PASSENGER TOUR
Fabric: IFR Encore Velour, Black; IFR Avora Lining, Black.

Eminent Tour Designers Dan Medland and Roxane Mirza came to us wanting a simple-yet powerful-backdrop for their upcoming tour with Passenger. Deciding to create a “starry sky” within each venue, they ended up renting some of our 30′ x 15′ Classic Stardrop LED backdrops for the tour. Able to rotate any direction you would need, these versatile drapes are tremendously popular for tours for several reasons. Because they can be configured to fit in almost any sized venue, are made of durable travel-friendly IFR fabrics, and can work either stand-alone with their own controllers or be operated by connecting to the house DMX dimmer board, production managers come back to this style of curtain again and again. Want to add thematic colorful sparkles to your stage design? We can set you up with a rental or custom color-changing RGB Chameleon LED drape, too!

Photos provided by: Jarrad Seng Photography

CLAIRO TOUR
Fabric: FR Superknit, White; FR Blackout Lining, White.

Working with the renowned Production Designer Jonny Kingsbury with Cour Design, he had a very unique vision for the tour design for up-and-coming indie-rock artist Clairo. He was looking to build three “walls” made of an immaculate, white fabric that they could use to fashion their stage’s design space at venues of various sizes. To do this, we built them three 20’h white FR Superknit drapes. This fabric is a fabulous ultra-wide substrate that is perfect for both front AND rear projection of graphics, video, or any other kinds of colorful lighting effects that you might want to splash onto it.

Next they wanted to add an exceptional center-point (curved) element to the design that would give the stage some dimension and texture, and offer their lighting team a secondary location for selected video and picture projected imagery to really “POP”. To achieve this distinctive look, they built a separate truss frame so that it could be used mid-stage from the backdrop, but upstage from the artist and her band. Since this would be front-projected onto only, and because they didn’t want any residual projection to spill-over onto the backdrop walls, they needed this substrate to be completely opaque, but still offer the same crisp, clean, flat, and smooth surface that the Superknit did. This fabric also needed to be over 9’h by 18’w AND seamless, and likewise be a fully opaque, projection-friendly FR substrate that would be wide enough for this specific set-up. The perfect material for this stage element was FR Blackout Lining in White/White. Utilizing two different substrates worked out wonderfully for this truly exclusive stage design, and Jonny and his lighting team did an outstanding job with the absolutely stunning lighting and projection effects.

Concert photographs by: Matty Vogel

Hippo Campus Tour
Fabric: IFR Voile, White; FR Blackout Lining, Black.

The engaging musicians with Hippo Campus needed some truly one-of-a-kind custom stage drapes for their current tour…so they came to the talented folks at Sew What to get the job done right. First, we sewed multiple sheer IFR Voile drapes as the foundation of this stage design. Next, we digitally printed these unique repeating geometric designs onto FR Blackout Lining, and then cut and laid out everything extremely carefully to the precise pattern being called out for. Last, we meticulously sewed all those cut-out pieces onto the voile drapes in the exact fashion needed to create this distinctive look. Layering these curtains in front of one another not only gave their tour design loads of dimension and drama, and allowed their lighting designers to produce unbelievably memorable looks throughout their shows.

Project: Mary J. Blige Tour
Fabric: IFR Voile, White

A talent like Mary J. Blige needs her stage drapes to be just as dynamic as she is! Using our gorgeous, sheer 24’h shirred White IFR Voile tie-on drapes from our Delightably White Rental Drapery Collection was a surefire way for her extraordinary lighting designers to create a fresh, new look for each part of her show. This lightweight IFR fabric is exceedingly tour-friendly, easy to install, and lights like a dream to give your own production designers incredible versatility when conceiving your concert’s overall look.

Project: Tenacious D
Fabric: Brillante

The design for Tenacious D focused on two elements, surface and shape. First, a fabric surface that would mimic a projection screen, and second, a precisely shaped projection proscenium to showcase carefully mapped out graphics. The designer, Dan Hadley, selected our 120 “Brillante,” which has a jet-black backside and a bright white semi-matte surface to take front projection. In order to keep all areas of the proscenium “seamless,” the design was developed so that no individual surface exceeded the 10-foot width of the cloth. The legs were sewn as separate pieces to the proscenium header, making the set three pieces for an easy install. As these photos demonstrate, the Tenacious D production team was able to create a variety of unique looks using the projection proscenium strategy.

