Ballet Costumes 2009

I can hardly believe it is time to work on costumes and alterations again. It is fun and one of the few creative things I get to do during the year.


The theme for the Spring Performance this year is "Sleeping Beauty",(you will notice some of Princess Aurora's royal costume hanging on the door). The costume we usually use for the "Blue Bird" was too small for the three dancers who will take turns in the three perfomances. So, I dreamed up the one modeled above. All the girls really liked it when I tried it on one of the dancers yesterday. This is a costume overlay I have been working on the last couple of weeks.

One of the hardest costume accessories I have done was the last time we used the theme "Sleeping Beauty" in 2005. I was asked to make fairy wings. Actually, MANY fairy wings. Bigger ones for the big girls and little ones for the petite fairies. Well, this year Ms Laurie needed one more petite fairy wing for a little dancer who came in just under the deadline. Not good! I can't remember how to make the things! I remember making a prototype in white net and white satan and it was still there among the lilac ones, so I began ponder the idea of dyeing it.

I checked the directions on the Rit dye at the store and it called for HOT water which I realized would not work for the delicate construction. Then after I dyed eggs for Easter the idea came to me to use Easter egg dye. Unfortunately, I had none left. So-0-0, I made an emergency call to Kreanna and YES, she had some extra packages!!


I tried the purple first and it came out a lovely, bright pink with a hint of purple. Then I experimented and added a red tablet and that just made it brighter. Rinsing it under clear, running water helped make it more pastel, but it was still obviously pink. I decided to experiment one more time and made a blue dye bath, adding some of the purple to it. Thankfully, when I add the purple ribbon for the middle it will be close enough to pass and I have now been saved MANY hours of figuring those little wings out.

After yesterday's try-ons, there are many alterations to make for fittings, so it's hard to express how thankful I am this worked out. Nice to live a block from a daughter who comes to the rescue.
Just a FYI: These wings are fastened on the tutu top in such a way they stand away from the back and really are cute little "training wings" for the little girls. The top one is an original, the closest one is the dyed one. (Yes, Grammie's are just antique little girls and still like to play dress-up.)