Emmy Winning Celebrity Seamstress,
Fashion, Costume & Prop Design House
Bio
It all started with my little Italian grandma...
As a child, I enjoyed spending a great deal of time with my grandmother. It was an easy bribe for my single mother, after all, she had cable TV, coffee with ice cream in it and Lucky Charms!! My grandma taught me many great things, like how to cook Italian food, play cards, to knit, crochet and most importantly, how to SEW, which have all become things I do, in memory of her.
For her 101st birthday, I put together a "This is Your Life" scrapbook which included entries from journals she kept throughout her life, which specifically included her going on and on about the new Singer sewing machine she used to make clothing for her children. Later in life she used it to make what she called "Lap Robes" for people in hospitals, which were little lap quilt projects she used to teach me how to sew. I inherited her sewing machine as the first item of personal property she listed in her will, it is one of my most prized possessions.
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I have since found out I have 2 Grandmothers and 2 Great Grandmothers, who were all seamstresses.
Over the years, it was trial and error...
During High School I took my first and last sewing class from Mrs. Cable in Home Economics. It was the mid 80's when I moved from NY to Orlando, FL and began sewing clothing and hand painting stagewear pieces for local rock bands. I took on some more complicated projects, making wedding dresses, formal gowns and home decorator items for myself and others. In 89-90, I began working concert production through a series of events that lead me on concert tour with Foghat as their guitar tech. When I got back to Orlando, FL I started working production for national concert tours that came through Florida statewide. I realized I could make more money by working wardrobe, because I knew how to sew! I worked wardrobe for Phantom of the Opera, Megadeath and other events like MTV Spring Break. I also found work through Craig's List for many clients who wanted custom work or had fit issues with "off the rack" garments.
My BIG BREAK...
In Sept 2011, through an ad I had posted on Craig's List, I got a call from someone at AEG (American Entertainment Group) who was in town managing the "So You Think You Can Dance?" concert tour. I was offered a job sewing for the week. I packed up my sewing machine and headed down to the arena. There, I worked with Emmy Award Winning Costume Designer, Soyon On for the week of rehearsals and the Orlando kick off of their tour. After that I started getting calls for other productions including Michael Jackson's Immortal Cirque du Soleil World Tour, Big Time Rush, Cody Simpson, Carrie Underwood, Mark Anthony and was a personal wardrobe assistant to THE Joan Rivers.
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In addition to providing mobile seamstress and wardrobe services, I also began designing, making patterns, giving sewing lessons and learning how to source fabrics and notions wholesale.
I started 2013 off with a bang. My first assignment was to help make 17 costumes for Justin Bieber's 3D "BELIEVE" Concert Tour Film, shot in Miami in January. We finished all 17 Jersey and Faux Leather costumes in time for them to premiere at the Orlando show that night.
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After that, came P!nk, Muse, Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Marilyn Manson, Volbeat, Dweezil Zappa, Bruno Mars, American Idol, Justin Timberlake and Rihanna. I made an auditon dress for one of the Orlando Magic Dancers, did some costume rigging for a film and provided wardrobe services for a music video.
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In May 2013, I was asked to work wardrobe for Rock Royalty Legend, Sir Paul McCartney. Paul rehearsed one day and kicked off his "Out There" US Tour dates in Orlando, May 17-19th. This was the 2nd time I worked for Paul , prior was his Orlando show May 1993.
Here again, a defining moment in my career. I was trusted to steam and prepare most of Paul's wardrobe and all of his band's Stagewear. In addition, I helped tour staff set up personal items and toiletries in all of their very limited access dressing rooms.
Paul's Jackets are all numbered, about 1-40. Each shirt is lettered A-Z. A hang tag is kept on each hanger documenting where each jacket was worn, with what shirt and pants for future reference and museum display. That in itself was pretty amazing, to see what he wore to the White House, SNL, Charity Events and to Public Appearances around the world.
