Snow White and the Curse of the Ice Queen: The Ice Queen

Photo by Ashley Foster

The evil Ice Queen was casting curses over the majority of the characters in the panto, but who doesn't love a good panto villain. 

The Ice Queen was the only costume I made from scratch for the recent Juniors panto. The idea of the design was to be able to use the same dress for two costumes, for example the main dress worn whilst playing the Ice Queen would be worn with the icicle crown and cape. Then when pretending to be Snow White at the cafe with Prince Charming and his page, the icicle crown and cape would be removed and a shawl worn covering her head and shoulders in order to hide her face from the Prince.

At the wedding whilst still pretending to be Snow White, we ditch the cape and Icicle crown and instead a veil and a floor length elasticated waist skirt which is worn underneath the main dress, and a bow is added with a belt: this creates the wedding dress.

The Main Dress:

Design by Katie Pollitt

The original idea was to make a simple elasticated waist dress, with a point to one side due to the script making a joke  in Act 1 Scene 1 "...you've got a point." "No, it's just the way her skirt hangs". However before designing I was 'umming and aring' about whether she should be wearing a handkerchief skirt or a skirt that hangs as a point at the centre front and back, but decided to go for an asymmetric look instead.

In the script, it was described that the Ice Queen had to take two apples out from under her cloak during the performance. However because of the material I wanted to use for the cloak, I didn't think that the apples should be held within the cloak, in some kind of pocket; as that would cause a lot of stress on the organza itself, in time creating holes around the line of stitching. Also seeing as the production's costumes were supposed to be modern, it seemed perfectly fine to have pockets feature on the dress. Funnily enough I actually had a dress with a similar cut so I used the dress as a template to make the right sized pockets, to make sure they could hold an apple in each.

However for the rest of the dress I took measurements from the actress and made the bodice pattern and skirt patterns myself, using what I had learned at a pattern cutting course a year and a bit ago. The patterns would then be altered depending on how the fitting went (as can be seen in the photo of the bodice patterns to the right).

The colours I had intended on using were a silver lining and a see-through white top layer; giving an icy look through the use of the colours.

However when toiling, I had used a light blue fabric (I tend to use supermarket bedding, because it usually works out quite cheap for the amount of fabric you get) because it was what I happened to have around at the time as a toiling material. Did my fitting with the actress and in the mean time the silver lining fabric I had ordered online  had arrived; but was actually much darker than the silver advertised and looked more like a dark grey which wouldn't give the right look. I had a think about what I should do whilst staring at the toile which was next to the organza, so I placed a layer of the organza over the blue toile and decided that the combo worked just as well, and still gave an icy look, just a fresher ice...if that makes ANY sense...

Now I could say that the toile was perfect... but what's the point in this blog if I'm not going to tell you the mistakes as well...so the rest of the dress was pretty good, except the height of the waistline. This was because during one of the weekly rehearsals I only had a couple of minutes at the end of the session to measure the actress up; and in the rush of things forgot to take the' nape to waist' measurement. However, I couldn't wait till the following week to take the measurement because I needed to get the pattern and the toile done by then, so I thought if I use the measurements I have and use my 'nape to waist' measurement, as I'm a bit taller than the actress. This would mean the measurement would be slightly longer, which in the case of altering, would be much better to adjust as we'd have spare fabric. Whereas if it was a shorter measurement...well then we would be in trouble.

Tip: ALWAYS write down the measurements you need to take before you have to, in order to make sure you take all the necessary measurements, and don't forget any. (This is what I do, however this time I thought I had packed the piece of paper in my folder before I left for the session but clearly didn't or at least I couldn't find it in my folder.)

Photo by Ashley Foster

When fitting the dress to the actress all I did was find her waist and mark directly onto the toile how much I needed to move it up. Once the dress was taken off I  re marked the marks of the true waistline at the same measurements, to ensure it would be level, and not sloping up on one side.

Photo by Ashley Foster

The neckline was marked on during the fitting, as I wanted to make sure it scooped nicely, so wanted to do this whilst it was on the actress; it also meant that I could discuss the height of the neckline to make sure the actress was comfortable with it. I would normally use a 'tailors chalk' triangle or 'dressmaking pencil' (basically tailors chalk in the form of a pencil, giving a more precise line because of the chalk being more pointed) however these didn't show up as well on the blue material without pressing really hard. Instead I used a light pencil, but don't worry, during a fitting I make the actors wear their costumes inside out if it needs altering, as this allows me to take in seams but also put on markings that won't be seen on the right side of the costume. Another marker you could use is a 'Water Erasable Pen', but before using it you should always test it on a scrap of the material you will be using, just in case the water doesn't completely take off the mark, as the pen is coloured (mine is blue, I don't know if you can get any other colours). However I wouldn't really want to use this in a fitting because it goes straight through the fabric so if the actor/actress if wearing something underneath, it could stain their clothes because I wouldn't have tested the material of the clothes they're wearing. I also don't know whether it would stain skin.

