Mercurious Designs

Resume

Resume listing both costume design and construction, as well as fashion design and technical work.

CATHERINE ANNE FRITSCH

 

 

EDUCATION

MFA Costume Design                            University of Illinois                                                                    1995-6

             (1st year)                                    Champaign-Urbana, IL

BA Theatre and Drama                         Indiana University                    fall 1991-December 31, 1994

             minor Fine Arts Studio            Bloomington, IN                         with high distinction

            

HONORS

Individual Artist Program grant          Indiana Arts Commission                                                            2011

Creative Renewal Fellowship                Arts Council of Indianapolis                                                        2005

Phi Beta Kappa                                      Indiana University                                                                        1995

 

EXPERIENCE

 

Free-lance Design

Sleepwear and Lingerie design            Sweet Revenge Lingerie                                                               2008-present

             Designing, producing prototypes and producing for my own line of sleepwear and lingerie.

 

Plus Size Lingerie Design                      Certain Style                                                                           July 2008-present

             Designing plus sized lingerie for high end company, patterning and constructing samples. (The    catalog              sells designs by several different designers.)

 

Character Design/Construction           The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis                                                2008

             Designed and constructed a museum character for Halloween, Frances the Friendly Witch.

 

Costume design, construction             The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis                                   2007-2008

             Designed and produced staff costumes for the Robot Exhibit: Rob Otto and Anne Droyd lab coats,              Robots and Us game show host blazers. Designed and constructed costumes for the

             Castle Lego exhibit.

 

Costume design, construction              The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis                                   2000-2007

             Designed and constructed costumes for  Curious George, Babes in Toyland (2007) and James and the              Giant Peach (2007), which included custom dyeing fabrics for the insect costumes. Designed, constructed              and rented costumes for Treasure Island (2004) and The Princess and the Pea (2000). For each show I              work within a given materials and labor budget; I keep a detailed bible of the show expenses, fitting notes,              etc.

 

Costume design, construction              Anderson University’s Dept. of Music                                      1999, 2000

             Designed and hand dyed costumes from clothing blanks (which I altered to fit my designs) for The Magic              Flute. For Into the Woods I altered exiting costumes to fit and built some additional pieces. By George,              It’s Gershwin was mostly purchased and altered to fit.

 

Costume Design                        Indiana University, Bloomington, IN                                                      1993, 1995

             Designed costumes for Eleemosynary, a production where all three characters remained onstage              throughout. I worked closely with the lighting designer to achieve a color palette that allowed us to easily              manipulate focus from one character to the next. Designed costumes for Women and Wallace, a modern              piece. Designed costumes for Ironmistress, a period two-woman show.

            

Costume Design                        Bloomington Playwright’s Project                                                                        1992

             Designed costumes for a locally written script, In the Shadow of the Sun King, a period piece.

 

Garment Production         

Staff Draper                               Indiana Repertory Theatre, Indpls, IN                                                   1996-2007

             Hired as contract first hand, promoted to draper in 2000 and floor supervisor in 2005.

 

Contract Draper                        Porthouse Theatre, Kent, OH                                                                   1993-2005

             Hired as contract first hand, draper and shop manager for summer work over a period of several non-             consecutive years.

 

Pattern Maker                            Avant Garb Mascots                                                                                   1997-2000

             Patterned, mocked-up and supervised construction of mascots and rental costumes based on the owner’s              designs. Repaired and refurbished old mascots. Assisted in designing rentals and assembling bid              packages for prospective clients.

 

Free-lance work: Patterning/Construction

Pattern and Samples                 Bullet Boutfits                                                                                             2011—present

             Activewear for roller derby.

 

Pattern and Samples                 OSTAS                                                                                                winter 2010—present

             Developing a product line for athletic apparel.

 

Pattern and Samples                 R. Lynda                                                                                                                         2010

             Worked with designer to create patterns and samples for her debut line.    

 

Pattern Maker/Construction   The Wiggles Live                                                                                         October 2008

             Pattern and construction of three clown costumes and Captain Feathersword for the US touring   show.

 

Pattern Maker/Construction   The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis                                                     April 2008

             Pattern and construction of two Captain Extraordinary costumes.

 

Pattern/Sample Maker            Georgia Lee, designer                                                                            Nov 2007-Jan 2008

             Pattern and construction of clothing line for a boutique in Korea .

 

Patten Maker/Construction     Georgia Lee, costume designer                                                                        2007

             Patterning and construction of seven opera costumes for Ariadne auf Naxos, production in Korea.              Georgia is a New York based designer with whom I have worked twice before.

 

Pattern Maker                            Freakin’ Billboards                                                                                       2007-present             Patterned and sampled recycled billboard vinyl bags and clothing items. Some design work is involved.

 

Pattern/Sample Maker            Eve Alexander                                                                                               2007-2009

             Patterned and made samples for new line of transitional maternity to nursing clothing.

             Worked closely with company’s creator to fine-tune designs for  new lounge wear line.

 

Pattern/Sample Maker            EZTether.com /Merritt Manufacturing                                                        2007-2010

             Patterned and made samples for company’s restraint chairs and accessories.

 

Pattern Maker                            Science Museum of Virginia                                                                                 2003

             Patterned and mocked-up two historical costumes to be worn by interpreters and displayed. Mocked up              garments to be fit in Virginia, corrected patterns based on fittings. Wrote detailed instructions for              assembly of garments and cut all pieces to be sent to seamstress.

            

Pattern maker/ Seamstress     Endless Summer Band, Carmel, IN                                                                      2002

             Created miniature Blues Brothers costumes (based on previous costumes) that fit on the top half of the              body and arms to create a “Mini Me” effect for a variety show. These involved some soft-sculpture and              armature making.

 

Designer/ Pattern Maker         Williams Randall Marketing, Chicago, IL                                                    2001, 2004

             Designed, patterned and constructed a Clabber Girl costume (for the Hullman Company) to be worn at              trade shows. I sent costume research, swatches and wig samples to the marketing company by mail and              corresponded with them by phone and email. They have been using the costume consistently since 2001,              and in 2004 requested a second costume.

 

Draper/Seamstress                   Goldie’s Costume Garden, Carmel, IN                                                           1997-98

             Patterned and made costumes from the owner’s designs. The company made mostly dancewear, skating              dresses and competition costumes for girls. I worked on a per job basis off-site. We occasionally made              multiples of the same costume for dance troupes and musicals, but more frequently made custom              garments.

 

First Hand, Houdini                 Goodspeed Opera, East Haddam, CT                                                                          1997

 

REFERENCES

 

             I am happy to provide references on request, or you may read some recommendations on my       

             LinkedIn profile.