The adult cavalier costume was designed and sewn by hand (as in, with a needle and thread), as I didn't have a sewing machine when I made it. The little cavalier costume I made for Michael as a toddler, but Garret is wearing it here. I made the hat from scratch too. I also designed and made Michael's skeleton costume, with glow in the dark bones.

We all loved the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I could not resist making the costumes. I only regret we didn't have a little girl to be Shock. And if Jack would have been Jack Skellington, that would really have rounded things out nicely -- but we were in the middle of moving, and I count it a miracle I got any costumes made at all. I also tried my hand at making a yarn wig from scratch, and it came out pretty well, as did the paper mache masks. Too bad you can't really see my Sally shoes -- they were wobbly and made me walk just like her.

Here we have Garret as (a blond) Tyrone Power in The Mark of Zorro and Michael as Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood. I watched both movies over and over to get the detail right. There are more views of these two costumes

I made this whole set of baby things for Jack's niece, Jami. The little prints are barns, cows and other rural scenes. I photographed them because I was hoping to make a sideline of making custom made baby clothes, but people get the idea they ought to pay LESS for hand-sewn clothes! And I wasn't about to do custom work on picky little things for less than $10 an hour.

I did make this green dress, though I now wish I had used black lace for the hem binding. It was for a holiday party at Wells.

More recently, I have been designing and sewing my own regular clothes. This elegant black dress was squeezed out of scraps left over from pants I made for my mother. The photo was taken in front of the white marble fireplace in Glen Park's Red Parlor on the Wells College campus.

The fantastic hat on the left was made for Halloween 1998. It is a copy of one worn in the animated titles by Edward Gorey for the PBS Mystery! series. It is constructed from paper mache, wire, coat hangers, tape, paint, ribbon and other odds and ends. The dress is the same one worn in the photo of Mom and her two little wizards at the top of this page.

It's true -- I designed and made my own wedding gown. Then I lost weight. I was too nervous to take it in myself, so I took it to a tailor. Then I lost more weight. (I was running several miles daily). Alas, there wasn't time to have it taken in again, so I just had to wear it loose -- which was unfortunate, but that's the way it goes.

I also designed and made the cute little brown floral dress on the right. This photo was taken in the Blue Parlor of Glen Park in July 1999. The fedora was a gift from the management of the Glimmerglass Opera, where Jack and I worked, met, and fell in love in the summer of 1984. There are more shots from Glen Park on my Glamour page.

David Sammons has me making costumes (for pay -- cool!) for photoshoots he does with models from an agency mostly. Some of them are pretty bizarre. But when the costumes fit me, I try to get a shot or two for myself. I did two tops and a skirt for an elf costume; they aren't too weird. Here's one of them below. Check out my Elf Costume page to see them both.

Well, that makes a fair sampling of my work. Though I am sure I have nicer pieces I just haven't got pictures of them! I do sew with patterns, and McCall's and Simplicity are my favorite companies.

For my current work-in-progress, I am making this Costume for Halloween -- or it might not be ready, in which case it will be for next year's Halloween!

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Last modified: September 21, 1999