 

I had found these lengths of small silver balls threaded onto wire at intervals, and I thought they would have to appear on the Ice Queen's costume somewhere because they would just fit in so well and add something more to the outfit. So I took a couple of the lengths and bent them into shape round the neckline of the dress; weaving them in and out, reaching up to the shoulders. I then sewed them to the dress at intervals to secure them but also keep the shape.

I finally attached a detailed silver button on either shoulder, for the cape to be buttoned onto.

The Cape:

Now because the main dress was going to have a layer of white chiffon to give that icy look, I decided her cape would be made out of the same top layer fabric. This meant buying even more fabric, because we'd need at least 1m 1/4 just for the cape, if not more. So I searched online trying to find the cheapest deals. Found some very good priced ones on Ebay, however cannot vouch for the quality, seeing as I didn't actually have to buy any; as I later looked in the group's 'stock shed' again and came across a box of organza and netting. Had a route around and luckily enough found some white organza with a slightly lilac tint. Perfect for the top layer of the dress and the cape, and just enough for both...what a lucky find!

The left over amount of organza was literally folded in half, and angled slightly so it overlapped in the centre but not all the way across. I then fastened a strip of organza ribbon into a loop, to the cape, putting a piece of fabric in between the layers in order to make it just that bit sturdier. I then ran a thread though a section of the cape from the edge to about a fifth of the way in on either side and pulled the threads to gather the fabric so it fell nicely against the back of the dress. I had pinned the centre of the cape to the centre back seam, to make sure the amount of material on either side was equal and wouldn't move whilst gathering. Stitching the gathers into place around the button loops, created a lovely little shoulder cuff, making the cape sit nicely on the ball of the shoulders.

The Icicle Crown:

I came up with the idea of making an icicle crown for the Ice Queen, so started thinking of ideas of how and what to make the crown out of. I was originally thinking of using the plastic icicles from  the icicle fairy lights that you see around Christmas time, but couldn't find any cheap enough really. Instead I tried to think of a cheaper and more resourceful way of making them, using stuff around the house. I found this website explaining how to make icicle decorations for the Christmas tree out of plastic bottles, http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/icicle-ornaments-from-plastic-bottles-2. Had a go myself and thought, "Yep. This is a winner", and we'd just happened to have a few plastic bottles of lemonade, which worked great. Which also decided the drink that would be accompanying me whilst I worked.

Tip: If you have a go at making these icicles (which you should because it's fun and you get a great outcome, as long as you don't singe your fingers...ouch!) I would suggest going for the cheaper supermarket's own brand, where the bottles are more rounded, and the plastic seems softer. These tend to give a better effect of an icicle I personally think, but try with different plastic bottles and see which ones you prefer and give better effects.

After making numerous plastic icicles , it was time to somehow turn them into a crown of sorts...

I was originally going to use the head measurement of the actress and thread the icicles onto a length of thread a bit longer than the measurement, and do this three times, making three rows for the icicles to hold on. However when holding it up to a head the way it would be worn, the icicles pointed out more than I would have liked, which quite a few people liked, but I wasn't quite happy enough with it. Instead I got a heads widths amount of the organza material, doubled it over and made a head band backing to sew the icicles on. Again sewing them on in three rows, making them more stable.

Photo by Ashley Foster

I still had some lengths of the wire with the silver balls on left, so I also attached some to the icicle crown. Using a couple of lengths, shaped them round the bottom of the icicles and sewed them on in intervals, just to secure them but so it could still keep its shape.

I then used more of the organza ribbon I had used for the cape button loops, to attach to the ends of the organza band to make it easy to tie to the actresses head measurement, and make tighter/looser if needed. Again I added a little swatch of fabric in between the layers to make it sturdier, especially as these stitches will be tugged, depending on how taught they have to be pulled in order to tie to the actresses head.

The Wedding Outfit:

Design by Katie Pollitt

Now to save time and money, I decided the main dress would also act as part of the wedding dress. Which would also save on the time needed to make the costume change.

The wedding outfit was created by wearing  a floor length white skirt underneath the main dress, putting a bow belt around the waist of the dress and of course adding a veil to the hair.

