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...

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."

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...

Marking Suspender Buttons Chugging along with my alterations before the Costume Parade. After the first round of fittings my alteration list included: Pace: take in dress, hem dress, hem pants, add decorative buttons to pants Dalton: sew fly shut on underwear, add decorative buttons to pants Gin: add snaps to front of dress, fix the unfinished seams on over jacket Dray: take in pants, add suspender buttons Chas: hem pants, add suspender buttons  My list was not overwhelming, it was actually very manageable. I tried to space everything out with one task per evening as a goal. Despite setting manageable goals I ended up making a lot of progress on night one and then avoiding doing anything until the weekend. In the end it worked out because I did finish everything on Saturday (Costume Parade was Monday 24th).  Adding Buttons to Pace's Pants Having a few extra days before Costume Parade lets me break out my steamer, iron a few things, and get super or...

I am currently the Costume Designer for the show "Trestle at Pope Lick Creek," directed by Saskia Bakker. It's at the Station Theatre in Urbana, IL. The performance dates are: Thursday, July 5–Sunday, July 7 Wednesday, July 10–Sunday, July 14 Wednesday, July 17–Saturday, July 20 It's a small cast of 5 and there are some small costume changes made on screen. It has been pretty fun to dig into the historical aspect of the 1930s as well as working with such a small cast size.  Pictured left is an image of my first pulls before fittings (ignore the zombie pinup girl dress on the mannequin).  I have already had my first round of fittings and only need to make a few minor alterations such as hems and adding some buttons for suspenders. At the moment I am only in need of some shoes.  It's been quite the experience to not need to make any costumes from scratch. It's also kind of weird, I'm still getting used to the fact that I will not be making costume...