I am still a huge fan of RENT and with the movie's release, my interest in RENT costumes was piqued again. I found a great bohemian-like shirt at the mall one day, so I decided I needed jeans with yellow stars and moons to wear it with. ;)

Skip to finished costume.

There are eight principle characters in RENT, including Mark, Roger, and Collins, who I've already created female versions of their costumes. Maureen used to date Mark, but then dumped him for her latest flame, Joanne. Maureen is an actress and quite the character (pun intended). This costume is worn during her "Over the Moon" protest performance piece.

Again, I didn't really sew anything for this costume. The most time intensive piece to create was the appliqued jeans. Everything else I either had already or bought retail.

I used yellow cotton from my stash and backed it with interfacing before cutting out the various shapes. I cut out another set of non-interfaced shapes and used these to create faced appliques. Essentially, I sewed an interfaced shape right sides together with it's corresponding non-interfaced shape. Then, I slit a hole in the non-interfaced shape so I could turn the applique inside out. The shapes were pressed and topstitched to keep them nice and smooth. By making the appliques this way, I was able to ensure that all edges of the shapes were entirely finished. The slit created to turn the shape inside out is sewn face down on the jeans, leaving all raw edges completely encased.

   

The templates included below are sized accordingly and should be printable to scale (marked on each thumbnail).

               

   

Left to Right: the finished appliques; detail of star applique on jeans; the various sized templates
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I temporarily adhered the shapes to my jeans using quilters basting spray and stitched them on by hand with yellow embroidery floss (trimmed to three threads). I cut the jeans apart at the hem at 1" and then again at 3". I then stitched yellow cotton into tubes the same width as the jeans, interfaced for stability and lined in the same cotton so it also looked pretty on the inside. These were then attached at the 1" and 3" points on the jeans, creating yellow bands at the hem. I then satin-stitched over the straight stitch I used to attach the bands, encasing the edge of the jeans to both stop it from raveling and create a pretty edge. I didn't want to insert eyelets down the length of the outerleg seams (I knew it would be a pain), so I simply stitched yellow ribbon down the seams in a criss-cross pattern to mimic the side lacing. Due to my anal tendencies, I decided to suck it up and put eyelets down the side seams of the jeans. I put one set (one eyelet on each side of the seam) between each band of yellow, and then spaced pairs of eyelets every 1" up the leg, ending right below the pocket. This was the most tedious part of the costume, but it does look fabulous! ;)

           

       

Left to Right: jeans with banding on one side, on both sides, detail of banding; finished eyelets on one side, detail; jeans with lacing; the completed jeans!
[up]   [finished costume]

I found the belt at Walmart, and already had the sunglasses. The plain drumstick was bought from a local music store in town. I finally found a small cowbell at Michaels, which I dirtied up a bit with watered-down black acrylic paint after removing the bell components from the inside with a pair of pliers. I wanted to wear white platforms or boots with this costume, but they proved to be the hardest thing to find. Instead, I bought a cheap pair of white sandals with a cork heel that will work well enough until I find something funkier. And the beanie baby cow is Elsie, of course! ;)

   

Left to Right: finished cowbell; other accessories: belt, shoes, sunglasses, cowbell with biner, drumstick, and Elsie
[up]   [finished costume]

I first found the bohemian-like shirt at a local mall and it was the inspiration for this entire costume. I had a old pair of jeans that had a hole in a (not so) convienent place, so they were perfect for converting to Maureen's "Over the Moon" jeans. 132 grommets later... :D

           

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To see the reference images used to make this costume,
check out my Maureen Johnson Costume Research.