Project: Ziggy Marley
Fabric: Textura

This project for Ziggy Marley’s international concert tour included a custom-built 24’h x 40’w Silver Textura backdrop, with hidden sewn ties on top and box pleating to add fullness. This lightly crushed polyester silk fabric is extremely “tour-friendly” since the crushed texture means wrinkles aren’t an issue. The material also lights beautifully giving the lighting designers the opportunity to project colorful lights, patterns, and images onto the backdrop. This allowed them to change the design and overall feel between different segments, songs and show pieces. Textura is a beautiful material in natural lighting, but being able to change the look with lighting gave this backdrop incredible versatility.

Project: TOTO
Fabric: Digitally Printed Heavy Cotton Canvas

The artwork file for this piece for TOTO was originally provided to us as a square piece of art that we extended into a landscape style backdrop piece. John Rios of John Rios Designs started with the original artwork and added details in the style and theme of the original art to create the final artwork to fit the landscape layout. This new art was then printed onto our Heavy Cotton Canvas substrate. The 30’h x 40’w sewn piece was then attached to a paint frame, where our skilled scenic artist hand painted Ultra Violet effects onto key areas of the graphic. This gave the drop the look and feel of album art under traditional stage lighting and a unique, worldly glow under the Ultra Violet light! What a gorgeous custom backdrop!

Project: Gov’t Mule
Fabric: 22oz Encore Velour & Heavy Knit

For Gov’t Mule’s tour, the bold design of the medallion style logo with a solid black background made for a beautiful mixed media backdrop. For this project, we used both opaque black cloth as well as a digitally printed replication of the central graphic. Then we stitched them together into a multi layered piece of textile art. We chose 22oz Encore Velour for the black background for its wrinkle resistant knit construction. Encore is also a wonderful substrate for a mixed media backdrops because when it is cut with scissors, it does not fray – allowing for intricate shapes and designs to be taken from the baseline fabric. The medallion element was printed onto our Heavy Knit fabric, which is a wrinkle resistant knit construction that takes bright and bold colors well. Once the medallion area was sewn onto the black drape, we cut away the black Encore Velour from the back of the printed areas. This allowed for the medallion to glow when back lit, revealing a unique and impressive look.

Project: Foo Fighters 20th Anniversary Blowout Tour
Fabric: DFR Poly Silk with Digitally Printed Poly Silk Logo

A sniffer drape is a Kabuki drape that has a D-ring sewn onto the back of it with a cable attached to it. Nearly simultaneously after the kabuki solenoids are fired, the drape drops and the sniffer mechanism rapidly pulls the drape up until it disappears from eyesight. Sew What’s team worked at a rapid pace in getting the concerts backdrop pieces together on short notice for the 4th of July show. Created was a large 40′ x 40′ backdrop with a digitally printed applique silk logo that was 30′ x 30′ “FF”. Additionally two side pieces at 40′ x 24′ were created for a total of 2,340 feet of fabric. The logo was dye sublimated onto Poly Silk. The center piece was to become a sniffer drape, while the two side pieces adjoining it were dropped in a reveal effect in front of the band.

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Photographs by: Tom Baird of the Edmonton Sun and Pics by T

Project: Josh Groban Tour
Fabric: FR White Crushed Taffeta, FR White Creased Taffeta, FR Ivory Creased Taffeta, FR Silver Textura

Manufactured from hundreds of fabric squares, painstakingly cut out and sewn together to make each square double-sided, and then attached together at the corners with grommets and steel rings, this custom band backdrop has texture, movement and depth. Utilizing a random pattern of creased and crushed fabrics in complimentary pale tones provided the desired textural element. Movement and depth were created by leaving slack between the squares, so that each square dips at the top, with the added benefit that the tour lighting designer was able to create the illusion of even greater depth by projecting light on and through the backdrop from front or back.

Adding to the versatility of the backdrop is that, rather than consisting of a single backdrop, the piece was manufactured in five individual 30′ h x 10′ wide sections, giving production the option of varying the number of panels used based on the stage width at each venue.

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Photographs by: Calvin “Mac” Mosier

Project: Black Sabbath tour
Fabric: Commando Cloth with metal mesh lava appliquéd.

The Black Sabbath stage design included three giant video screens encased in what needed to appear as lava. To get the lava effect, we created a cut drop from Commando Cloth and then used metal mesh for the lava appliqué. To complete the effect, we added scrim to the cutouts.

