Call today (310) 639-6000
Contact Us    
 
Homepage
  Home
 
More Portfolio Photos >>>>

Click on the image for alternate view
View related video

Project: Kelly Clarkson Tour
Fabric: 22oz Encore Velour and Iridescent Silky Charmeuse

A tour which is booked to perform in medium sized theatres often poses a challenge to designers and producers. Unlike an arena where you bring your own ground support (and know your trim height etc) in a theatre setting you are at the mercy of the stage parameters of each venue.
Producer Ray Woodbury of RK Diversified overcame this challenge by creating a design which could be incrementally shortened – in either height or width – for this tour. Upstage a series of five free-hanging projection screens were designed with soft fabric borders at the bottom, giving them over 5 feet of flexibility n height. Additionally, as the screens were independent, crew could drop a unit in width (down to four screens) when the venue required them to.

Utilizing the inherent flexibility of an Austrian Drape at mid stage, crew could easily shorten the feature drapery without spoiling the effect of the curtain. The photos of this production are gorgeous, doing justice to a talented singer as well as a clever and versatile design.

Photographs by:Todd Kaplan


Click on the image for alternate view

Project: Soul In The Machine

Check out this great photo! – not often granted the opportunity to take photos with the stars……. The artists who are “Soul In The Machine” stopped for a moment to pose with Megan Duckett and Gerilyn Gregory of Sew What? Inc. while checking out the company’s trade show booth at a recent convention. Visit them online at: www.soulinthemachine.com

Photographs by: Photo Credit Soul In The Machine (www.soulinthemachine.com)


Click on the image for alternate view

Project: Dierks Bentley Kabuki
Fabric: Dye Sublimation to Heavy Weight Poly Poplin

“You need a 30’h x 60’w in how many days?” …………….Production staff from Deirks Bentley knew where to call when they needed digital printing services for their tour. Dye sublimation to Heavy Weight Poly Poplin gave us the saturation of color required to really hit the CK and process blues in this logo embedded artwork. As it was to be used as a kabuki drop down stage and there were obvious vertical break lines in the art, we chose to product the item with vertical seams which disappeared intot he artwork.

Photographs by: Todd Ortmeier


Click on the image for alternate view

Project: Hannah Montana Tour
Fabric: Commando Cloth and Poly Poplin

Finding the balance between the “look” desired by designers and the “durability” needed by production staff led us to produce the Hanna Montana masking and dressing room draperies from a combination of fabrics. All areas which were to be high traffic with lots of dancers (and cosmetics!) were produced from washable yet durable, Poly Poplin. The front of house masking was then produced from durable and economical 16oz Commando Cloth.

Making the drapes which mask “behind the scenes” may seem low profile to some suppliers, but we see it as a challenge – the magic of the show would not be nearly as captivating if the “mechanics” were visible to the audience. At Sew What? Inc we take masking draperies seriously!

Photographs by: M Duckett


Click on the image for alternate view
View related video

Project: Rod Stewart “Still The Same” Tour
Fabric: 100% Cotton Poplin / Traditionally “Drum Printed” with the Stewart Family tartan
22oz Encore Velour for all black masking drapes.

When audiences come to see Rod Steward’s 2007 tour, they are met by a 360-degree stage completely enclosed by 160 linear feet of the Stewart Family tartan.

The challenge was to translate the 2” x 2” tartan pattern into 1,500 yards of “larger than life” stage curtain. “We experimented with a number of fabrication techniques,” said Sew What? president Megan Duckett. “We considered digital printing and custom painting, but they didn’t produce the results we were after”. The Sew What? team settled on traditional “garment” printing methods utilizing four 60” ink drums. Once the ink was dry, the material was sent through a separate flame-retardancy process in preparation for sewing.

Learn more about the designer’s vision for this tour by reading the related press release.
See it in action. Click here or here.

Design: Ian Knight / Lars Brogaard
Photographs by: Jim Steinfeldt


Click For Larger Image

Project: Digitally Printed Backdrop for The New Cars
Fabric: Digitally Printed Celtic Cloth

Isn't this a great shot? And let me tell you - The New Cars sure did put on a good show. This photo is from their performance at the House of Blues show on Sunset Blvd.

