Pride Costumes...

Here's some of the stuff I've made for Pride month - I started most of these weeks (months?) ago but had to wrap them up quickly. Don't be fooled, I'm still spending most of my days working on Space Suit commissions. Most of these will appear on stage in Austin and Houston, TX.

Floorshow Boas!

Okay, here's what I've learned after dicking around with these things for a few weeks...

The boas are long. Really long. I make mine almost 10'.
The box-pleats use fabric at a 3-to-1 ratio... so if you want to box pleat 9' of organza, you'll need 9 yards (18 feet!)

Sue's seem to be mounted on some black twill tape, but I just used 3/8" grosgrain ribbon. I don't recommend satin ribbon; the organza will slip and slide all over that.

Materials: 
1 10-foot strip of twill tape or grosgrain ribbon
1 9-yard (18-foot) strip of Black Organza (10" wide)
1 8-yard strip of Red Organza (10" wide)
1 8-yard strip of Yellow-Green Organza (10" wide)
2 WOF (Width Of Fabric) strips of Black Chiffon (10" wide)
2 (or 4) Black Tassels
Black Serger Thread (and obv. a serger)

If you don't mind piecing your organza together, you can just buy 2-yards and sew the 10" strips together to make one long strip.

Prepping the Fabric:
I cut 10" wide strips of the Organza and chiffon and serge all the long edges. If you want to use a rolled-hem foot on your serger, you may want to cut your fabric strips 1/2" wider to accommodate the hem (1/4" each side). I don't bother to serge the short edges, but you can if you want. 

Getting Started:
I fold about 1" of the ribbon up to make a loop for the tassel. Some tassels have stupid-long loops for hanging, so I shorten those to about 2".  I box-pleat the chiffon to each end straight down the middle - just sort of a loose pleat-as-I-go technique. I can see the ribbon through the chiffon. Make sure you attach both ends of the chiffon to the SAME SIDE of the ribbon! My pleats average about 1-1/4" deep.. back and forth alternating their direction (that's what makes it a box pleat). If you prefer you can pleat them all going the same direction and it should look beautiful, too.

Pleating the Organza!
Continue to attach all layers on the same side of the ribbon. This will help with the twist when it's hanging.

I attach the red first... slightly overlapping the black Chiffon ends. Not all of the boas have all of the colors running the full length, but I prefer to keep it simple and just go all the way across. Then the green/yellow - which I started and ended a little further in from the red. Then the black I started about 6" from the beginning of the ribbon - it overlaps a lot of the Chiffon. 

You absolutely want to do the black organza last because it's the hardest to see through. You need to be able to see your ribbon/previous stitch line on each successive layer. It can be a little tricky with the black on top of the black ends. Just go slowly and keep your pleat layers spread as you work. 

Commissions:
If you decide you'd rather just buy one I'd be glad to make it for you!  Based on the materials I currently have available (see top photo) I am charging $125.00 (materials + labor).  

Floorshow Boa Research

There are two known, extant boas:
1. The King's Road Boa owned by Ruth (and possibly used by Rocky in the film)
2. Columbia's Boa owned by Larry

They have a lot in common and appear to be made from the same materials, however the order of their layers is different. They both begin with a length of black twill tape (grosgrain will work well, too). Both boas also begin with pleated chiffon on the ends - it's a little droopier and gives the boa a more tapered appearance. Both boas have multiple layers of pleated (most likely) Organza, but the lengths and positions of the Red and Yellow are reversed. The tassels appear to be the same.

Pride Boas

I made a set of Pride boas for the local casts I perform with, and as a pre-cursor to (eventually) making some screen accurate floorshow boas (Organza fabric has been ordered!)

For these, I used Tulle-Organza. It's like a fine-weave tulle with the shimmer of organza (but doesn't shed glitter!) I used a 10' long ribbon down the middle and box-pleated 4 layers of 11" wide tulle. Which is pretty wide, you probably wouldn't want your regular floorshow boas to be that wide, unless you just wanted them to be "extra". Each layer was applied individually, and I just pleated as I went.  The dark purple ends are chiffon (and those edges are serged). 

This makes a very cost-effective boa - which is great for theme shows (think Pride, Halloween, etc.)  Anyhow, the Organza ones are coming soon(ish)!

Floorshow Boas

 Ruth's Anal Retentive Rocky Horror Costume site has some amazing, detailed photos (taken by Sarah K. of Chicago) of Columbia's floorshow boa (from Larry V.'s amazing collection).

Boa detail (photo by Sarah Kucera)