As It Is In Heaven (Bluefield University, 2014)

    This was the very first show I did in college. I managed to secure a role as well as volunteering to make the costumes while taking on an 18 hour credit load (what was I thinking?!). As It Is In Heaven (Arlene Hutton, 2001) is set in the all-female side of the Shaker religious community in 1830s Kentucky. Historical clothing sources for the Shaker community during this time period were scarce, which presented a bit of a design challenge. I decided to go with dresses in the prevailing style of the time period, pared down to the silhouette with no extra frills, and added the white kerchiefs and caps that became traditional wear for Shaker women decades later. 

A plain silhouette of the time period includes a round neckline, darted bodice with natural waist, full skirt, and bell-shaped puffed sleeves. I went with pleats for the skirts and sleeves instead of gathers, to make the look more severe. Each dress was hand-draped on the actress by me and made of a solid polyester crepe for durability. Unfortunately, even with the help of a volunteer, I did not have enough time to make everyone a dress and ended up pulling a few from stock. Not a problem in my mind; the characters who needed pulled items happened to be the "outcasts" of the group and their dresses didn't need to exactly adhere to the uniform look I was going for.

    Color theory: Each one of my actresses got a different dress color. The "Mother Superior" of the group, a strict black; her two henchwomen, gray; the mother figure who liked to cook, dark green; the weepy woman, a morose gold-brown. Our two young innocents were in pastel pink and blue. My character (above), a new convert whose devotion is being questioned, was pulled a soft gray dress with "fancy" double puffed sleeves. ​