And the Winner Is...

Well... no one, actually.  The 2 readers that left comments weren't interested in the giveaway for various reasons.  (But thanks Sarah and Kim for your support!)  I did get some feedback offline, however, so thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed my post about Halloweens past.

And if anyone is interested in a Flapper dress, it's still here... 

No-sew Costume Challenge!

When I was a kid, my mother would always make my Halloween costume for me.  And being a kid, I didn't appreciate how awesome those costumes actually were.  I just wanted to get one of those really cool costumes that came in a package with all their bits and pieces put together for me, just like the other kids at school.  One year I actually convinced her to let me buy a costume - I picked this awesome Black Widow Queen costume with spiderweb details and a neat belt shaped like a bat (don't ask me what bats and spiders have in common).  It was AWFUL.  No one knew what I was (no, a Black Widow Queen is not a witch!), and it felt like I was wearing a nightgown.  Plus it practically disintegrated the moment I took it off.  That was the last time I ever bought a costume.

Before

After

I remembered this story recently when I saw a magazine article describing "no-sew" costume ideas, all of which involved a t-shirt, iron-on transfers, and/or silly prop to create a clever play on words - Iron Chef (hat & clothes iron), Fork in the Road (black shirt, white dotted lines, plastic fork), Pumpkin Pie (orange shirt, pi symbol... OK, the nerd in me likes that one).  It really got me thinking... If you don't sew, are your only costume choices a nylon pyjama set disguised as a costume, or a t-shirt with paper taped to it?  I set out to prove that the answer is no.  So I picked a costume idea, gathered up the materials I needed, and came up with a no-sew costume that beats the pants off of anything you could buy, for a fraction of the cost, and only took me 30 minutes to finish. 

Follow the jump to get a full tutorial on how to recreate this on your own, PLUS there will be details on how to enter a drawing to receive this very same dress for your own Halloween costume!

The Scottish Play, or, Why we never, ever say "Macbeth" in a theater...

I had orginally planned to post some photos from a recent project today, but then something happened at rehearsal last night: someone fell off the stage.  Into the orchestra pit.  And thank god there was a safety net because that was not a fall someone should have walked away from.   And why did this happen?  It wasn't because he was goofing off; it wasn't because he didn't pay attention to how close to the edge he was; it was all because someone said "Macbeth".

Theatre folk are a superstitious lot, and even those that claim they aren't superstitious will still obey the taboos out of tradition.  You may have heard of many of these already - don't say "good luck", especially on opening night; don't whistle in a theater; always leave a light on the stage (known as the "ghost light") - Wikipedia has a good list of superstitions, and you can find more with a quick search if you're interested.  But the absolute number one taboo that should never broken is saying "Macbeth" in the theater.  Which sucks if you're performing the play, or like last night, a play that references it.

Why the taboo?  Again, Wikipedia has a great article describing the history of Macbeth's curse, but the simple explanation is BAD STUFF HAPPENS.  Like someone falling off the stage.  Or another person (okay, the same person) falling when a set of temporary stairs collapses.  There's tons of stories out there, many in urban legend "friend of a friend" style, that give good reason for avoiding speaking the play-that-shall-not-be-named.  That's why pretty much everyone I've met in the theatre world refuses to say it, even if they're not superstitious.  Even if you don't think anything will happen, why bring down the wrath of your castmates on your head?  You can say "The Scottish Play", "The Bard's Play", "MacB", "Mackers", or any other variation you can think of, just never, ever, EVER say "Macbeth". 

Before you go, share your own horror stories about the Scottish Play, and enjoy this video from "Slings and Arrows" giving their opinion about the whole business.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go spin around three times and spit.  There's another rehearsal tonight and the pit is still open...