The big production of
In His Steps is this weekend, and I finally got my last costume finished up last week. It was the coat from
this pattern, probably the most difficult construction I've ever done. To add to the stress, the costume was for the head costumer's son, and she's a professional seamstress. He's 6'4", and is one of the leads in the play. This coat was gonna be noticed! Yikes! I took it in to the studio last week and left it because she wasn't there. And I didn't hear from her. Uh oh. I got glowing reviews on my first two costumes, and then nothing. So I finally got up the nerve to ask, and the sentence began with a long, drawn-out Southern "weeeelllll..." Not a good start. Apparently in my concern for constructing such a huge garment, I forgot to pay attention to the nap of the black corduroy I was working with. Fortunately, the problem areas were limited to one cuff, and the tail section. But I was crushed. I felt so stupid for not noticing! And under the stage lights, it was apprently to obvious for him to wear it. She was very gracious about it, and told me not to worry, but it bummed me out for the rest of the day. The way she was initially talking about it, it sounded like the whole thing was a loss, and she would be scrambling for a new, very important costume piece at the last minute.
Today, the coat is back in my hands. Thankfully, they had extra fabric, and I am going to rip apart and redo the wrong parts (by tomorrow!) I'm chalking this up as a life lesson, and this experience has served to provide me with valuable instruction. It's a mistake I will hopefully never make again.
