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.

Custom Printed Fabric

I've been tinkering with this for a good while now. I will have swatches at the 40th Anniversary Convention.  If you're comfortable with Photoshop, the process is fairly easy. When you upload your design you have the option to set the repeat how you prefer.

Columbia's Pajama Stripe - This was printed by Spoonflower. I have experimented with the colors a bit, and though I think my final result is a bit dark, it lends itself well to natural fading for a truly "worn" look (you can accelerate the process with sun exposure and many washings). Spoonflower will also let you modify the colors before ordering, however I strongly recommend getting a swatch before purchasing yardage.

Brad's Bow Tie Plaid - I tried this on Spoonflower originally and I wasn't happy with any of the results. Every effort looked dull and faded - as if getting a saturated red was impossible.  I tried using their color-picker, and talking with customer support on the phone. Always the same dull results. I had much greater success with FabricOnDemand.com - the only complaint I have about them is that they do not have a store feature to let other people buy my designs directly.

Brad's Cummerbund Plaid - Pretty much the same exact experience as the bow tie plaid. My final results were from FabricOnDemand.com.

Janet's 1/2" Pink Gingham - Gingham is technically a woven plaid, but I've done my best to simulate the effect with printing. I got great results from Spoonflower.com so it's available in my shop there. I also have a lighter version of the same print for Janet's that are working with a lighter pink dress fabric and still want a good match.

Brad's Cummerbund (Pleating)

Is Brad's cummerbund pleated?  Well, judging by visual evidence alone it's very hard to tell.  But I will say that I've never met a cummerbund that wasn't pleated.  They may absolutely exist, but they would be a very rare specimen.  I'd be inclined to write them off as homemade unless they had their original label intact.  So abiding by the laws of fashion and "how things are generally done" - you can actually still pleat a plaid to look the same as it's original, un-pleated layout just by folding it carefully.

Also, the pleats on a cummerbund should always go up.  That is, imagine them as a crumb-catcher.  I've also heard that men could keep their valet tickets and such inside the folds - though that seems silly to me since I've never seen a men's tuxedo lacking in pockets inside and out.

So here I've used a piece of paper.  My printer was running out of red ink, but I think the fading actually helps delineate the pleats for this purpose.  The light areas have 9 squares in them - pleated or not.

Brad Cummerbund & Bow Tie (Research)

This is a great screen shot of the (unmatched) bow tie and cummerbund Brad wears. Also a pretty good shot of Brad's shawl-collar tux and boutonniere.

The cummerbund is just black and red. The bow tie also has blue and yellow.  The bow tie is doubled. I've never found the exact plaid on the bow tie (notice there is no green in it).  I'm continuing to explore custom fabric options, but I have not had much luck so far.

Plaid Cummerbund

Here's my first test run of the cummerbund pattern with the new plaid fabric. It has four pleats - which should be worn facing up. Supposedly the pleats face up so a gentleman could tuck his ticket stubs or cash in the folds. Or maybe a snack for later.

This fabric isn't quite perfect in it's arrangement, but the general scale and colors are excellent.  Still a good find.  I haven't had much luck with custom printing yet - the reds always turn out dull and faded.  Most commercial pattern companies have a basic Cummerbund pattern.  McCall's 4321 is excellent (and also has a great vest pattern for Riff Raff).