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Project: The Postal Service Faux Pipe Drapes and Keyboard Skirts
Fabric: FR Black Textilene®, FR Black 16oz Commando Cloth, and FR Silver Drizzle

After utilizing a hard set with metal pipes for The Postal Service’s North American Tour, designer Dan Hadley wanted to replicate the same look in fabric for the band’s European tour, and so he contacted Sew What?. The challenge was to come up with a drapery design that would give the illusion of rows of 1 1/2″ individual metal pipes, but would also have a stability that would be difficult to achieve with very narrow strips of fabric. The solution? A series of 18 drapes of about 1 foot in width were manufactured in FR Black Textilene®, a mesh material that almost disappears under stage lighting. Appliqued onto the drapes were rows of 1 1/2″ strips of FR Silver Drizzle, chosen for its silver color and linear appearance, to give the illusion of the original metal pipes. With the drapes hung from truss, mimicking the original configuration as the original metal pipes, it is difficult to see the difference! The addition of coordinating keyboard skirts, utilizing FR Black Commando appliquéd with the same FR Silver Drizzle fabric, finishes the look.

Photographs by: Chris “Reno” McLendon

Project: Miranda Lambert / Dierks Bentley Kabuki
Fabric: Direct Print to FR Artist Light

Sewn as a double kabuki with a bag diaper attached…… this Direct Print onto Artist Light was the key element seen by the concert audience upon entering the venue. Kill the houselights, ramp up the sound, and ka-blamo….. drop the drape! We love these kabuki effects as much as our clients do. (We also rent solenoids thru our sister company Rent What? Inc ) This type of print requires long seamless prints thru our 120″ Vutek Direct Printer, and then each printed panel is matched to the next and stitched with the pattern in mind. Many hours of work between printing and sewing – but well worth it – what a dramatic drape!

Photographs by: Maria Wabdel

Project: Little Big Town
Fabric: Digital print backdrop to Heavy Knit

Pewter Tergalet drapes custom made with client provided scenic treatment.

What made this such a fun project was that the end result was to have a “disassembled” effect – such as taking a traditional theatre – and then having a hurricane blow thru it – leaving the core elements but capturing the aftermath of the natural disaster. Loved the design for the backdrop by Raj Kapoor, where the glass ceiling was smashed, the proscenium barely standing – and the forced perspective backdrop work and torn. The entire upstage scene – while it looks like multiple layers – was in fact a flat digitally printed backdrop. Using our 10 foot wide vutek UV curable printer and embracing Heavy Knit as a base substrate (for its earth representation of dark colors) we were very happy with the outcome.

To create additional depth and provide some translucent elements, the downstage drapery and overhead swags were produced from our pewter Textura. Hung asymmetrically to provide a wind-blow look the textura was the perfect palette for lighting, and gave all the trim and detail needed to give the scene a real theatrical look.

Exposed lighting trusses – like in a theater – very clever – this was a wonderful project to be involved in – and the product! Gotta see it to appreciate it.

Design by: Raj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor Productions, 201 S Lucerne Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90004
Phone: 323.708.4777
Email: raj@rajkapoorproductions.com
Website: rajkapoorproductions.com

Photo permission: Kelly at Sandbox Management

Project: Rod Stewart
“The Hits” tour celebrating his 2 year Las Vegas residency. Caesar’s Palace.
Fabric: 100% Poly Muslin / Traditionally Hand Painted.

Polyester muslin is an excellent light weight material that transluces beautifully when back lit – as a result it was selected from a variety of materials for this installation at Cesar’s Palace Las Vegas. For ”The Hits” tour, the design required a paintable surface, minimal seams, and a bright and bold background color. Certainly it worked perfectly for the design and the paintable surface is preferred by scenic artists where an IFR substrate is desired.

For theatrical backdrops and scenery, images and textures can be added to a hand painted scenic stage backdrop by a scenic artist or digitally printed on a backdrop. Either method may be combined with bobinette or scrim fabric to create a cut drop. You can also create a starry nightscape scene using LED stage backdrops.

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Design: Lars Brogaard

Project: Katy Perry
Fabric: Heavy Knit

This is a unique Willy Wonka Austrian drape, with mismatched lift lines, and asymmetrical gathering. In true Katy Perry style there is an abundance of color movement action.

Photo by: Todd Kaplan

Project: Katy Perry
Fabric: Tendo Stretch Cloth

Three dimensional custom parachute cover for Katy Perry’s dramatic entry into the VH1 Salute the Troops show. This dramatic effect is best captured by the Daily Mail.

