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Follow the Leader

Say Yes to the Teamstress: Part One

By Kaylee Anderson

I have a lot of experience with sewing, especially in the realm of alterations. I was in the Summer Youth Program at Lakeshore Players in White Bear Lake for seven years, up until I graduated high school, and they taught me everything that I know about tailoring clothes. The first half of our day was rehearsing, but the second was tech. About a quarter of us sat in the cool basement of the theater, ironing and hand-stitching, putting in zippers and making entire pieces from scratch. We spent days digging through all of the costume rooms, diving through racks and digging deep in enormous plastic boxes for costumes we knew would fit the roles of the actors in our play. It was hard work, and increasingly complicated the older I got as the lead costumer MaryBeth Gagner trusted me with more and more tasks, but every moment of the time I spent there trained me for my new role come college: Teamstress.

When I first started dancing in the University of Minnesota Ballroom Dance Club, I was having the time of my life learning new moves. When the Halloween dance came around my Sophomore year, I was determined to make the best costume I could possible come up with, as long as it was highly danceable. I went home for an entire weekend in order to use my mom's old sewing machine, and I spent all of my waking hours on a full skirt, a corset, an undershirt, and my friend's matching vest. When I showed up to the Halloween dance post-Ballroom Blast all decked out as Rapunzel with Pascal on my shoulder and my friend dressed up as Flynn Rider, people were surprised when I told them I had made it all on my own. In fact, they were impressed—though if they had looked closer at some of my sub-par seams and silly mistakes, they might have changed their mind.

Nevertheless, as I progressed through the ranks and ended up on competition team, I was met with continual surprise whenever my response to a clothing-related compliment was “Thanks, I made it myself!” Sewing was something I had taken for granted up until this point because I was trained in it from middle school, and it seemed to me like my skills weren't that advanced, but the reactions of my teammates gradually convinced me otherwise. When Seth Westlake came to me one day asking me if I could help take in his pants, I was equally excited and afraid. On one hand, I was so happy knowing that someone trusted my skills enough to ask me for my help. On the other hand, I was terrified that I would mess something up so horribly that he'd never ask for my help again. Dance pants are extremely expensive, and if I accidentally did something irreparable, I was convinced I would never be able to make eye contact again. I stifled the voices of doubt and took the job, and boy was I glad I did! Everything went off without a hitch, and the best part was that they fit perfectly. It didn't hurt that I got a little money out of the deal too.

That summer I interned at the Children's Museum as their Costume and Props intern under Lisa Conley, and I learned so much in those short three months. I had a lot of tasks that were repetitive and a little boring, like hemming the sleeves shorter on a million little raincoats for an upcoming exhibit, but they helped me develop skills that I found to be even more imperative when it came for school to start again. I was also given plenty of time to work on creating my own little costumes for other nooks and crannies in the museum. I made a bunch of adorable little hats for the snowmen exhibit, and I even got to design my own awesome little capes for another part of the museum that wouldn't reopen for at least another six months. The combination of creative thinking and repeated tasks together gave me the skills I needed to take my sewing to the next level. I picked up a bunch of little tips that lead to “ah-ha!” moments and miniature revelations, and I came out of that internship with more in my back pocket than I ever thought possible.

Post-Children's Museum, things kicked into high gear on Competition team. After what I'd done for Seth, others started coming to me with quick fixes: “Can you take in my shirt? The sleeves are way too baggy” and “My skirt doesn't fit me anymore; can you make it smaller?” were common problems I addressed. Because my clientèle were solely college students, I gave them a choice: either feed me, or pay me minimum wage per hour of work. Everyone was surprisingly cool with that, and nearly everyone came away happy when I returned their clothes. Needless to say, with every new piece I was hesitant. I'd never technically done it before, but did that mean I couldn't do it? As with every other situation, I told my anxiety to take a backseat and pulled myself farther and farther outside of my comfort zone. Soon I was fixing really nice Standard dress shirts and actual ballroom dresses with nary a hesitation, and I was so very proud of myself for being able to promise something and deliver it with minimal mistakes. I was even more happy that my teammates trusted me with their things and allowed me to test the limits of my skills with their awesome clothing. The smiles and happy hugs I received for my work were totally worth the hours spent cursing at my ancient sewing machine and nicking myself with needles.

Currently, I'm really enjoying the niche I've carved out for myself as the “Teamstress.” I'm also happy that there are other people on team with similar skills that I can talk to about working on projects and problem-solving. Being on the UMNBDC team has given me so many opportunities to develop not only my dancing skills, but complementary ones as well. With the help of others, we are well on our way to becoming the best-dressed team in the Midwest! I’m so grateful to have had both MaryBeth Gagner and Lisa Conley as my mentors while growing as a seamstress, and I know that both of them have taught me skills that have made my life easier as well as given me the emotional support I needed to believe I could do it. Most of all, I'm extremely grateful to my teammates for their unyielding trust and support. I would never have been able to improve without using you all as my guinea pigs, and I will be forever thankful for that. Knowing that we're all learning together in a variety of ways really solidifies the companionship I've come to know and love in my years dancing with everyone.

All of the things I learned altering costumes for other people also helped me gain the confidence to start making my own ballroom dresses as well. How did they turn out? Tune in next issue to find out!

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