I had the pleasure of working for the Santa Fe Opera for their 2025 season as a staff stitcher under the draper for my team, Vicky Neufeld. The operas for the season were La Bohème, Marriage of Figaro, Rigoletto, Turn of the Screw and Die Walküre.
Early in the season I was working on many mock-ups which Santa Fe Opera usually does in similar fabrics as the final fabrics. Towards the end of the season, if there is time, certain samples are selected to be finished for future use by the company. I was allowed to complete two mock-up jackets that I started.
Maddalena, Rigoletto.
Director: Julien Chavaz Costume Design: Jean-Jacques Delmotte Draper: Vicky Neufeld
Stitching done in collaboration with first hand, Andy Cutler.
Musetta, La Boheme
Draper: Vicky Neufeld
When Musetta is attempting to regain the attention of Marcello at the end of her final number she reveals a scandalous silky step in which I stitched and helped with developing the edge finishing on the delicate netting material.
In the final act, Musetta is wearing a delicate silk chiffon blouse with intricate pleating trim on the sleeves and a geometric waterfall pleat on the center front of her blouse. The pleating took some time to develop as we had no time to send fabric to get professionally pleated. Andy Cutler, one of our teams first hands, and I created pleated paper to somewhat recreate what would be done at a pleating house. I then treated the silk with starch and carefully pleated the fabric together sandwiched between two layers of pleated paper.
Sleeve Installations
It is my long held belief that one can never stop learning and improving their skills. One such skill I was keen to develop further was my sleeve installation on tailored garments. During the season, I was able to work with difficult fabrics such as velvet and type of micro suede fabric that did not like being gathered or eased. There were also two mock-ups I was allowed to finish for the opera stock were made with wool fabrics.
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