Tanis Armstrong recalls sitting on her mother’s knee as a child, driving the fabric while her mother pushed the pedal on the sewing machine — something her own daughter does with her now. Armstrong is the costume designer for the Cinderella production performed to a sold-out crowd this month by the Williams Lake Studio Theatre.
Armstrong has been involved in theatre since she was in Grade 2, her first casting in The Littlest Christmas Tree as “tree number one,” she said with flair and a laugh. From there, she was Tom Jenkins in A Christmas Carol, Marta von Trapp in The Sound of Music, a street urchin in Oliver Twist and a sister in Fiddler on the Roof.
Living in Springhouse, theatre eventually became too expensive for her family — there was the cost of gas driving in and out of town and the family was eating out during evening theatre practices, Armstrong said. Her parents, Marg and Blaine Daum, decided that instead of theatre, the family would commit to something they could all participate in (her sister, Jaye, included). They decided on skiing.
After Armstrong graduated from high school in 2006, she joined Thompson River University’s residential construction program, receiving her papers two years later, only months before her first child was born. For the next few years as a young, single mom, she hopped between jobs trying to make ends meet.
Still, she kept herself busy in the creative world, sewing her Halloween costumes as early as Grade 7 and eventually, those of her two children. She completed her cosmetology program at QC Makeup Academy and eventually, to her mother’s encouragement, reconnected with the theatre in 2010 doing makeup.
In 2013 — a significant year, she said — while doing hair and makeup design for The Big Five-Oh, she met Chris Armstrong, the assistant stage manager who was also in charge of props. The significance of the year was that Chris would become her husband. Armstrong proposed to him in 2016 during a play at the theatre and in 2017, they were married only weeks after the wildfires. Chris adopted her son and in 2018, their daughter was born.
The first family costumes Armstrong sewed were characters from How to Train Your Dragon 2, recycling skirts, coats and old strips of fabric. After her last job, she decided to dive full-time into the world of sewing, starting her business, ReDress by Tanis, in 2021.
The majority of her business is alterations and repairs, and she upcycles as much as possible, taking garments apart and rebuilding them from scratch as much as she can, she said.
“My goal is to keep things out of landfills.”
Her dream, however, is to make a custom wedding dress, and though not exactly wedding dresses, this partially came true through the Cinderella production Armstrong was the costume designer for.
For the last six months, Armstrong was fabric-deep in designing and sewing costumes, studying fashion between 1740 and 1820. Cinderella director Sandi Alaric asked for the costumes to be inspired by the TV series Bridgerton, said Armstrong. For Armstrong, this meant that while some of the sewing patterns or costume shapes were historically accurate to the 1700s time period, the colours were not.
For example, Armstrong wanted the stepsisters to be eccentric, creating pink, orange, red and yellow dresses for one stepsister and green, blue and yellow dresses for the other. Their ballgowns were upcycled from two grad dresses combined with different tops.
For some of the men’s costumes and townswomen’s dresses, costumes from the 2013-2014 play Sense and Sensibility were altered. Other fabrics were donated from Armstrong’s own collection, and bridesmaids’ dresses from her own wedding were altered, including the queen’s ballgown.
The step-mother’s day dress was altered from a Sense and Sensibility costume and her ballgown was a grad dress combined with deadstock fabric and was inspired by a 1740s style dress, including panniers (the hoops that extend the side of a dress, adding more volume).
As for Cinderella, Armstrong wanted her to be dressed in flowers, something that, to her, represents someone who is kind, gentle, innocent and pure of heart, she said. Her ballgown was purchased tulle fabric with embroidered flowers all over it, complete with rhinestones to make it sparkle. The base layer of the dress was a donated bridesmaid dress. Tanis used the dress’ pattern to make the skirt layer and made her own pattern for the train and back of the dress.
The fairy godmother’s dress also sparkled with rhinestones and was made from a tablecloth Armstrong found at a thrift store.
None of these costumes could have been made without the donated time and skill of many, including Sharon Hoffman, Armstrong said. Many sewing bees were hosted so the team could get everything done.
As for what’s next, Armstrong will be directing the 2023-2024 play, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, along with running her business and raising her two kids with her husband. She also wants to start a historical sewing group next year and once the outfits are done, have everyone go out to lunch together in their ensembles.
READ MORE: Williams Lake Studio Theatre’s Cinderella set to sweep away audiences
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