… Sweeny Todd!
I recently made/sourced costumes for a production of Sweeny Todd put on by the Southampton University Students’ Union musical theatre group.
(Left, photo by Peter Bowyer) Mrs Lovett.
This was made from a pattern (Butterick 3012 – Making History series).
Fabric was found cheap, (£1.35 p/metre) from Fabric Land, Southampton I believe it is ‘Chinese satin’ and the actual colour is slightly more burgundy than in this photograph.
(The origin of the gloves is unknown. The umberella is from the Student’s Union performing arts ’stores’).
The general idea was to have the ‘bad’ characters in deep, darker colours, and the ‘innocent’ characters in lighter colours, but in practice this did not work.
I had also intended to make two more costumes, but due to time constraints, and the material not arriving until two days before the dress run, this did not happen.
(Right, photo by Peter Bowyer) Pirelli
For Pirelli I had intended to use bottle green fabric, but unfortunately could not find any that fitted in with the budget. The colours in the photo are fairly accurate. The pattern was from Burda, and was terrible. It was incredibly badly proof read (probably not proofed at all in fact), and only had pictures for about one third of the steps. This is not good for someone like myself, who finds it much easier to follow pictorial instructions than written words.
The buttons and bow really made the outfit. I was totally disappointed in it until I saw the production on the Saturday Mattinee, having not seen a performance, or been backstage since the Thursday.
(Right, photo by Lisa Murray) Johanna 
The bodice for Johannah costume was based on the pattern for Mrs Lovett’s dress. However I altered the sleeves to be over the shoulder (rather than off the shoulder as in Mrs L’s).
The skirt was made up. I acquired a hoop from the ’stores’ and she had several under skirts to fill out the skirt.
The actual skirt only has two layers, one of polycotton, and one of chiffon. The bodice is made from the same polycotton.
Behind can be seen Judge Turpin, and this is the scene where Turpin tells Johanna he plans to marry her. (Lighting design was done by Sam Baker).
(Left, photo by Lisa Murray)
The costume for the Beggar Woman was made by collecting several petticoats, skirts, and shawls from the ’stores’. The actress did the distressing herself. (Hair and Make-up by Joey Summers).
(Below, photo by Ollie Woods). This is the finale scene/song and the characters in the front are (left to right) Judge Turpin, Beggar Woman (Lucy) and the Beadle. The blood was impressive.
They are my favourite.
I also rememered at 12:30 last night when I was asleep where my thingies to make earrings with are (technical term). So hopefully I will have some hand made earrings as well!
thoughts?