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Project: Flogging Molly
Fabric: Heavy Knit

This is a digital print mixed media drop where all the windows were actually cut out, so under backlight the windows glowed, but as a front lit piece the gray tone palate gave a wonderful bold but mutli tasking surface (RE-touch).

Photo By: John Rios

Project: Alice in Chains
Fabric: Special Order Textured Silver Polyester / White Poly Silk

A feature element of this stage design involved a 44 head kabuki solenoid system which controlled a variety of single and double kabuki backdrops. A kabuki drop is identified when a series of electronically fired solenoids are released simultaneously and the drapery drops gracefully to the ground revealing the scene behind.

The stage drapery was custom ordered and had to be durable, flame retardant, light weight and road worthy. Of the various cloths that were tested under studio conditions, the best projection image was achieved from a ‘rain textured’ silver polyester scrim-like cloth. We think you will agree that the final effect was spectacular!

Alice in Chains rental kabuki package provided by Rent What? Inc
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Photo By: “Iron” Mike Savoia www.SavoiaPhotography.com

Project: Light Boxes for Sonic Youth
Fabric: Cotton Sharkstooth Scrim / Natural Seamless Muslin

In yet another unique design, Dan Hadley (of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s fame among others….) combined lighting and set design in this unique light box staging combination. These pieces served more than just one function. When lit from within the opaque lining materials captured the light and allowed light to escape from the organic images only. When front lit – one discovered that they were sculpturally designed shapes with scenic treatments and burnt edges. The four unique elements were aged and dramatic. The light boxes were framed and had easy-on easy-off enclosures which we designed around the lighting and framing parameters.

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Project: Metal Mesh Drape and Muslin Cyc for the Decemberists Tour
Fabric: Metal Mesh / Natural Seamless Muslin

Lighting designer Anne Militello had a very clear vision for this mixed media piece for The Decemberists. It needed to look like an oil painting when lit, with dimension. Not chunky or rough, rather delicate and textural. Combining designed layers of varying widths and heights, the metal mesh was set to the downstage cord of the truss, while a dirtied up natural muslin backdrop acted as the canvas to the scene. Anne put her talents to work – and roll over Rembrandt! In a recent article in Lighting and Sound America Magazine Anne accredited the success of the design to Sew What? Inc’s ability to listen and interpret her needs into a reality.

Like this look? The layered drapery seen here is similar to pieces represented by Rent What? Inc in their Industrial Textures Rental Drapery Series.

Click here for a video preview of the Industrial Texture Series

Project: Cut drop for Lady Gaga Tour, Europe & Australia
Fabric: Digitally Printed Airtex / 15oz Encore Velour / Black

We were exited, and challenged, when we were asked to produce this extremely unique mixed media backdrop for Lady Gaga. Designed by Ray Woodbury of RK Diversified, this piece combined a variety of stage effects and various textiles. The lower graphic area was direct printed onto Airtex. The cut drop was created by inserting areas of tiger mesh. Hidden smoke lines added live exhaust to the city skyline and a front projection screen build into the graphic brought the printed billboard to life. Over 200 LED lights were hardwired to illuminate “the fame machine” sign giving this custom piece lots of interest and dramatically framing the stage. A dramatic backdrop for a dynamic artist!

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Project: Chris Cornell at the Wiltern (Los Angeles)
Fabric: Crushed Screen Mesh / Aluminum

For Chris Cornell’s concert at the Los Angeles Wiltern Theatre the band’s management turned to Rent What? { sewwhatinc.com/rent-what-inc/ } to provide a one of a kind rock-drop. This spectacular crushed mesh drape from the “Industrial Textures Rental Series” gave the lighting designer a textured palette which resulted in some amazing looks.

Rent What? is exclusively representing unique and unusual drapery and mixed media pieces produced by Sew What? Inc. To learn more about their inventory of unique backdrops and masking drapes visit them on the web at sewwhatinc.com/rent-what-inc/

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Project: Sheryl Crow Tour
Fabric: 8oz Supervel / Atomic Red; Satin / various neutral tones

By utilizing 8oz Superve, an inherently flame retardant fabric which is light weight and yet durable, we were able to create a viable touring stage drapery set that satisfied the productions need for “user friendly’ and the artists desire for “rich and dramatic”. All the elements drop into hampers and pull out for tie off at the next venue – everything was made to be installation friendly. The main bi-parting pair of drapes was on a 260 series traveler track and when opened revealed the satin “blow through” drape seen in these photos.

