Gretel

Hello again, Blogfroggers! (these names are getting dumb)

Back so soon, you say? Well, the year is finally winding down in ballet-land which means more time for, well, everything! We had a great year at SCB. That's Saratoga City Ballet in case you're interested. Last weekend we presented our production of "Hansel and Gretel" to wild critical acclaim. Well, not exactly the critical acclaim part, but everyone seemed to love the show and the kids all did a great job.

In the months prior to said show I spent every waking moment it seemed trying to find the right costumes for the lead characters. Turns out you can't buy a german-type girl's costume without going the not-so-family-friendly slutty Halloween costume route. Fantastic! I finally found a wonderful woman named Linda who runs German Import Haus out in CA. She had traditional lederhosen and dirndls (that's German for dress) for very reasonable prices. So I ordered up and this was the "Gretel":

Donker-shane, Linda!

It also came with an adorable white eyelet apron:

For all it's cuteness, though, it still looked a little plain.  I removed the black trim from the bottom of the dress and went digging through our costume closet for something better.  I love hunting around for stuff back there.  You want lime green paillette trim?  You got it!  Pink tassle fringe?  Check.  Here's what I unearthed:

Good ole Wright's Trim

I found some sweet eyelet trim and the cutest tulip ribbon trim.

Gotta love the price.

I started by sewing on some antique lace trim from my own stash to replace the black I had taken off.

I then added the eyelet just above and decided the whole thing needed more color.  This is THEATER after all, people.  I found some ric-rac at the craft store along with some really cute daisy trim.

Then I decided to sew that tulip trim to the bodice of the dress to break up the black a little bit.

And there you have it!

She's all ready to wander around the forest and nearly get eaten by a witch!

Although I complain about not having a life outside of ballet, I do love my job.  When everything comes together on stage it makes all the headaches and hot glue gun burns worth it.  It's kind of magical.

 Hansel & Gretel with The Witch, played by William Otto, SCB faculty and former member of NYCB.

Byeeeee!