Tulle time: Seamstress shows passion for ballet in custom tutus

Susi Hubbs presses her clog on the pedal of an electric sewing machine, and a needle begins jabbing though a satin ribbon into a pink pointe shoe.

“I have to do this while we talk,” she says over the machine’s hum.

It’s “Nutcracker” season, and “The Costume Lady” is swamped. Snips of fabric and trim coat the tables where her two sewing machines sit; bolts of tulle and spools of thread line the walls. A dozen tutus, many made of velveteen and sprinkled with sequins, hang along a mirrored wall.

Hubbs pulls the shoes from the machine, snips a loose thread and hands the pair to Noel Amend as he walks through her doorway of her custom costume shop, The Costume Lady.

“This is one amazing lady,” says Amend, co-owner of Assemble Dancewear, which houses Hubbs’ business. “She’s got people calling her from all over the world.”

The costumes are often sought by serious dancers in their late teens who land lead roles in highprofile ballets such as “The Nutcracker.” She’s designed a handful of costumes for “Nutcrackers” in Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Parker.

Her designs are 18- to 80-hour projects made of at least 25 yards of fabric and costing at least $600. The price quickly skyrockets the more hours Hubbs spends gluing on rhinestones and adding sparkles, often surpassing $1,000.

“I think they’re very reasonably priced for the labor that goes into them,” says Toby Bradford, costume manager for the Colorado School of Dance in Parker.

But Hubbs’ repertoire goes way beyond “Nutcracker” costumes. She takes on projects as small as attaching ribbons to pointe shoes, and as large as crafting elaborate ice skating and synchronized swimming costumes. But her first love is the tutu.

“I have a costume seamstress that works for us,” Bradford says, “and she won’t touch a tutu with a 10-foot pole.”

‘It’s from the heart’

Hubbs seemed destined to have a foot in the ballet world.

She began dancing at age 5, performing throughout her childhood. She has been a flower, a Frosted Flake (yes, the cereal) and a tooth.

She continued dancing as a teenager, and enrolled in the University of Utah to study math and dance.

A year later, she moved to Dayton, Ohio, with her husband, George, and landed a spot in the Dayton Ballet Company, where she danced for a year.

“I love being able to share what’s in my soul with those that are watching, and ballet movement gives me that,” she says.

“It’s from here,” she says, tapping her palm to her chest. “It’s from the heart.”

Although Hubbs never stopped dancing (and still teaches ballet classes at Spring City Ballet), her professional career ended when she started her family. All four daughters, ages 14 to 23, grew up in ballet slippers.

“They were dancing before they were born,” says Hubbs, who remembers holding her 3-weeks-overdue belly while performing a small jump in a ballet studio — much to the horror of other mothers in the room.

Her segue into costume design took place when she was 24 and living in Alaska, and a local ballet studio asked for help making a few tutus. She had learned to sew at age 10 from her mother’s friend, and by 13 was experimenting with simple recital patterns such as decorated vests and pants. While most professional costume seamstresses spend hours studying their craft, Hubbs learned to construct tutus from a pattern she found in a thrift shop.

About half of her clientele is in state, and the other half is scattered across the country. Last fall, Hubbs made four tutus in turquoise, pink and yellow for Delta Festival Ballet in New Orleans, after the company commissioned her for “Nutcracker” costumes. Although each tutu was valued at $1,200 and the project took her a month and a half to complete, Hubbs donated the costumes to the company, which had been damaged in Hurricane Katrina the year before.

“I know that dance can be healing, not only for the performer but to the audience,” she says. “When all else is devastation and dreariness, art can transport you.”

“Nutcracker” season begins in August and ushers in her busiest time of year. With ballets all over the country beginning performances as soon as this week, Hubbs rarely leaves her sewing machine. She hardly has time to see a live ballet anymore, but one is usually playing on the small TV in her studio.

“I love watching the tutus,” she says. But, she admits, “I’m always watching them with a critical eye.”

Sewing confidence

Hubbs says tutus can try her patience, especially when she’s shoving seven to 11 layers of tulle through her sewing machine, her forearms sprouting a rash from rubbing the fabric. For moments like these, she keeps a CD of soothing ocean sounds and a stash of chocolate behind the stereo.

But for the most part, she doesn’t get frazzled. She loves it too much. Get her near a fabric store, and she’ll be right there at the clearance racks, rarely escaping without an armful of shimmery prints.

“I get a big charge out of taking a flat piece of fabric and nothing, and turning it into something that makes the dancer feel beautiful,” Hubbs says.

She’ll even place a few accents in the fabric that only the dancer will see. A costume’s biggest contribution is often making a dancer feel beautiful and confident, which leads to a successful performance, Hubbs said.

Myrna Hagedorn, a Manitou Springs synchronized swimming coach, agrees that costumes shape the performers’ mind-sets before competition. Hubbs has been designing swimsuits for Hagedorn’s team since 1994, when one of Hubbs’ daughters joined the team.

“They just need to feel that they are absolutely the best, and with the synchro costumes, they want to feel absolutely special,” Hagedorn says.

Avery Kennedy, a 12-yearold Colorado Springs ballerina, was ecstatic when her mother commissioned a custom-made turquoise costume from Hubbs last year. Her reaction?

“Whoa,” Avery says. “I was like, ‘That is so cool, I can’t wait to wear it onstage!’”

With Hubbs’ approval, Avery’s mom, Anita, picked up a needle and added beadwork to the costume to help the fabric shine under the lights.

“What’s wonderful about (Hubbs) is she’s willing to involve you to whatever degree you want to be involved,” Anita Kennedy says. “Or she’ll take care of the whole thing.”

Hubbs is working on another costume for Avery, based on a black-and-red, Spanish-style tutu designed by Karinska, a famous costumer for the New York City Ballet.

Hubbs keeps a growing collection of high-end vintage tutus in her office — some more than 50 years old — that she rents to serious dancers.

The Karinska tutu, however, never leaves the building. This time of year, neither does Hubbs.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0152 or melissa.cassutt@gazette.com