Making The Sound of Music Costumes - Part 2 - The Nuns

How many Nuns?

I have a confession to make. I didn't actually make the Nuns costumes. There I feel better now. There was no way I was going to do everything on my own this time, so I asked around to see if any of the other parents could help. I was mightily relieved when Rachel said she could sew. So I'm handing my blog over to her so she can tell you the story in her own words.... Oh, and don't believe half of what she says - she is brilliant! And if you want the answers to the quiz in the previous post - they are at the bottom. 

(Photographs by Peter Cook)

I’m still trying to work out how “Oh I have a sewing machine” translates in Sharon language into - "I’m an expert seamstress”.    

It all started last October when I mentioned to Sharon that I had a sewing machine and would be able to help out with some basic sewing for the costumes for the upcoming show. Although Sharon seems to thrive on designing lots of different costumes, I told her I would prefer to work out how to make one costume and then run off a few more of the same.  That’s where we are different; Sharon is a creative genius whereas I’m more of a low skill production line worker.

So we agreed I would do all the nun costumes. I picked the fabric up from Sharon at one of the rehearsals. Forty metres of it on a huge roll I could hardly carry! Nuns don’t wear skimpy clothes. Sharon had managed to source some perfect material - a polyester mixture often used for making staff uniforms. Reasonably priced, hangs perfectly, has some slight stretch (which was great when fitting sleeves). But boy did it fray.

Right that’s great. Now “Where’s the pattern?” asked I. “Oh here is a cheap fancy dress nun’s habit; you can use that to make a pattern .....but make it longer.  And wider... and with nicer sleeves. ” said Sharon. Gulp. I’ve never made anything without a pattern and detailed instructions before. I am completely out of my depth. Panic! Do I own up now or have a go. I know many of you reading this will think I’m a little pathetic. They are only nun’s habits, that’s easy you say, but you really do have to realise how much of a novice I was. However, Sharon seemed to have every confidence in my ability and convinced me to have a go. 

Sharon found some fantastic white hijabs which would work really well for the wimples. All I had to make was the black tunics and veils. So off I went to try. Sharon was right, making the tunic wasn’t too hard - I basically started of with three oblongs in a t-shape and added a tie belt. Having tried it on my daughter Laura though, I knew I had to set the sleeves in. I struggled a bit with working out the shape of the arm hole and the shape of the sleeve to fit into it but I got there in the end.

(Photographs by Peter Cook)

Next the veil; that was going to be easy I thought - just a piece of fabric narrower at the front with elastic straps, and wider at the back with a curved hem. Mmm - my first attempt was alright but not perfect. The fabric, and probably my sewing skills, didn’t take to kindly to hemmed edges - they were stiff and didn’t hang too well particularly on the veils. But some type of edging was needed as the fabric frayed badly so Sharon suggested I zig zaged close to the edges and cut off the spare close to the zig zag. That worked much better. I had one outfit made. Hooray.  

"I think I’ve worked out what I need to do, now how many do I have to make?" I asked.  "Nineteen?"  "Are you sure? Are there really that many nuns? Why didn’t I start earlier?" Nothing on a small scale with LRVS! I reassured Sharon I’d get them finished, no problem. I never miss a deadline. I’m an adrenaline junkie – it drives the people I work with mad sometimes. But I never miss a deadline. 

Over the next few weekends the sewing machine and vast swaths of black fabric occupied the dining table. I roped my daughter Laura (aka Sister Catherine) in as a model, fabric cutter and edge trimmer. Adjusting the pattern slightly for different sizes and heights was a doddle. This was going better than I expected and I thought I would get the job done with time to spare. 
 

Just a few of the Nuns and Sisters (Photographs by Peter Cook)

 
But I wasn’t thinking far enough ahead. I had made an amateur mistake - I didn't check I had enough fabric before I started and I was a couple of costumes short! "Could we get more of the same? Would it arrive in time?" (not much time ‘til curtain up now!). Ever calm Sharon. “No problem everything will be fine.” Next Saturday at Vocal School she arrived with more fabric for me, giving no indication of the stress I had put her through by asking for more fabric at the last minute. Sharon’s original supplier was low on stock - she phoned them up and reserved what they had, sorted out next day delivery and then made a frantic dash to a shop in Cardiff who also had a few metres in stock. So resupplied with just enough fabric I finished off the outfits with a little time to spare. 

Sophie Rees as Mother Abbess (Photographs by Peter Cook)

But I had forgotten about Mother Superior's wimple - it needed to be different - bigger and have a white lining and with a substantial frame. Having checked out the film and various images on-line, I cut a small plastic food container - the sort you get with takeaway food - in half to give the headdress more structure and tucked it into a folded piece of white fabric that was also used to line a slightly larger veil.

This helped frame  our Mother Abbess's face - adding to her  serene look - Sophie really looked the part, calmly guiding her sometimes excitable group of Sisters, Nuns and Novices.  Her beautiful voice sounded incredible, especially during the final song in this section - Climb Every Mountain.   

So there you have it my journey from keen novice to proud assistant wardrobe mistress. Thank you Sharon you have been a fantastic mentor.  "Would I do it again?... Next year - yes please."  

Having been making costumes for so long, I'd forgotten what it is like to be given some fabric and told to go away and just run something up. So sorry Rachel - it was a huge ask and you came up trumps.  I really didn't want to use cheap fancy dress outfits - they were very flimsy and short and reminded me of a hen night - but your nuns costumes were absolutely perfect.


 
Sound of Music Quiz answers
In my previous post Sound of Music - Part 1 I mentioned I'd found some fab home-made costumes during my research that were based on songs from the musical. How many did you recognise? 

1. Tea bag - this is from Do-Re-Mi "Tea with Jam and Bread"
2. A goat with long strings going from hands and feet to two crossed sticks is inspired by the puppet show and the song The Lonely Goatherd
3. A jar of fruit jam - from Do-Re-Mi "Tea with Jam and Bread" again
   
4. Atro turf - Sound of Music - "The hills are alive" .... ok so going to a party dressed as a grassy hill is a bit weird 
5. Whiskered cats - Favourite Things - "Whiskers on kittens"
6. Five teenagers wearing different numbers reading left to right 16; 161/4; 161/2; 163/4 and 167/8 - I love this one - its based on the duet between Leisl and and Rolf - 16 going on 17

The Old Button is more than happy for you to use these costume ideas as inspiration for your own production. 

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