The Satin blow through drape was designed on a mesh backing so that when fans were applied to the back side the various satin elements moved and created water like rippling effects. It was very dramatic when lit – a variety of both crushed and non-crushed materials were used and the colors chosen were natural tones, allowing for a wide variety of colors to be used when lighting.

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Photo By: Chris Hudson

Project: Rod Stewart Tour
Fabric: Topically Treated Voile

One of our favorite acts – Rod Stewart returns to Sew What? Inc for his 2008 stage draperies. The look was very clean and classic, compared to the thematic design of the Rod Stewart 08 stage drapes. Best of all we were thrilled to learn that the entire stage would be all drapes! The sheer voile drapes appear opaque with the front lighting and take the lighting effects beautifully. We utilized an oversized pleating method and pushed over 200% fullness into the drapes to add dimension and interest. Sew What? Inc was pleased to provide the client with a full package including the white voile drapes, various masking drapes, as well as three touring traveler tracks.

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Project: Kenny Chesney Tour
Fabric: Direct Print to PES Banner 24

To achieve one of the most impressive reveals seen on the road this year – we participated in the automation of a digitally printed wide format backdrop by way of attachment to a custom SGPS ShowRig Motorized Lift System. With 120 linear feet of printed media – the center section of over 80 feet of backdrop was flawlessly and gracefully raised when 13 lift lines were operated. When fully raised the drape stacked neatly up in front of the truss above while the artist performed – ready to drop again at the end of the show. For this particular project where the client wanted “luminescence” when backlit we selected a 16 foot wide substrate with a direct print – PEW Banner 420. This substrate provided good color saturation and gives the image a projected appearance in a backlit scenario.

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Photo gallery showcasing Kenny Chesney digitally printed drapes by Sew What? on Flickr.
Photo By: Ed Wannebo, Production Manager.

Project: James Taylor Tour
Fabric: Silver Iridescent Silky Charmeuse

This stage scene we produced for James Taylor is unique, as it was created over a two tour period. The first tour produced three truss borders and one short saction of silver drapery seen in the background. The look and feel of the first tour worked so well that the production designers and artist chose to add elements to fill out the scene for the second and subsequent tour. We added a second Austrian drape which plays vertically above the original to add height and additionally created legs and borders in the 16oz Princess velour to add to the layers and drama of the setting.

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Project: Kelly Clarkson Tour
Fabric: 22oz Encore Velour and Iridescent Silky Charmeuse

A tour which is booked to perform in medium sized theatres often poses a challenge to designers and producers. Unlike an arena where you bring your own ground support (and know your trim height etc) in a theatre setting you are at the mercy of the stage parameters of each venue.
Producer Ray Woodbury of RK Diversified overcame this challenge by creating a design which could be incrementally shortened – in either height or width – for this tour. Upstage a series of five free-hanging projection screens were designed with soft fabric borders at the bottom, giving them over 5 feet of flexibility in height. Additionally, as the screens were independent, crew could drop a unit in width (down to four screens) when the venue required them to.

Utilizing the inherent flexibility of an Austrian Drape at mid stage, crew could easily shorten the feature drapery without spoiling the effect of the curtain. The photos of this production are gorgeous, doing justice to a talented singer as well as a clever and versatile design.

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Photographs by:Todd Kaplan

Project: Soul In The Machine

Check out this great photo! – not often granted the opportunity to take photos with the stars……. The artists who are “Soul In The Machine” stopped for a moment to pose with Megan Duckett and Gerilyn Gregory of Sew What? Inc. while checking out the company’s trade show booth at a recent convention. Visit them online at: www.soulinthemachine.com

Photographs by: Photo Credit Soul In The Machine (www.soulinthemachine.com)

Project: Dierks Bentley Kabuki
Fabric: Dye Sublimation

“You need a 30’h x 60’w in how many days?” ………Production staff from Deirks Bentley knew where to call when they needed digital printing services for their tour. Dye sublimation gave us the saturation of color required to really hit the CK and process blues in this logo embedded artwork. As it was to be used as a kabuki drop down stage and there were obvious vertical break lines in the art, we chose to produce the item with vertical seams which disappeared into the artwork.

Photographs by: Todd Ortmeier

Project: Hannah Montana Tour
Fabric: Commando Cloth and Poly Poplin

Finding the balance between the “look” desired by designers and the “durability” needed by production staff led us to produce the Hanna Montana masking and dressing room draperies from a combination of fabrics. All areas which were to be high traffic with lots of dancers (and cosmetics!) were produced from washable yet durable, Poly Poplin. The front of house masking was then produced from durable and economical 16oz Commando Cloth.

