Hats and costumes

For some weeks, my friend Laurie and I have been obsessed with making costumes and embellishing and refurbishing hats in the 1912 period style.

Not that I have any particular plans for them, aside from a play at Green Acre for August 2012. It's just about general readiness for the anniversary year.

Tim and I are working on a documentary film project--but we are not doing re-enactments per se, only shadowy figures looking period-esque in various backgrounds.

So--having found and purchased various fabrics, trims, and embellishments and having hired Laurie to sew some specific outfits, and having cut out and made twenty or so skirts, jackets, and so forth--I feel in partial readiness for whatever comes along.

We have brought a number of costumes to Colorado, hoping to find some willing participants to wear them at the various locations. And of course there are props--parasols, fans, handkerchiefs, tablecloths--all to give a sense of authenticity!

The funny thing was making the little black fez-caps for Persian members of Abdu'l-Baha's entourage--and cutting them out in various sizes, then using a glue gun to assemble them.  But will I find anyone to wear them?  And then, do you pair them with a western suit or an eastern robe-type garment? And then there are ties--so out came the fabric and glue gun again.

Now is this a pointless obsession, or will it bear useful fruit?