This red velvet girl’s dress was designed for Lucille by Kathryn Poppen for South Coast Repertory’s production of an adaptation of Barbara Park’s “Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook”.
Making children’s styled clothes for adult-proportioned actors is not difficult for me. Actually, it’s pretty common in professional theater costuming. Here Kathryn’s design had me stepped up a notch, including a sleeve type I had never done. I didn’t even know the its name! And it’s velvet, which is difficult to work with. But, I love what I do, and especially that there is always something new to learn. I did some research and found that the sleeve cap features “burnous pleats” which are usually used in Victorian overskirts, not sleeves. Solving the mystery involved learning the name of the design feature, how to construct it, as well as how to modify it to a different part of the garment! Now that’s my idea of fun!
