You're Gonna Be Hearing A Lot About This!

You see, about a month ago I was asked to be the Stake Wardrobe Coordinator. Since then, I've changed my title to Stake Wardobe Director because I'm having Ward Wardrobe Coordinators called (that means someone else figures out who can help and asks them for me) and it just seems more fitting that I direct them instead of coordinate them.

And why would I be asked to do such a thing? And beyond that, what would I do? And not really having a clue about this, why did I say 'yes'? I was really wondering that myself when I was asked! I was like, 'you've gotta be kidding!' Then, just a couple days later I was at a fireside (spiritual meeting in the evening, usually on Sunday) and afterward this lady comes up to me and says she's a costume designer and that she would be willing to help me with whatever I need. Wow... cool. Now the trick is to figure out what I need.

Through a series of meetings which seemed to make me more and more confused and overwhelmed, I eventually got a clue. This production is not as huge as the 'Day of Celebration' I was a little involved with about 4 years ago but it's pretty big. We anticipate having 3000 kids just in the choir and probably twice that in the different dances. With two LDS temples being built in the Salt Lake valley, it was decided just a few short months ago to involve the youth (ages 12-18) in a celebration of song and dance. Now, this isn't any random song and dance. Each dance segment tells a portion of a story from when the pioneers first arrived here and found the indians who populated this region, to present day. That's a lot of ground to cover. There are about 15 different dances to tell the story. Our little 3-4 minute segment is a re-creation of a town social where a few of the immigrants who came here get together and show off their 'skills'. We have Scottish, Irish and German costuming for our number and that is where I come in. I've been swimming in costumes since last Friday when I picked up the costumes we have been blessed to borrow. I've been counting and measuring and sorting. These pictures show a few of the costumes. Here is the German costume from the back. The tie you see is from an apron that we have to shorten a bit because it totally takes over the front of the costume and you can't see the pretty skirt fabric. We may or may not use the wreath... I haven't decided that yet.

This cute green skirt with the shawl is our Irish outfit. We have a few costumes of another style that we have borrowed but I'm not sure if they will get used or not, or if the two styles will clash. The good news is I was able to pick up a lot of green material to make what we need, FREE! I sure hope we have enough.

The German guys will be in knickers with suspenders to simulate lederhosen like these fine men. Our Scottish guys get to wear kilts and I've been surprised by the number of young men who are willing to wear them. We have about 15! Making the plaid skirts for the girls and the kilts is going to be a fairly big job. I've got about 48 yards of plaid material for the skirts and am hoping for lots of donations (or dollar fabric) for the kilts.

Doesn't this sound like a lot of work? It is but it's so fun! I wouldn't have thought I'd be having this much fun a month ago. I think it's because I remember the other celebration so well and how much fun it was that I'm so excited for this group of kids to have this opportunity to celebrate having these new temples. It helps that James gets a second opportunity to participate in this kind of production. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it's rare that he gets this second chance.