Again to save time and money, for the white skirt to be worn underneath, I searched in the stock shed, but didn't find any, however did find a white satiny dress, with an empire line making it just the right measurement for the skirt needed! I grabbed the dress and started unpicking the waistline, I then sewed up the back seam which previously had a zip in part way down. I then sewed the lining and outer fabric together, stitched another line; making a chamber for the elastic to be threaded through, making the skirt quick and easy to just pull on. I made sure the elastic was cut to just a bit less than the waist measurement of the actress, so the skirt would fit well underneath the dress.

Now in order to not have to faff with making sure the bow was tied nicely/neatly, and wouldn't come undone; I pre tied the bow separately and stitched in place to the belt. I then sewed on a popper to the back of the bow, and at the measurement where they would meet to fit well to the size of the actresses waist.

Originally I had also planned to use the cape of the main dress to be used as the veil of the wedding costume as well, thus saving more money. However after looking in the stock shed I found several veils so the cape was no longer needed to be used as a veil as well.

As a finishing detail, on the day of the performance I also drew on some snowflakes around her eyes. I would have liked to have done more, but I am in no way a make-up artist and this wasn't the time to have a go at it for the first time. I thought it would be nice to have something more fitting than the group's usual performance make up of foundation and lipstick.

Well that's all for now...

The Links:

Thank you to Ashley Foster for the character portrait and 'behind-the-scenes' photos, if you want to have a look at his other work or more photos from the junior production please visit his website at http://ashleyfosterphotography.co.uk/  

If you are interested in the drama group itself that I do the costumes for please check out their website at http://www.thegrangeplayers.co.uk or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegrangeplayers

 

Talk to you soon.

~ K

Snow White and the Curse of the Ice Queen: The Dwarves

Individual photos by Ashley Foster.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to writing we go...

In the pantomime of Snow White and the Curse of the Ice Queen, there are only six dwarves, but another is mentioned; Bashful whom we never see, making up the complete seven.
Jolly (the main dwarf in the panto) was the only character to have a description of their costume in the script, along with colours "A man dressed in half-mast orange trousers and a tight yellow shirt". From this I selected the colours of the other dwarves outfits, by drawing and painting out a colour wheel, and tried to use similar pairings as mentioned for Jolly in the script.

Designs by Katie Pollitt

Jolly: Orange, Yellow

Grouchy: Red/Purple

Drowsy: Purple/ Light Blue

Creative: Green/ Orange

Sneezy: Yellow/ Green

Keith: Light Blue/ Red

Designs by Katie Pollitt

Now Sneezy was originally in the script but was taken out and made into an almost ulterior personality of Keith: a regular everyday dwarf. However we then had two new children join the group, so Sneezy made a comeback, as well as a new character who would be Prince Charming's Mother.

However because of this colour scheme and having no budget, I would have to make compromises on the colours of some of the clothing seeing as they would be from the children's wardrobes; the group doesn't have many or really any modern clothes that would fit the children, and seeing as the clothes were meant to look tight on the children if anything because of being dwarves turned into normal sized people, coming from the children's wardrobes would be better. But not everyone would be as adventurous with their wardrobes as the dwarves in this play are. Luckily enough the children had close enough coloured items of clothing either for themselves or for others, however as you can see from the photo of the costumes at the top, a few compromises had to be made.

Hats:

In the Disney version of the tale all the dwarves wore hats, so I wanted to keep that differentiation from the other characters, especially because in this version the dwarves have had a curse put on them where they have been turned into fully grown people. So the director had the idea of using baseball caps instead to seem more modern. However I had seen more pull on beanie hats than baseball caps recently and they were more likely to be cheaper, so we went for them. Each dwarf would have its own colour, depending on the colour scheme of the rest of their outfit, but mainly matching the colour of their lower half.

Positioning of hats:

Now I know that sounds pedantic, but if the children weren't so enthusiastic to make their costumes their own, this is what I would have done. By the way I'm all for actors/actresses making their costumes their own, because then you can see their enthusiasm for playing the character and getting into their role; this is why I also discuss costumes with them, to see if they have some ideas themselves.

Personally I don't know how you would wear a hat to appear Jolly, so it would just be worn normally.

Grouchy would wear his hat with the rim turn up, but just peeking out of the hood he would have up, you know as if to hide away from the world...

Drowsy's hat would be worn like a night cap, so the rim wouldn't be folded up, and then the tip of the beanie would be folded over to one side, for instance the left. The eye mask would then be worn over the top, on a slant.

