Creative Flash From the Costume Shop

In a burst of creativity the costume shop has discovered another outlet: The Purse. From a wall 11 feet high filled with small scrap rolls of leftover fabrics we look for something that strikes us. Polka dots? no too retro. Brocade? Does anyone remember what show that was from? Ahhhh! Red fabric from the original Carmen character! Once we have made a choice, maybe a few for inspiration, we start manipulating the fabric to gain an idea of what the shape wants to be. Should we use a foam base? A zipper? Maybe a magnet for a closure. What about those leftover trim and ribbon scraps? There is magic in our cupboards just waiting to spill out. What we have ended up with are expressions of the Opera characters we costume. Inside each purse we sew a tag. This tag has the Opera name the fabric was used in and the character. Each piece is original, tweaked by the costume artisan to be one of a kind. We are having such fun! Hopefully you will get to see the results of our collective creativity!