A technicolour dreamcoat

image from wikipedia

Youngest's primary school have just put on a show of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Over the years word has got out that I sew, and I was anticipating being asked to make something - they did Bugsy Malone a couple of years ago but I was making my sisters wedding dress at the time so couldn't help.

I was asked a couple of weeks ago if I could come up with something and I already had a plan.  My Mother in law had made my girls some dressing up cloak things when they were little and we still have one. I didn't take any before pictures, but it is a rich purple velour fabric with a wadding type backing and quilted.  The teacher had bought 2 metres of a multicoloured zigzag patterned fabric which I thought would look good cut into strips and then sewn onto the cloak.

I tore off a strip from the fabric to see how it would look, then washed the rest of the fabric.  This is a lesson to anyone who doesn't wash their fabric before making it up .... 5 and a bit centimetres, people! Imagine if that was a garment that had just been made!

5+ centimetres of shrinkage!

I cut the fabric into strips of roughly 5-6cm wide with pinking shears, then pinned them to the coat with gaps in between of about a centimetre. I then sewed down the centre of each strip and stopped sewing about 2 thirds of the way down the body. I was hoping that doing this would allow a small amount of fluttering as the coat was put on and worn.

cutting the strips

Pinning the strips

Here is the finished article on my dress form. 

I haven't any photos from the performance - licensing conditions prevent any photos from being taken during a show (even in a Primary school), and the whole cast were so hot at the end that I didn't feel I could get a photo of Joseph afterwards! I may get a shot of Youngest modelling it later but she is considerably taller at 9yrs old, than the girl who played Joseph, who is nearly 11!