And here he is!

That is, here is part of his newly sewn costume. The silk and wool top is still missing the belt in this picture. And of course the hat, pants and boots. But those we will find in the wardrobe.

The top is quite special, and not because it´s got mongolian sheep-fur lining  along the arms and collar. Nope, it´s the special speed-tummy!

Now if you should think that a tummy like this would only slow you down, instead of speed things up, I am sorry to inform you that you are mistaken. Don´t trust me, ask Eidesvik! They have, after years of innovative research, won international prizes for their super-efficient and environmentally-friendly ship-design. And the X-bow is one of the most famous features on their ships.

See?!! It´s the same shape!

So with this super-efficiently shaped tummy, the X-bow Santa actually WILL reach all of the 26 Eidesvik-ships during on busy Christmas night!

The Monster-aunt puts her to work, and feeds her only healthy food.

Here she´s depicted while resting after a party, using her cat as a stool.

Cute kitty-kitty-kitty… or cool cat playing the standing bass.

In addition to the cat, she´s got lots of cows on her farm.

Singing cows in high-heels. Moo-ing away.

See?!! Told you they were sexy!!!

In addition to the costumes, we also made the set, which basically is built up of hay.

There are also a couple of chairs we painted, and an old stove that I actually made for “Fiddler on the roof” (It´s nice that the schools can borrow from each other, saves us all a lot of work)

A great premiere, with a full auditorium, and lots of cheers & kind words from the mayor and the author

Using cotton velour with cotton filling, the udders are carefully pieced together, hand-stitched down, and sewn onto the dresses. Oh, yes, some sexy cows in the making here, for sure!

The big Mama-cow needs a bell. I found this cute, heart-shaped bell:

And transformed it into the #1 Bling-Bell!

So all you lonely farm-boys out there, watch out! The Big Mama-cow means business!

Thank you so much to three worthy contestants in my little Halloween-goody-give-away. Only one of you can win the earrings, but I thought I´d give you a “virtual” Halloween costume. These are all costumes I´ve designed and sewn for different shows I´ve worked with over the years. (Click on the pictures to see more photos from the shows)

This half-exotic bird with feathers, if not so many sequins and glitter, is for you, Gail. The big tail-feathers are actually mounted on a piece of wood that has to be screwn on to the rest of the costume. The rest of the costume is made of silk-velvet, tie-dyed silk, chiffon with feathers and stretch-jersey. (I didn´t make the mask) If you want a more domestic version, there´s a cute brown hen who can lay an actual, huge egg!

This ones for you, Linda. The ice-queen in Narnia. Loads of crinkled, metallic chiffons, a corset with silver fabric, sequins, glass-beads. White fur, silver knit, white dreadlocks and an icy crown. She was really scary!

And Birgitte, I´m sorry I don´t have Uma Thurman´s Kill Bill yellow track-suit, but here is a bunch of 60´s inspired POP-culture inspired costumes in the Arbiter´s dance-crew in Chess. A mix of shiny stretch-jersey, plastics white and see-through (a nightmare for the sewing-machine) silk shirts and mother-of-pearl-shimmering fabrics. A real feel-good scene.

So, now for the winner. Mr. Random says….

Birgitte!

Birgitte has a wonderful web-site, with loads of inspiration. She makes the most amazing knits, a fashion-design. And she´s a very valued costume-seamstress too, I´ll tell you! she´s helped me in more than one production, Amanda is the latest one. A true multi-talent!

Finally the opening night of Amanda is here. And finally I can show you some photos of what I´ve been working on the past months!

Haugesund Theatre´s largest production ever, with 100 people on stage (60 pr show, as most of the kids share roles). Set in 1925 and 2011, it´s two parallel stories of two strong women.

Elise, played by Solveig Andsnes, is an actor who has the lead role as Amanda in a film. The film starts shooting just 4 weeks after she has twins, her 4th and 5th child.

Her husband Bjørn, played by Jørgen Langhelle, has promised to take care of them, so she can work. However problems start when one of the twins refuses to to eat from a bottle, only breast-feeding will do.

