This earthworm was for James and the Giant Peach. I started with the inspiration photo at bottom right. Then it was a matter of doing probably 5-10 sketches of different designs attempting to capture that earthworminess.
Many times, I have to dye fabrics to come up with colors that work for me, but I lucked out at 'Fabrics R Us' in San Jose and bought these all as is. Then I ripped the various colors into strips and piece-stitched them together to create the color gradation. Then I drafted a sewing pattern, probably adapted from a commercial tunic and pant pattern, but I always customize.
I wing-ed my way through the development of the turban, creating a hat base, using batting to fill out the shape, hand stitching it all into place.
Ben was doing a photo shoot for the 'Second Harvest Food Bank' , and for one image he wanted to dress a very little girl as a pirate, as authentic looking as possible.
The inner garment was an antique piece that I'd had on hand for some years, a cream colored late Victorian coat, all hand stitched, with a label that read: "A. Silvestre, Modes Robes, 28 Baker St NW" and bore the royal mark.
I decided to sacrifice it, cut off the sleeves, dyed it and swiped some gold paint on the cloth buttons, and it became the vest for my little pirate.
I had a nicely drafted commercial pirate coat pattern, but it wasn't nearly small enough for this teensy girl, so I had to trace it off and grade it three sizes down, from a size 8 to a size 5. The coat fabric was nicely textured, but a little too bright of a red and monotone. I experimented with dyes until I got more visual contrast between the brocade design and the base red.
I also created a pattern for a pirate shirt and tea dyed the fabric.
The pants and boots were purchased. Once everything was done, I distressed, burned, ripped, and vigorously rubbed the coat into earthy gravel.
Costumes by Jennifer Gonsalves
James and the Giant Peach, 2016
Palo Alto Children's Theatre
In 2013, I designed Pippi Longstocking for the Palo Alto Children's Theatre. Of course I started with the blue and yellow of the Swedish Flag, but the real magic trigger of design was that daisy trim I found on ebay. The scale was right (I think each daisy was about 2" in diameter) Scale is everything when you are designing for theatre. It has to look good from every seat in the house. Once I had that I designed the dress for Annika. For Tommy, I was unable to find a striped shirt where the stripes read nicely from near and far, so I bought a blue and white t-shirt knit and created the fabric and made the t-shirt. We also shop made the shorts (I think Chris and I patterned and sewed them?) because I wanted a bright green color and a slightly higher waist than I could find in a purchased pair. The cop was all shop made, with the exception of the white shirt, to which we added the blue pockets. I remember that Chris S. sewed the pants with the yellow stripe, I think Susan made the tie.
Then it was a matter of creating a Pippi to go with, but stand out from the other principles. Oh yeah, and then the other 30 costumes.
This is Marit's costume for 'Nobody Lives Here Now' for JGPG. I created a biketard pattern (the only one I had had a center front seam, which I did not want. That seam determined the crotch construction. Ergo, I had to re-think the crotch construction. Solving one problem always leads to another, and then another. Follow the slithering snake.)
Once the paper pattern was complete, I cut it up into curved vertical strips to create the wonky stripes. Joe and I both like the finished costume to look a little off, a little weird, and I liked the way the curvy stripes emphasized her abdomen in a slightly queer way, just left of pretty, almost giving her the look of an insect. I pieced the red and gold metallic stretch velvet and constructed the biketard.
I purchased the sequin appliques from 'Shine Trim', after spending far too much time sketching different neckline designs with different sequin options. This was a risk, because I have to keep things very simple for the comfort of the dancers, there is so much body contact between them during lifts, etc.
In this photo, I am hand-stitching the sequin applique's to the half finished biketard. By the way, despite best attempts, the biketard was a smidge long for Marit, creating horizontal wrinkles too frequently for my visual comfort, so I subsequently had to remove the sequins, cut 1.5 inches off of the top, refinish the edge, and reapply the sequin applique's.
Costume by Jennifer Gonsalves
Alice in Wonderland, 2014
Photo by Jennifer Gonsalves
2015
Photo by Jennifer Gonsalves
2015
Photo by Jennifer Gonsalves
2017
Poetics of Space, 2015
Photo by Jennifer Gonsalves
James and the Giant Peach, 2016
Photo by Jennifer Gonsalves
Pippi Longstocking, 2013
Seussical, 2014
Metamorphosis prop
Death with Interruptions, 2015
These sketches amount to brainstorming ideas for the character of ‘death’.
Sketches for various productions, ranging from 2013-2017.
From top left:
Butterfly, Orangutans, Don Quixote, Spider, White Witch, Death.
center:
death, dog
From lower left:
Centipede, Baker’s wife, narrator/scythe/dog, BFG Giant, Drag for Joe, Showgirl, Don Quixote, Troll Bride, Troll Wife