Our multi-tasking digitally printed backdrop hangs behind them for personalisation and displays their logo with clarity. With so many different substrates to choose from there is a digital backdrop for every band no matter the budget.
Photo by: Jim Steinfeldt


Click For Larger Image

Project: Hand Painted Scrim Drop for Scott Stapp Tour
Fabric: Black Sharkstooth Scrim

Click on the image to get a great shot of the scrim being painted. The 40'w x 24'h scrim was hand painted with the artists custom design. A combination of paints in varying degrees of intensity gave an overall texture to the scrim. The logo was carefully painted to show the detail of the the cherokee text and design as seen in the original artist rendering.

Did You Know? A scrim is a commonly used piece of stage curtain magic. Learn More.

Sew What? Drapes seen on Prince's current album titled 3121
Click For Larger Image

Project: Studio and Window Draperies for artist Prince
Fabric: White Leno Filled Scrim

This call came in on a Sunday - Designers for the temporary residence of artist Prince required sound absorbant draperies for the windows and studio in the Hollywood home. The large quantity of draperies were designed, quoted and delivered within 3 days!

The most exciting moment of course (aside from the opportunity to work on a project for such a high profile artist) was that the home was then used as the setting for the album / CD insert! So there we are - Sew What? Inc in, and on, Prince's album titled "3121".

Kid Rock Stage Drapes by Sew What? Inc
Click For Larger Image

Project: Kid Rock Tour
Fabric: 22oz Crimson Encore

As always we were totally excited to be asked to manufacture the draperies for Joe Gallagher of Accurate Staging. This project for Kid Rock included upstage drapes, stage and riser skirting as well as all the hampers necessary to house the softgoods.

Manufacturing insight:: All the skirting was sewn with both a webbing reinforcement at top and a 2" durable velcro for easy atachment to the risers. The upstage drapes were broken down into 20 foot widths to make folding and hanging easier and more manageable!

Stage Curtains and Concert Supplies by Sew What?
Click For Larger Image

Project: Sting
Fabric: Black Ripstop

A basic white cyc and four legs is all it took to create this dynamic stage set. The lighting could vary the look of the stage scene dramatically with this type of drapery arrangement. The upstage areas were designed for both projection and cyc lighting.

Designed by: Bruce Rogers of Tribe Design
Photo by: Todd Kaplan


Click For Larger Image

Project: Fleetwood Mac
Fabric: FR 108" Grey Acrobat

A giant projection screen and cyclorama cleverly designed to allow unobstructed audience viewing from three sides of an arena! The stretch panels were sewn from grey Acrobat, an extra wide FR stretch fabric that lights well and works with front projection.
Designed by: Bruce Rogers of Tribe Design
Photo by: Todd Kaplan

Dave Matthews Band Detail
Click For Larger Image

Project: Dave Matthews Band
Fabric: FR Stretch Trapeze, White

Sewn to be 3-dimensional, these stretch pieces were revealed when raised on individual motors hidden within. Click on the image for a closer view - Each tube had a diameter of over 5 feet, and the heights varied from 18' to 24'. The custom artwork was done by way of a specialized paint treatment.

Jane's Addiction Detail
Click For Larger Image

Project: Jane’s Addiction Tour
Fabric: Rope Netting and Webbing

A netting sculpture/structure that surrounded the artists and promoted dramatic lighting effects. All the webbing was double stitched onto the netting and reinforced points with d-rings created motor pick-points. Hand made fabric chandelier lamps hung from above to complete the frightening yet fragile scene.

Don Henly Drapery Detail
Click For Larger Image

Project: Don Henley Tour
Fabric: 16oz Velour, Plum

A Gothic design, with giant a-symmetrical swags and gold tassels throughout. The main swags were also equipped with lift lines, which allowed for a dramatic US reveal.

Manufacturing Insight: To assist in dressign the swags to the floor we used custom 10 long "sausage sand bags". By covering them in the same fabric as the drapes they became virtually "invisible" from the audience.

Designed by: Jim Lenahan
Photo by: Steve Jennings

Stevie Nicks Drapery Detail
Click For Larger Image

Project: Stevie Nicks Tour
Fabric: Crushed Silhouette, Pale Pink

This project consisted of 6 legs with sewn-in swags and over 280’ of ruffled border. All drapes had 100% sewn-in fullness and attached to the trusses with “hidden sewn in ties. The side and rear masking draperies were sewn from black 16oz Commando Cloth.

Return to Portfolio Home
More Portfolio Photos >>>>

Home |  Products |  Return Policy |  Shipping Policy |  Site Map |  Related Links |  Company |  Contact Us  

Copyright 1999-2008 Sew What? Inc. - Theatrical Drapery Manufacturing
Ph: 310 639-6000   Fax: 310 639-6036