Guri
Sr Member
So someone at my church found out I did costumes and when they could not find a place to rent I got a call. With only two weeks until the service, I really had to scramble, but we came up with some creative solutions and I thought I would share for anyone who gets in a pinch.
I prefer to design my own patterns and shop around for good deals, but as it was so close to Christmas, I had to do it as fast as possible and bought a pattern and paid full price for most of the fabric - but we also bought *shudder* 'costume in a bag* costumes for the shepherds.
I altered the pattern slightly for Mary, but stuck with the expected blue and white and choose amaretto - a linen like fabric. I gave her a high waist to fake the pregnancy since I didn't have time to create a removable baby bump - she walked to the set pregnant and as the story is told, baby ***** is brought out during a 'black out'. Baby ***** appearing was not mentioned to me until the night of - the producer asked if Mary could put the doll in her dress because they were not supposed to carry the baby and did not want to leave the doll on stage (animals)... well the dress was not made to function that way and I had to come up with another solution - see Joseph below...
For Joseph I ended up making a hood-less Jedi cloak haha! The 'tobacco' linen was GORGEOUS and made me want to redo my husband's flannel I made for him! See the bag there? That was made on the spot with extra fabric I just happened to have - it made sense that they were traveling and would need to carry their belongings - it just worked out that he was carrying the doll!
Neither Mary nor Joseph have sleeves on their tunics, and even though they would have had some dirt and wear after a long journey, I kept them clean to make a clear distinction from the shepherds...
The baby was a lifelike doll bought on line and shipped overnight... I love the way this photo with the spotlight makes it look like baby ***** is glowing.
As I said we had to buy 'costume in a bag' and we bought 2 of each of the following and I spent most of my time weathering those that were with the animals in the lobby and walking down the isles during the service.
I mixed them up a bit based on sizing (switched tunics). I added a cream colored jacquard weave linen (at least I think that's what it is) as a trim to finish a more natural edging, a whole new front on the costume below and made the head scarves. I cut off the sleeves to make vests and used one sleeve for the head piece.
The next step was weathering - I used a water diluted brown fabric dye to give the illusion of sleeping out in the rain and collecting dust. Brown and black paint were added to spots where they would have been walking through the mud, laying down in it the dirt or carrying sheep. And for wear and tear I took a metal file and scuffed up the edges and all over the surface of the polyester material.
For the front of the tunic below, I ripped the fabric and then sewed it up with thick brown embroidery thread in big stitches like a shepherd might do in a hurry...
Here's the finished scene - note the super cool stable constructed by another of the members from our church... on the last image you can see the other two shepherds that did not get the alterations or as much weathering:
Aaaaand.....
Of course with live animals (who were all very professional and even seemed to be posing for pictures with their human counterparts at the end of the service!) there will be left little presents for the janitor...
HOLY CRAP!
I prefer to design my own patterns and shop around for good deals, but as it was so close to Christmas, I had to do it as fast as possible and bought a pattern and paid full price for most of the fabric - but we also bought *shudder* 'costume in a bag* costumes for the shepherds.
I altered the pattern slightly for Mary, but stuck with the expected blue and white and choose amaretto - a linen like fabric. I gave her a high waist to fake the pregnancy since I didn't have time to create a removable baby bump - she walked to the set pregnant and as the story is told, baby ***** is brought out during a 'black out'. Baby ***** appearing was not mentioned to me until the night of - the producer asked if Mary could put the doll in her dress because they were not supposed to carry the baby and did not want to leave the doll on stage (animals)... well the dress was not made to function that way and I had to come up with another solution - see Joseph below...
For Joseph I ended up making a hood-less Jedi cloak haha! The 'tobacco' linen was GORGEOUS and made me want to redo my husband's flannel I made for him! See the bag there? That was made on the spot with extra fabric I just happened to have - it made sense that they were traveling and would need to carry their belongings - it just worked out that he was carrying the doll!
Neither Mary nor Joseph have sleeves on their tunics, and even though they would have had some dirt and wear after a long journey, I kept them clean to make a clear distinction from the shepherds...
The baby was a lifelike doll bought on line and shipped overnight... I love the way this photo with the spotlight makes it look like baby ***** is glowing.
As I said we had to buy 'costume in a bag' and we bought 2 of each of the following and I spent most of my time weathering those that were with the animals in the lobby and walking down the isles during the service.
I mixed them up a bit based on sizing (switched tunics). I added a cream colored jacquard weave linen (at least I think that's what it is) as a trim to finish a more natural edging, a whole new front on the costume below and made the head scarves. I cut off the sleeves to make vests and used one sleeve for the head piece.
The next step was weathering - I used a water diluted brown fabric dye to give the illusion of sleeping out in the rain and collecting dust. Brown and black paint were added to spots where they would have been walking through the mud, laying down in it the dirt or carrying sheep. And for wear and tear I took a metal file and scuffed up the edges and all over the surface of the polyester material.
For the front of the tunic below, I ripped the fabric and then sewed it up with thick brown embroidery thread in big stitches like a shepherd might do in a hurry...
Here's the finished scene - note the super cool stable constructed by another of the members from our church... on the last image you can see the other two shepherds that did not get the alterations or as much weathering:
Aaaaand.....
Of course with live animals (who were all very professional and even seemed to be posing for pictures with their human counterparts at the end of the service!) there will be left little presents for the janitor...
HOLY CRAP!
