Creating Costumes

Here's a bit more about the costumes I've been working on for Seussical. These are the tails that the bird girls will wear, they're the color inspiration for the dyeing that I was asked to do for the costumes. I was given cotton tank tops and long bloomers to dye. The bird girls are kind of a Greek Chorus for much of the play.
This is the Amazing Mayzie's tail, she is much more colorful than the other bird girls. She is basically the Carmen Miranda of the show, she thinks a whole lot of herself. If you've read Horton Hatches the Egg, you'll remember her, she's the bird who convinces Horton the elephant to egg-sit for her, and then flys off for an extended vacation ,abandoning her egg. Her costume will be two colors, purple on the bottom, ombre'd up to blue on the top.This is also part of Mayzie's tail, she really is the peacock of the show.

Here's how the dyeing looks while it is sitting and processing. I've been using the plastic containers we get our salad greens in from Costco. They're a great size for bigger pieces like these costumes. The colorful thing on top is a paper towel I used to wipe up drips of dye, I'll probably use it in collage somehow.

Here's how they turned out. Pretty bright, huh? And the flash kinda washed them out... They look really great on stage with the bright sets and props.