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labricoleuseOur next production at PlayMakers Repertory Company, Tanya Barfield's Blue Door, opens this coming weekend.
Here's what our website says about the play:
The play features among the professor's ancestors a man who says he's over a hundred years old, though he appears wearing the clothes of his youth, including what was once a nicely-tailored wool vest. This vest (in fact, two of them, since the staging calls for a duplicate of this garment) was made by tailor B. Daniel Weger in-house. The costume designer, Jade Bettin, wanted the vest aged to look very old, but not tattered--a vest well-kept by its owner.
Before and after, front view.
Before and after, back view.
(The buckle was reattached after this process.)
Side detail view, after.
The majority of the aging was concentrated around the areas of common staining in old garments--underarm, neck/collar area, closures, pockets--as well as bringing down and antiquing the freshness of the linen vest-back.
This aging was achieved with minor fraying along edges using a sanding block and seam-ripper, saturation of the vest, followed by a dye process which involved pouring several "grime" colored dye solutions down the vest as it hung using a turkey baster. Weights were placed in the vest pockets to help bag it out in a natural fashion. The vest was then left to air-dry. After it was dry, i went back into it with textile paints to add some more value levels to the formerly-white soutache trim. The whole thing was heat set, and then i did it all over again on the duplicate vest!
In an ideal universe, i'd have done both at the same time for maximum uniformity. In this case, one vest was finished in plenty of time to be distressed for tech, while the other one had to wait til today for aging, as it was finished over the weekend.
Here's what our website says about the play:
A soul-searching journey begins when an African-American professor is left by his wife due to his reluctance to embrace his identity. The night of their break he’s visited by the spirits of several male ancestors whose stories illuminate and guide his way. Blue Door is a beautiful exploration, through text and song, of what it costs to disconnect from our past and from the legacy of our cultural heritage. Tony Award-winning Trezana Beverley, who brought us The Bluest Eye and Yellowman, will direct.
The play features among the professor's ancestors a man who says he's over a hundred years old, though he appears wearing the clothes of his youth, including what was once a nicely-tailored wool vest. This vest (in fact, two of them, since the staging calls for a duplicate of this garment) was made by tailor B. Daniel Weger in-house. The costume designer, Jade Bettin, wanted the vest aged to look very old, but not tattered--a vest well-kept by its owner.
Before and after, front view.
Before and after, back view.
(The buckle was reattached after this process.)
Side detail view, after.
The majority of the aging was concentrated around the areas of common staining in old garments--underarm, neck/collar area, closures, pockets--as well as bringing down and antiquing the freshness of the linen vest-back.
This aging was achieved with minor fraying along edges using a sanding block and seam-ripper, saturation of the vest, followed by a dye process which involved pouring several "grime" colored dye solutions down the vest as it hung using a turkey baster. Weights were placed in the vest pockets to help bag it out in a natural fashion. The vest was then left to air-dry. After it was dry, i went back into it with textile paints to add some more value levels to the formerly-white soutache trim. The whole thing was heat set, and then i did it all over again on the duplicate vest!
In an ideal universe, i'd have done both at the same time for maximum uniformity. In this case, one vest was finished in plenty of time to be distressed for tech, while the other one had to wait til today for aging, as it was finished over the weekend.
