Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Tuacahn Amphitheater • 2023
Costume Design: Ryan Moller
My first year at Tuacahn Amphitheater I was brought on as a Draper specifically for my tailoring knowledge. This season opened with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wonka would need a suit as whimsical and unique as his confectionery creations. Young Wonka’s design called for a tailcoat with a shawl collar, and standard two-part sleeves. Adult Wonka’s design called for a tall standing collar and two piece sleeve that opened into a pointed, flared cuff. The costume shop’s standards called for a waist seam and larger amounts of seam allowance in the side seams and back compared to typical tailoring practice.
Process
With the design and costume shop standards in mind, I set out to draft a basic suit pattern using the Sartor System, a drafting system well suited for theatrical tailoring. While the drafting system creates a great base, I find it helpful to tape the pattern pieces together on the actor’s dress form in order to double-check the style lines and drape of the pattern before moving onto mockups.
Young Wonka’s suit was the simpler of the two. Adult Wonka’s suit sleeves required more complex patterning. The sleeve needed to have three inches of seam allowance, while the average two part sleeve calls for about an inch and a quarter. To achieve a clean cuff without excess bulk, I split the sleeve into a three-part sleeve hiding an extra seam under the arm to make room for the extra seam allowance.
Peeps
The second patterning project for this season was creating marshmallow peeps. The costume crafts shop asked for a pattern that they could cut out of header foam to achieve the shape of a marshmallow peep. I started the draping process in quarter scale to get a feel for the volume without wrestling giant pieces of paper. Once I found the shapes I scaled the pattern up to full-size and sent it to crafts for them to create the peep.
