Making Money

Since I brought up what I do for a living in my L post, I thought I’d show you some of my favorite stuff. Enjoy. (I’d say, “Be amazed,” but that’d just be wrong.)

Given a choice of fabrics, this is what 3 year old Charlie chose.

Charlie's Anemone
3 year old Charlie wanted to be an anemone for Halloween. He won 1st place in the Birch Aquarium Costume Contest that year.

“Where did you find the pattern?!” Other seamstresses.

Same place I found this one when 4 year old Charlie wanted to be a Harrier jet. In my head.

10-31-07, Charlie's Harrier Jet 01  10-31-07, Charlie's Harrier Jet 02

I’ve also made some that were pretty. An honest and true make-it-pink-make-it-blue Sleeping Beauty dress and a Miss California USA gown.

12-17-06, Hannah's Make It Pink  08-30-04, Courtney's gown 1

A Briar Rose singing-in-the-woods ballet dress for the San Diego Rising Star Competition.

03-17-03, Kristien's dress 01  03-17-03, Kristien's dress 03

Then there are the niche creations. In the photo on the top, I didn’t make the two Cabaret costumes in the middle, but it’s always fun to dress guys in drag, and the League of Her Own uniform was personally praised by Julia Roberts. The one on the bottom is a 7-foot long dragon head puppet we used in a production of the Hobbit. Two boys were inside to turn the eyes on and off, move it right and left, and operate the extinguisher breath effect. A third boy, our Stick Man, stood behind the teaser and made it move up and down using a black line hooked to the nose and run over the curtain. Fun times.

Costumes

Version 2

I look at this stuff and think:

“It is any wonder I’m ready to move on?” Me. At the end of another very looooong day.

What do you think?

Author: Sue Ranscht

Having survived valve repair surgery and an experimental cardiac bypass at age 5, three years before it was an accepted medical procedure, Susan grew into the size of her overworked and enlarged heart. Maybe she thought she had enough to give it away -- twice. Both times, she had to retrieve the shattered pieces and puzzle them back together. She thanks her Dad for the only advice of his she ever followed to the letter: "Never get married. Learn to take care of yourself." So of course she is a writer. Susan has co-written a YA SciFi novel, and has three more novels in various stages of evolution. She's had several short stories published in other people's anthologies, some of which were contest-related. Let her tell you a story...

22 thoughts on “Making Money”

    1. I thought I’d thanked you for your compliment already. I hope you know my belated thanks are every bit as sincere as if I’d been quicker to respond! Thank you for being amazed. 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thanks very much! What I learned through years of costuming children’s theatre is that even people as left-brained as I am can learn to access the right side. You’ve just gotta find the Zone.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

I'd love to hear what you think.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.