28/07/2026
The August issue of the Bundanoon History Group newsletter has dropped and includes an article about one of the very special costumes we created for our production of Dracula. A little bit of history in every stitch.
A Costume Drama.
A few years ago BHG member Kay Morgan donated a stash of fabric to Melting Pot Theatre. The collection included pieces left by her mother, some dating back to the 1960s.
Most sewers are familiar with the syndrome of fabric too beautiful not to possess but ‘too good’ to use. Hence the stash. A pink striped coated chintz Laura Ashley print quickly fell into this category. Slated for use as a Regency gown, and then for The Haunting production, it remained uncut. The Isabelle print is discontinued and considered a collectors item - using it was a serious decision.
Then came Dracula - A Love Story. The character Mina Murray needed a tea gown. The time had come.
The costume was created using an authentic 1890s sewing pattern from the Black Snail company, which reissues period patterns. Construction came with the joy and challenge of learning intensive Victorian era hand-sewing techniques. The imagined tea gown morphed into a more tailored structure to represent the character’s resolve. Finishing touches included reused lace embellishments from The Haunting and antique buttons recycled from a damaged artwork found by Alesha Elbourne in a local charity shop. The lining was pieced together from garage sale sourced scraps of vintage toile de Jouy into a story no one would ever see but the actress would know was there.
Many theatre costumes are an amalgam of velcro and moonlight, but in Mina’s gown a many layered story of fabric, pattern, history and craft came together and made a magical moment.
I would like to thank Kay Morgan, Meg Lloyd, President Jo Le Cheminant and Vice President Amy Press for their generous fabric donations to MPT.
- Alison Ayers
Photo by Joy Brown. Mina Murray played by Réka Kaponay.
Dracula - A Love Story. Melting Pot Theatre, Bundanoon. 2026
Additional thanks: as well as items from the above mentioned BHG donors, MPT has received incredible donations of fabric, notions, lace, vintage clothing and props. Thank you Christine Dixon, Diana Curtis, Meg Nurse, Miranda Lean and so many others.
