audengranger: Elastic athletic shorts alteration for cheerleader ensemble character, Grease! Jr

Elastic athletic shorts alteration for cheerleader ensemble character, Grease! Jr. (teen), Windy City Performs; costumes by Auden Granger
Due to budgeting limitations and large summer camp cast numbers, costume items were used in one production run by two youth casts (double-casting, with trade-off shows) and a second production run with two teen casts (also double-cast with trade-off shows). This meant many items had to be purchased that could fit two sets of larger bodies and then be altered for two sets of smaller bodies, or vice versa.
The teen casts performed after the youth, so the items had to be sized down and then back up.
Subsequently I purchased mostly elastic items that could be flexibly sized. Production prep time meant no ordering was possible and sizes were dependent on what was available in the span of one week. Uneven co-casting meant items could not be exact transfers between one cast and the other (for instance, the teen Sandys were not the same size and needed different sized skirts, so one skirt was worn by the Sandy in cast 1 and a Pink Lady ensemble girl in cast 2). A lot of this type of alteration was done to size items for the teens.
These shorts, which were used unaltered for the youth cast, had to be taken out for one of the teen actors (with no additional purchases possible). I ripped the side seams of the shorts and sewed in green ribbon (purchased and used for hairbows). The shorts are stretchy but the ribbon is not, so I added stretch by using elastic thread and leaving slack in the ribbon. The “racing stripe” matched the complementary color that appeared in the other cheerleader costumes.

“Opposite” alterations were done on pieces for the youth cast, with stitching that was later ripped out to make the pieces larger again.

These shorts (purchased according to limited available sizing) were taken in a full five inches along the waist by adding a “pleat.” These stitches were later ripped to bring the shorts back out.