elastic, and black thread. Pictured above are the 10 fabric face masks I made yesterday!

The Final Look: A while back I finished this lovely dress but it when it was finished it was way too big for me. I had managed to drop a few sizes while I had been making the dress. Ever since it's completion it has sat in a pile of almost finished personal projects. I finally decided to make the necessary alterations so I could add this fun dress to my closet. I needed to basically take the dress apart and redo it. I took the skirt off, removed the zipper, and undid the side seams. I then added a front seam and took in the side seams. I redid the hem on the skirt and moved the waistline up a few inches to a more flattering place for my waist. When I sewed the top and skirt together I chose to do a couple of pleats instead of gathering stitches. With the geometric print of the fabric I thought it would add a little more visual interest. After this I  redid the zipper, choosing a shorter than the original.  Now it not only fits, but it is flattering on me and I am exci...

With everyone making home masks at the moment I thought I would do a little tutorial on the ones I have made specifically for myself. I looked at a lot of tutorials and different patterns online to construct a mask that worked for me. I wanted something very simple both time wise and material wise. Let me know if you have any questions! Warning/Disclaimer: This method is not industry tested or anything, it is simply a way of making a face mask using 1 piece of fabric and 2 pieces of elastic. It's just a tutorial, intended for educational purposes and nothing else. The decision to use this as a method of protection against pollution or viruses is solely your own. Please consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) website for updated information about home made masks and their effectiveness. First Step: Select your fabric. Check the CDC's guidelines for recommended fabric types. I ironed out my fabric choice, marked a piece 8.5 x 16 inches, ...

Recently I completed a super soft blanket for a gift for my mom for Mother's Day. I chose a lovely soft fleece with penguins and snowflakes for one side and a soft, silver fake velvet for the other side. One the silver side I chose to embroider a very cute Winnie the Pooh & Piglet design in a corner of the blanket. It was a simple project that I was able to finish in an afternoon. I sewed each side, turned it inside out, and top stitched a small section. Close up of the embroidery design.  Pooh & Piglet taking a nap on the moon.

Alterations: 1. Waist ties that were sewn into the side seams were removed from the dresses. 2. Added a couple of inches to the side seams to give the actresses more comfort. 3. Added solid white hem to the short sleeves.

For my waitress looks I knew exactly what I wanted, and I was not going to compromise on my designs. I found great light blue and white checkered dresses that buttoned all the way down the front and had short sleeves. After my first fittings I knew I needed to add a little bit of wiggle room for the actresses to be comfortable and to guarantee that none of the buttons would have gaping in the front. I also needed to add plain white trim to the sleeves to get the exact look I wanted for the diner dresses. First I needed to remove the ties that were attached at the side seams of the waist line. With aprons over top the attached ties were in the way and created a more lumpy look at the waistline. Armed with a seam ripper I removed the ties. Since I didn't have matching fabric and I didn't want a solid color addition to the side seams. I then ripped the ties open, ironed them flat, and serger the edges. These pieces are what I used to add an inch to each side seam on both d...

I pleated the fabric and then laid it on the mannequin to see if I was getting the right overall look. After checking how the pleats looked I went ahead and pleated two sets of the gold fabric that fold over themselves giving me a total of 4 rows. I thought an easy way of handling the pleated fabric would be in it had a muslin backing along the top. I then made a neckband and a small section of muslin to attach to the neckband. I thought the muslin backing would help make the gold pop. I then sewed the layers of pleated gold fabric to the section of muslin. After I made the fur layers of pleated gold I decided the neckband looked a little dull. I then added the gold fabric but horizontally to the neckband. Lastly I added snaps to the back for closures. After sewing 4 layers of the gold I thought it needed a little more to it but I waited to see how it looked with the entire outfit on the actor. Once I tried it on the actor I trimmed the bottom row and then added ...