Burlesque circus, Drama Tique

Finally the day when I can share the post about last year bigger project.

Why have it taken me so long to write it? Well because I wanted this post to be good and have all the pictures and the right words here. There will be a guest post from Drama Tique aka Martine after this post too!

Martine asked me in August 2021, if I could make a simple tulle skirt for a burlesque outfit. I asked if she did have all the other pieces for her costume. Turned out she did not have all… she also needed a jacket, that was/is circus inspired.

I drew a few sketches of the jacket and the skirt, which I imagined would look good as a burlesque costume. It was important that the costume was easy to dance in, possible to take off easily and had many decoration likes gold chains, gold buttons, beads and sparkles!

We went fabric shopping together, so she could pick the right colors for the costume and the right decors.  It did not take long after the shopping to get started with the sewing. However, before I used the “real” materials to sew the costume, I made a sample of the jacket in the size I thought was right for her from what I had measured. I am glad I did, because the jacket was one size too big (I am still learning to use measurement and finding the right size, and that is why I like to make sample of the most important pieces of what I am sewing when doing bigger projects).

I used two patterns from Ida Victoria to create the jacket and a circle skirt. I “hacked” the Cora dress cardigan pattern to make it look more like my drawing and I used the jersey dress to make the skirt. I added the waistband and then shortened the skirt. I also added a “coat skirt” that was supposed to look like it belonged to the jacket. I had a few ideas on how that would work out. One idea was to use zipper or buttons on the jacket and the coat skirt, but after talking about it for a short while we figured that was probably not the right way to go about it. Then I decided to make a waistband belt attached to the coat skirt. Sewing push buttons on it was a better idea for taking it off when she is dancing. Easier to sew back on if she rips it off too as well.

I have known Martine for 20 years now, and I knew that the coat skirt needed more sparkle, because it was a bit boring with being all red and having black edges with gold lace. I gave her the option of having hand-sewn beads on it, to sparkle it up. Well it is definitely the coat skirt I used longest time on making because she said yes to more sparkle. I think I used about four and a half hours to sew on two different kind of beads to make it more sparkly and shiny for the stage. She wanted only gold beads at first, but after showing her the white beads with the gold, she knew it would make a good combination and look good on the stage even if the light was not shining on the beads.

The materials I used for this costume was cotton jersey for the skirt and heavy cotton jersey fabrics for the jacket & the coat skirt. For the decoration I used most of what I already had, the only thing I can remember I had to buy was buttons that fitted the look.

I was invited to the Drag and Burlesque show to see her act and dance with the costume on. I have never been on drag or/and burlesque show, it was very interesting to experience it. I was Martine’s private photographer too. A win-win situation for both of us. She got free photos from me, and I got photos of the costume in action, which will also show that I can create scene outfits too.

This was a fun project to do, and even funnier that I could do it with my friend that supports me much with my sewing & design dream. I hope she feel that I am trying to support her work as well!

After this project, I offered her to become one of my main models. I got very happy when she said yes. Now I am working on creating for Martine her Drama Tique wardrobe, and that is interesting. That does not mean that it should be only burlesque costumes but also everyday clothes. This project is just a side project for now, because we both need money to create it. I wish I could have sewn her own collection but I also have to sell (or earn back some money from my sewing), and I want Martine to have it, so right now we have to make one piece of clothing or outfit at the time when we both have capacity to create it.

The next post will be written by Drama Tique aka Martine. She is also the first person to guest write on the blog!

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