I quite liked the actress's (who played Creative) idea on how to wear the beanie hat, pulling it down to make her ears stick out, and later deciding to wear it inside out so the label showed. However this is when continuity of costume needs to be explained, unless it needs to be altered for a reason.

Sneezy needed to pull her hat to cover her ears, because being sneezy would determine them feeling unwell so would want to feel warm, comfortable and all snug. This is also the reason I designed Sneezy to be wearing a jumper and joggers/comfortable clothing.

Keith would wear the hat as you normally would with the bottom turned up.

 

Drowsy's eye mask:

It seemed entirely necessary for Drowsy to have a sleeping mask, whether it stayed on her head the entire time and not used as an actual mask or used now and then. The actress however did use it the majority of the time. 

Now I knew we had a little pouch of about 3 eye masks that we've had for maybe 10 years or more, that no one ever used; and I thought, ah great, we have some that I'll just need to paint the eyes onto. But could we find them, no.  So I started making one, using my dad's eye mask as a template; literally just tracing round the shape onto a piece of pattern paper and then adding a seam allowance of 1.5cm, that could be trimmed down once sewn.

Once the interfacing has been tacked to the wrong side of both pieces, they can be sewn together. Don't forget to include the piece of elastic to, make sure the piece is in between the two layers and just sticking out a bit either side.

So that the edge of the mask wouldn't be really bulky I made the interfacing only go up to the seam allowance (when making only cut to the original template without the added seam allowance), so that it was just caught. Once sewn I snipped around the edge making it easier and flatter when turning it through to the right side. I then top stitched to keep the shape and seam in the right place, pressing with an iron first to put it in the right place.

I then drew an eye on a scrap piece of paper in pencil first just to practice what I wanted it to look like, then made a copy and tested painting it. When I was happy with the eye, I took to the eye mask I'd just made...very timidly... and lightly with a pencil.

And voilà; the completed eye mask.

...and guess what happened to turn up the next day in a very strange place; the pouch of eye masks...yeah.

Photos by Ashley Foster

Other than Drowsy's mask I didn't have to do that much alteration/making wise for the dwarves, apart from flicking paint at Creative's t shirt. The t shirt was one I had altered from an adult polo shirt they had in stock, for their last production, which I will eventually do a post or few about; so it was fine to chuck paint at, of course I wouldn't have done that to the children's own clothes without have permission from their parents first.

Links:

Thank you to Ashley Foster for the character portrait photos, if you want to have a look at his other work or more photos from the junior production please visit his website at http://ashleyfosterphotography.co.uk/  

If you are interested in the drama group itself that I do the costumes for please check out their website at http://www.thegrangeplayers.co.uk or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegrangeplayers

That's all for now, talk to you soon.

~ K

Snow White and the Curse of the Ice Queen

Photo by Ashley Foster

So last Sunday afternoon the juniors put on their last performance of the year before breaking up for the summer. It was decided they would perform a mini panto 'Snow White and the Curse of the Ice Queen' by Peter Nuttall (adapted by one of the adult members).

What I tend to do when we start a play, is I will go through the script highlighting the first appearances of characters; any descriptions of the characters appearances; differences in time i.e. next day, event, flashback etc; and make notes of anywhere with quick costume changes needed. Doing this also helps me get a feel for what the personalities/attitudes of the characters are like. This process is called Script Analysis, and is very important in order to get a feel and understanding for what is expected of the appearances of the characters.

I then write out the list of characters, one to a page and write down their appearances, any quoted descriptions, and number of costumes needed according to the script; this will be written down in pen, as these are definitive. I will then go through and jot down in pencil anything I personally take from the script to discuss with the director/writer.

The director decided the costumes should be modern because of the use of a mobile phone by the Magic Mirror (yes, a mirror, although it is magic so...) and Snow white.

I got to work sketching ideas down on scraps of paper whenever an idea came about. Later on I would then draw these up neater, to show and discuss with the director.

However before adding colour to my designs, I always make photocopies of the original, which is then put away, and I mess around with colour on the photocopies. This year I have started using watercolour pencils as a way of rendering my designs. I used to use colouring pencils, but handily I came across a paint brush that had a screw on compartment for water allowing for a steady flow whilst adding a wash to the watercolours, which can also be very handy for travelling. I would definitely recommend getting one (I think they're just called Water colour brushes or water colour brushes with water tank/compartment, if you are interested).

Now because most of the costumes we have in stock aren't that modern and we have no budget, I had to ask the junior actors themselves if they had specific items of clothing that would fit in with their characters. Obviously I had to make compromises on the costumes, which is incredibly difficult when you want them to look as close as they can to the design, but I still tried my best with what we could work with.