As Paul was leaving the stage, just after this picture was taken, he was handed a huge bouquet of exotic flowers, after he left the stage and was heading into his dressing room, he gave the flowers to me. =)
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In 2014 I started Fashion Incubator Design House and began working on creating Olando Fashion District. I designed and fabricated the Encore DCS Cover Model Costume with Gina Benevides. I became a wardrobe consultant for a Rock Operetta and feature film The Glades, helping their directors put together many aspects of wardrobe including budgets and design concpets. I provided seamstress and wardrobe services for Nuclear Cowboys and Miley Cyrus.
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In April, 2014, I was hired as a Costume Fabrication Specialist for Universal Theme Parks in Orlando, FL. There I began working on the entertainer cosutmes for Harry Potter, Halloween Horror Nights, Superstar Parade, Marvel Comic Book Characters, The Seventh Voyage of Sindbad, Beetlejuice, Scooby Doo, Shreck, Mardis Gras, Grinchmas, Macy's Parade events and more.
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Later that year I worked for Cher, Usher and ended the year working at Lakeland Civic Center on Tech Week for the Broadway Tour of Guys and Dolls.
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In 2015, I worked my second year as Hospitality Crew for 70,000 Tons of Metal Music Cruise, followed by wardrobe for the Broadway show, Sister Act, wardrobe and quick change for Ariana Grande.
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In March, I started working as the Rock Fashion Reporter for Rock Rage Radio, doing Fashion Focused interview at Festivals all across the country. Many of those interviews can be watched on YouTube under my Psycho Seamstress Channel.
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In April I worked on costumes for Peter Pan, Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless and for Maria Brink of In This Moment.
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I began working in fashion on patterns and prototypes after several designers approached me for help. Here is where I began helping designers source wholesale fabrics, notions and look for fair wage factories who could produce their designs without using forced labor, human trafficing or child labor. I became involved with an organization called FashionHope.org who specilized in ethical fashion production world wide. Through Marc Palmer, I work with designers to ensure their garments are producted responsibly.
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I continued 2015 with work for New Kids On The Block, Charlie Wilson, Vans Warped Tour, Foreigner, Kid Rock and Janet Jackson in the concert world.
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In June, I was asked to design and fabricate costumes for a short film/trailer called Borderline, where I also provided wardrobe services on set and helped out with some of the make up.
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In July I was hired as the Wardrobe Key for a 50 milllion dollar budget film. Securing A List Costume Designer Christian Cordello and World's Largest Maker of Space Suits for the film industry, Global Effects. This film is currently on hold.
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Between two local Costume Shops, I worked on Costumes for Cruise Lines on shows including Norwegian's Million Dollar Quartet, Pricilla of the Desert and Disney's Tangled as a seamstress and Costume Technician working with leather, foam, vacuform and setting stones.
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In November I was asked to Design and fabricate super hero style mascot costumes for Clean The World, in Orlando, FL for their worldwide events.
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I ended 2015 at Universal as the event seamstress for Grinchmas and Macy's Parade.
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2016 was a banner year for me. It kicked off with a project working with up and coming NYC designer Renato Dicent and his eclectic and diverse crew. He had been commissioned to design 33 art couture fashions for the cutting edge hair show, Matrix Destination in Orlando. I was hired as the lead for a local crew who assisted Renato in helping him procure last minute local fabrics, notions, services, a sewing crew, pattern maker and dressers to help him execute the finale runway fashion show for the premier Matrix Destination Event. It was a smashing sucess.
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So far this year I've worked for 70,000 Tons of Metal, Rihanna and spent weeks as the local lead seamstress for Beyonce in putting together the costumes for her Formation World Tour.
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In May, I was hired as the Costume Designer and Wardrobe Key for mid budget feature horror film Blood Forest, being shot this summer in Puerto Rico.
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Stay tuned for more and you can keep up with Psycho Seamstress on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and on my Wordpress Blog.
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