The historical Amanda  is played by Linn Løvik. She is partly a by-stander, watching the development of the future-story, and partly remembers her own story, sharing it with us.

The love of her life, Anders, played by Tomos Young, dies from her, and she is a very young widow with 5 young girls to feed.

Their love-story is danced, and it just brings tears to my eyes, it´s so beautifully done!

A young, poor widow, she tries to manage without government-help.

She starts a food-store with borrowed money, but since no one else has money either, she ends up giving the food away.

The shop-backer Frankson is played by Andre Ernst Grønås.

Haugesund at the time was based on the herring-industry, and when the herring disappears for seven years in a row, not only people, but 4 of 5 banks go bankrupt.

Before he died, Anders made money selling bootleg-liquer, and she decides to starts up the business again.

Rumor spreads that she is selling herself as well.

The story switches between Amanda´s memory of the past, and the movie-staging of the story. Here Solveig is in her role as Amanda, making dinner for all the neighbors.

A new police-woman in town, played by Siri Embla Risnes, is very suspicious, and finally manages to catch Amanda red-handed and arrests her.

The other police-officer, played by Jon Eikemo, is a friendly soul, and in love with Amanda.

With all her new bootleg-money, she can buy new clothes and shoes for her daughters. People trade what they have for alcohol and food, and she gives a lot of it away to the poor and needy.

Oh, I almost forgot the parallel story. Here, Elise is walking home after a day of filming in the rain. Which is pretty constant in Haugesund Real water, a charming dance-number and a soaking wet actress!

Who are all the grey people in the background? Why, they are the grey-people! The ones who are prejudice, who want you to become like them, not to stand out, not think your better than them, they are the “normal” ones. These have all the smaller roles in the play, and are the ones who keep pushing the story forwards.

Here is a grey news-paper-boy…

And a grey Burberry-snob-girl…

And finally, Elise wins the Norwegian film-award, (which is called the Amanda-award, and is named after Amanda in this story)

I know my short explanation of the plot here, is very flat, and strictly speaking, I´ve only told you a little about one of the stories, there is a lot more going on here.

Birgit Amalie Nielsen wrote the manuscript, and directed the show.

Ketil bjørnstad composed the music.

Steffen Østensen is the set-designer.

Darren Roysten the choreographer.

Halvor Lillesund is the musical director.

And I had the costume-design

Actors: Solveig Andsnes, Linn Løvik, Jørgen Langhelle, Jon Eikemo, Andre Ernst Grønås, Lene Romseland, Tomos Young, Oddvar Husby, Siri Embla Risnes, Janna Kari Kvinnesland, Kejll Otto Gard, Heine Valvatne, Mans Hisham, Kjetil Holme, Aslak Rossehaug.

Here is the reviews from Haugesunds Avis.

(press-photo)

Click on the picture for the article in Haugesunds Avis about “Amanda”.

A new day, a new pile of pants needing buttons. It´s button-marathon!

I´ve been working all day too, and thought for sure I could cross something off my list and get started on some new stuff. I altered and finished a couple of dresses and almost finished a coat. And yet it doesn´t seem so much, I wish I´d gotten a lot more done. But today, like yesterday, I had some great help! My baby-sister (above), my Mom  and a couple of friends came with me and buttoned their way through a big pile of pants.  I think we´re getting there… must have sewn a thousand buttons this weekend.

Now all we need to do is to adjust them. And then start on the shirts…

Maja sew all the buttons in a pair of pants, and then she made me this wonderfully sweet card with a self-portrait! I think it´s pretty freaking adorable! The text says ” I am sewing costumes and I think it´s really fun!!!!”

And in my own workspace I whipped up this dull greyish-green “poor-mans-dress”.

When I finally got home, this beautiful handmade postcard was waiting for me. My wonderful and candy-colored Artfest-friend Regina sent it to me. I love getting postcards in the mail! Especially artmail!!! Thank you so much!

And finally: Happy birthday to Miss Crazy-cool-Sweet-sixteen!

My two good helpers, Tanja and Birgitte, who made a whole pile of pants yesterday!