Photo by Ashley Foster

Design by Katie Pollitt

For Snow White I wanted to keep the colours we are all so used to seeing on  Disney's Snow White; a long dress with dark blue bodice with puffed light blue slashed sleeves, revealing red beneath; stand up white collar; long yellow skirt; red bow in her hair and yellow kitten heels. In order to modernise this I began to mess with the idea of doing a blue t-shirt and yellow skinny jeans, or yellow skater skirt or long blue top and yellow leggings, but then realised she had to be girly and the complete opposite to her sister Rose Red, a boyish selfish character.

So I designed the outfit to be a blue blouse with puffed sleeves and a white peter pan collar, a yellow skater skirt and red ballet pumps.

Photo by Ashley Foster

Design by Katie Pollitt

Rose Red as I just mentioned needed to be the opposite of Snow White in personality so why not in costume as well. A fan of one direction as she quotes in the script I thought it would be funny if she were to wear a One Direction T-shirt, luckily because of the age range, one of the girls happened to have one we could borrow. I then designed her to wear a red blouse with silver spikes on the collar (an item of clothing I was familiar with as my sister owned one) and knew it would fit the character's personality well. Pairing this with black skinny trousers,  red converses, and a black rose tattoo that would be painted on her arm, using a stencil to save time.

For the two mothers in the play I wanted them to wear something that made them appear older and not 'down with the kids'

Now I originally wanted Old Mother Black  to wear a wrap around apron, head scarf and hair curlers beneath, to look like a housewife from a few decades ago. However, with less than 5 days till the show, there was a last minute actor change -from a small girl to a grown man!;  so a manic search for any costume that would even slightly fit the role and the actor had to take place. We eventually found quite a hideous outfit, but most importantly an apron and feather duster. Oh and of course a black wig,  bra and some falsies, to look...authentic...

The members of the family were named after colours: Snow White, for having skin as white as milk, Rose Red for having lips as red as ketchup, however they never mentioned in the script why Old Mother Black was named so. But because Snow White and Rose Red both had black hair, it only seems right that their mother would also have black hair...and a black skirt.

Photo by Ashley Foster

The Royals:

The director wanted 'Prince Charming's Mother' to be a character similar to Mrs Bouquet from 'Keeping Up Appearances', so I designed her to be dressed similarly and luckily I had a dress perfect for the part, one of my Gran's dresses from some time ago, and it fitted the actress well. However I could tell when the she  tried on the dress that she wasn't particularly happy in it because she thought she would look silly in it, but we had to explain that she didn't and that it would be perfect for the character and their personality, knowing this she embraced it and did a great job.

Designs by Katie Pollitt

Prod the Goblin who turns out to be *SPOILER ALERT* Prince Tedious, Prince Charming's brother;  used to be a grown man who was turned into a goblin by one of the Ice Queen's curses, so I wanted his clothes to look big and baggy but also have regal colours, i.e.  the red of the shirt that I also used for Prince Charming's Wedding shirt.

In the script Prod must have three disguises in which he uses to try to sneak the poisoned apple into the fruit bowl within the Dwarves' cottage, without them becoming suspicious. Sadly the three disguises from the script couldn't be used because the actress wasn't able to do the French and Scottish accents. So we used basic disguises of different hats, sunglasses and a stick on beard.

From prompts of the script, I would have the first disguise as Prod's usual outfit but with a beard. The second disguise: the beard would be removed, a beret and thin moustache would be worn instead, the belt removed and the shirt worn open revealing a black and white striped t shirt. The third and last disguise: red shirt removed completely, beret switched for a Tam O'shanter and fake beard, worn on top of the moustache due to the quick costume change, and if possible I would have had a kilt be pulled down from underneath the striped t shirt (the bagginess wouldn't matter too much because of wearing the big red shirt); but I know that would have had to have been practiced to see if it was possible, at all first, and then within the amount of time to do the change.

In the next couple of posts I will go through some individual characters; talking about the making/altering of their costumes and the thoughts behind them, including: the Dwarves, the Ice Queen, the Magic Mirror and the Prince (Prince's Wedding Shirt).

Thank you to Ashley Foster for the character portrait photos. If you want to have a look at his other work or more photos from the junior production please visit his website at http://ashleyfosterphotography.co.uk/  

If you are interested in the drama group itself that I do the costumes for please check out their website at http://www.thegrangeplayers.co.uk or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegrangeplayers

Talk to you soon,

~ K