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...