Phew, after traveling through four cities in five days, my luggage is looking very much the worse for wear, and I’m sure the bags under my eyes are not the replacement I was looking for! For those of you  who don’t know me other than in my Designer hat, besides Sweet Revenge I design, pattern and construct a lot of custom work…mostly for other businesses or organizations.

In this case, I was traveling with my cohort from Fresh Fettle (clothing stylist for television, music industry and individuals). We had the task of creating a new, “dressy” look for the band Naturally 7, while keeping not only their style as a music group but as individuals intact. Building from Danielle Smith’s concept, we chatted about our options given the extremely short deadline (and lack of access to the guys before the very end). Danielle did some power shopping online and in our area, and we hit the fabric stores hard. Luckily, the concept dictated ALL BLACK, so finding options wasn’t too difficult. As you probably know, finding fabrics and trims in the Indianapolis area is a little limited, though having the addition of the French Seam is nice.

My ultra cheap travel machine, set up at the MGM hotel room.

We spent a full day (under the gun) figuring out the game plan: how to modify the purchased garments and how those would work with the rest of the outfits. Then with several days of alterations, I Franken-built (with some help from a dear friend–thanks Beth!)  the new pieces and did as many alterations as we could do before even having tried the clothing on the guys. It was a bit of a leap, though luckily most of them are true to size.

Sunday morning at the crack of dawn we were off to Las Vegas to meet the guys for fittings. (I got patted down, tested for explosives, and had my carry-on hand searched at the Indy airport, and I have to give it to them: they were the most THOROUGH airport.) The band was in Vegas there for the IBM Pulse conference, as the opening show for the conference. We watched them rehearse, and then met with each individually to try the garments on them. Picture: two women with a steady stream of (fine looking) men entering and leaving about a half an hour later. Not that anyone would have noticed–hey, it’s Vegas–but I swear my reputation is intact!  With a little hilarity (super skinny jeans), we got through the fittings and had our work list.

We set up the hotel room, complete with sewing machine and all my sewing tools, including a hammer for riveting (I am now on the terrorist watch list, I am sure of it), an ironing station and a fitting area in the bathroom (the best light). After having been on the go for 20 1/2 hours, we literally crashed in the hotel room at local time 8:30 pm, with our transport the next day at 9:30 am. Not the best showing for a Las Vegas experience, but we HAD been through the travel ringer.

Danielle and Dwight debate which shoes to take with the "blacks," surrounded by the jeans choices.

Monday: off to Atlanta, a full day of travel. Tuesday: work day. Danielle’s off and running to three malls, fabric store, etc., and returns with a migraine and we think a cold (coughy neighbor on the airplane). She’s a trooper: we dosed her with Zycam and kept on trucking. I spent the day holed up in the hotel room, sewing, sewing, sewing. Sewing. Eat. Sew. That evening it was back to a stream of guys entering the hotel room for fittings (and I’m pretty sure the front desk did notice this time).

Wednesday: Danielle’s off to do exchanges, shoe shopping. I’m finishing everything, adding trim, closing up linings, last minute details. Then Danielle’s packing everything in garment bags to go on tour to Mexico with Michael Buble, yes, the very next day. She has everything marked, on hangers, packed for each guy so there’s no confusion. By then I am back onto our first costumes, doing a few notes and a couple of repairs. Things look good, despite having traveled all over Europe and then crammed (we think mostly unwashed)  into a huge suitcase for the past week or so. Still lookin’ good, thank goodness! And then, whew, I am done and get a few hours to put my feet up and watch brainless television.

Wednesday 3 am: Danielle’s still going strong, typing emails, prepping for her arrival in Indy where she will go directly to fittings for a tv segment about Prom. I think she MAY have closed her eyes for an hour or so, but come 4:45 we’re on our way to the airport again. Sleepy girls, but victorious! Can’t wait to see them all together on stage, in their “blacks.”

Enjoy the opening of Pulse (including the Naturally 7 performance) here, they start at about 8:28. Click HERE!