Gertrude McFuzz was a fun - but messy - costume to make.
The Outfit Over the Feathers:
First, I had to find an outfit for Gertrude to wear, so I would know how to construct the tail to fit underneath it.
After multiple shopping trips in department stores I came home with a bunch of unrelated pieces and the amazing set designer used his fabulous eye to help me pair them up into nerdy-but-cute outfits. The outfit you see above was the chosen combination, and everything else went back to the store.
We ended up with a tulle skirt (from The Children's Place spring 2010 collection) as the main piece through which the tail would grow (source of other pieces are listed at the bottom of the page if you are curious).
After multiple shopping trips in department stores I came home with a bunch of unrelated pieces and the amazing set designer used his fabulous eye to help me pair them up into nerdy-but-cute outfits. The outfit you see above was the chosen combination, and everything else went back to the store.
We ended up with a tulle skirt (from The Children's Place spring 2010 collection) as the main piece through which the tail would grow (source of other pieces are listed at the bottom of the page if you are curious).
The Feathers:
I had seen a production where the tail not only grew, but where it was longer every time Gertrude re-entered every time after taking the pillberries.
In order to achieve this, I needed a LOT of boas. I found them online at a website called Partyfeathers:
http://partyfeathers.com/v1/
They were reasonably inexpensive and the quality was decent. Be aware - no matter what brand of boas you buy, they will make a MESS! Between Gertrude and the bird girls we had feathers everywhere in the auditorium during the last month of rehearsals. Every child in the cast was responsible for picking up a few feathers at dismissal time!
The Foundation (my thanks to the gentlemen on this one!):
The base of the growing tail is a man's dance belt (found in my local Capezio outlet for $2).
For those of you that have never seen one, it's basically like a thong for men. The waist is a thick elastic, and the panel on the one we bought was a think cotton fabric.
Gertrude would wear this backwards, with the "modesty panel" on her rear end, instead of in the front as a man would have worn it.
The Cone Saga:
I originally used a lavender foam cone to contain the feathers, which you see here and which you will see in the photos that follow.
Eventually this thin craft foam ripped and I had to replace it with a sturdier felt cone. My suggestion would be to use a very sturdy fabric as you will be opening the cone and re-stuffing the tail inside every single time you rehearse that scene.
Unfortunately, I didn't have to photograph the cone-replacement process, so please just ignore the lavender foam cone and imagine all of these directions with the thick purple felt cone instead. :)
I actually grabbed a little $1 felt Easter basket at Michael's and cut a hole in the bottom, so I didn't really "make" the final cone; I cheated a bit:
The Construction Process:
So ignore the craft-foam cone in the photos and imagine that it is sturdy felt. :)
The cone was the same/similar color as the skirt fabric, because it was going to protrude a little from the skirt. Without making this minor concession, all those feathers would have had to have been concealed underneath the skirt, which would have made for a somewhat lumpy-butt look.
The cone had to be "hinged" to the dance belt modesty panel, because we needed a way to "reload" the feathers after each run without having to thread them back through the tiny opening at the end of the cone.
So when I placed it on the belt, I only sewed the upper rim to the belt fabric. The big purple "X"s are my sloppy stitches.
I attached a snap to the bottom half of the rim, so it could remain attached to the dance belt panel when needed, but we would have a way to lift it up and "reload".
Once the cone was mounted on the belt panel, I sewed one thin, multi-colored boa to the belt panel and threaded it through the cone. When Gertrude's tail is scrawny, most of the boa is hidden away, bunched inside the cone. Just a tiny bit peeks out.
When her tail starts to grow, one of the bird girls pulls on her tial and pulls it out (kind of like a magician pulls a handkerchief out of a pocket and it's many, many handkerchiefs long).
We put the skirt on over the cone and figured out where to make the hole and cut right up the seam.
Once the cone was mounted on the belt panel, I sewed one thin, multi-colored boa to the belt panel and threaded it through the cone. When Gertrude's tail is scrawny, most of the boa is hidden away, bunched inside the cone. Just a tiny bit peeks out.
When her tail starts to grow, one of the bird girls pulls on her tial and pulls it out (kind of like a magician pulls a handkerchief out of a pocket and it's many, many handkerchiefs long).
We put the skirt on over the cone and figured out where to make the hole and cut right up the seam.
Going for More Drama:
That looked cute and it did the job, so we could have stopped there.
Hoping for a little bit more drama, I sewed
two heavy-duty hooks onto the belt panel just above the cone.
I bought hook-and-eye kits at a craft shop, but threw out the eyes and just used the hooks.
After Gertrude's initial tail growth in the pillberry scene, she eventually goes backstage. At that time, helpers hooked additional tails onto the hooks. When Gertrude came back on stage, her tail was significantly and noticeably longer and thicker, which drew a great deal of laughs from the audience.
When she went backstage again, the helpers tied more boas onto the boas that were already attached to her. I forget how many we had, but it was over 20 feet long and the audience loved it.
Once the cone-on-a-dance-belt was done, the rest was so very simple. Just add as many boas as your budget allows!
Hoping for a little bit more drama, I sewed
two heavy-duty hooks onto the belt panel just above the cone.
I bought hook-and-eye kits at a craft shop, but threw out the eyes and just used the hooks.
After Gertrude's initial tail growth in the pillberry scene, she eventually goes backstage. At that time, helpers hooked additional tails onto the hooks. When Gertrude came back on stage, her tail was significantly and noticeably longer and thicker, which drew a great deal of laughs from the audience.
When she went backstage again, the helpers tied more boas onto the boas that were already attached to her. I forget how many we had, but it was over 20 feet long and the audience loved it.
Once the cone-on-a-dance-belt was done, the rest was so very simple. Just add as many boas as your budget allows!
If you are interested, the neon pink T shirt was from Target (about $6);
the polka-dot cardigan from TJ Maxx (about $12);
the neon tights from Target ($2 each - she wore one yellow leg and one neon pink leg);
The "froufy" hair ties were a lucky find in the local dollar store and they gave the outift a great little touch for $1.
The giant round glasses are not props, but real prescription eyeglasses from Zenni Optical. They were worth the $12 it cost to have them made. In real life, Gertrude cannot function without her glasses and would not have been able to act without them on. Now they're her "spares".