Busy busy busy! Picture heavy post

So I've been sick and busy with organising life (mainly renting for next year - ugh!) But feeling better and things are looking more positive now. Not much sewing going on these days, can't seem to get back into it :/ But I might as well post pictures of the Macbeth costumes!

It was great fun to be involved in this project and the people were a joy to work with, you guys rock!
Thanks to Sophie Macduff for helping out when I needed it and getting me into this project in the first place!
This is the first time I have made costumes for a play and it was amazing to see them worn onstage by the actors.

All pictures and designs (C) Nina Duke Howard 2013

Hecate's dress, by far the most fun to make! The pointy bits are held up by feathers which are threaded through the bias binding. Designed to have the look of a corset but with much more room to breathe.

2nd witches costume, badger witch! Had fun making the fur sit wildly on the shoulders and adding a sleeve to one side.

1st witches costume, Wild cat witch. Drafted from scratch this one had a completely different style. The shiny fabric on the sleeves and claw like additions on the neck really caught the light on stage.

3rd witches costume, Owl witch. This one was done last and suitably rushed a fair bit, it got changed a lot at the last minute and looks quite different now. Better actually!

It has feather stems in the shoulders to help hold them up, a bit like wings.

And now onstage! Yay! The headress was an impressive addition to the dress, really brought Hecate's goddess like character alive :) The dress fit her perfectly.

Add caption

Dry ice cauldron/keg looked very convincing on the night, everything was blue light creating a sinister atmosphere. (media speak coming through here)

The photos that I was allowed to take on dress rehearsal night turned out very dark indeed, not sure if they show the costumes to their full potential, but that's what the witches scenes were meant to be like.

Ah you witches were fantastic, such sly cackling you did!

Macbeth and the witches with projection in the background.

 Hope to do more costume work with the Globe in the future! What fun it was, and good practice for my dressmaking skills. The most satisfying part was taking people's measurements and creating clothing that fit them, without fittings, but having them fit perfectly anyway. I didn't know I could do that before :)

Off to bake some bread and play accordion, then I have a whole evening to do crafty stuff, sewing and knitting again!

In progress this week:

• Kittyville hat - for watching adventure time in, need a cute hat for that. Rav link
• Lava flow cowl (nearly finished I think)
• Knitting machine - teaching myself how to do different techniques and having less problems i.e knitting coming off the machine and unravelling itself. Can now do a proper non-raveling hem and cast off.
• Accordion - teaching myself Amelie songs, two half learned now meaning that I know how to play them, but my technique isn't up to speed yet. Here's a link of a talented accordionist playing this beautiful music: La Valse d'amelie
• Sewing............ anybody there? Actually a quilted knitting machine cover made with this quilt: Flower hexagon quilt

Finished this week:

• Nada. Life has taken over but I am still doing creative things, how else does one stay sane?