Making the drapes which mask “behind the scenes” may seem low profile to some suppliers, but we see it as a challenge – the magic of the show would not be nearly as captivating if the “mechanics” were visible to the audience. At Sew What? Inc we take masking draperies seriously!

Photographs by: M Duckett

Project: Rod Stewart Still The Same Tour
Fabric: 100% Cotton Poplin / Traditionally Drum Printed with the Stewart Family tartan
22oz Encore Velour for all black masking drapes.

When audiences come to see Rod Stewards 2007 tour, they are met by a 360-degree stage completely enclosed by 160 linear feet of the Stewart Family tartan.

The challenge was to translate the 2 x 2 tartan pattern into 1,500 yards of larger than life stage curtain. We experimented with a number of fabrication techniques, said Sew What? president Megan Duckett. We considered digital printing and custom painting, but they didnt produce the results we were after. The Sew What? team settled on traditional garment printing methods utilizing four 60 ink drums. Once the ink was dry, the material was sent through a separate flame-retardancy process in preparation for sewing.

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Design: Ian Knight / Lars Brogaard
Photographs by: Jim Steinfeldt

Project: Digitally Printed Backdrop for The New Cars
Fabric: Digitally Printed Heavy Knit

Isn’t this a great shot? And let me tell you – The New Cars sure did put on a good show. This photo is from their performance at the House of Blues show on Sunset Blvd.

Our multi-tasking digitally printed backdrop hangs behind them for personalisation and displays their logo with clarity. With so many different substrates to choose from there is a digital backdrop for every band no matter the budget.

Photo by: Jim Steinfeldt

Project: Hand Painted Scrim Drop for Scott Stapp Tour
Fabric: Black Sharkstooth Scrim

Click on the image to get a great shot of the scrim being painted. The 40’w x 24’h scrim was hand painted with the artists custom design. A combination of paints in varying degrees of intensity gave an overall texture to the scrim. The logo was carefully painted to show the detail of the the cherokee text and design as seen in the original artist rendering.

Did You Know? A scrim is a commonly used piece of stage curtain magic. Learn More.

Project: Studio and Window Draperies for artist Prince
Fabric: White Leno Filled Scrim

This call came in on a Sunday – Designers for the temporary residence of artist Prince required sound absorbant draperies for the windows and studio in the Hollywood home. The large quantity of draperies were designed, quoted and delivered within 3 days!

The most exciting moment of course (aside from the opportunity to work on a project for such a high profile artist) was that the home was then used as the setting for the album / CD insert! So there we are – Sew What? Inc in, and on, Prince’s album titled “3121”.

Project: Kid Rock Tour
Fabric: 22oz Crimson Encore

As always we were totally excited to be asked to manufacture the draperies for Joe Gallagher of Accurate Staging. This project for Kid Rock included upstage drapes, stage and riser skirting as well as all the hampers necessary to house the softgoods.

Manufacturing insight:: All the skirting was sewn with both a webbing reinforcement at top and a 2″ durable velcro for easy attachment to the risers. The upstage drapes were broken down into 20 foot widths to make folding and hanging easier and more manageable!

Project: Jane’s Addiction Tour
Fabric: Rope Netting and Webbing

A netting sculpture/structure that surrounded the artists and promoted dramatic lighting effects. All the webbing was double stitched onto the netting and reinforced points with d-rings created motor pick-points. Hand made fabric chandelier lamps hung from above to complete the frightening yet fragile scene.

Project: Don Henley Tour
Fabric: 16oz Velour, Plum

A Gothic design, with giant a-symmetrical swags and gold tassels throughout. The main swags were also equipped with lift lines, which allowed for a dramatic US reveal.

Manufacturing Insight: To assist in dressign the swags to the floor we used custom 10 long “sausage sand bags”. By covering them in the same fabric as the drapes they became virtually “invisible” from the audience.

Designed by: Jim Lenahan
Photo by: Steve Jennings

Project: Stevie Nicks Tour
Fabric: Textura

This project consisted of 6 legs with sewn-in swags and over 280’ of ruffled border. All drapes had 100% sewn-in fullness and attached to the trusses with “hidden sewn in ties. The side and rear masking draperies were sewn from black 16oz Commando Cloth.

Project: Janet Jackson Tour
Fabric: IFR Polyester Muslin / Black

Several mid and upstage kabuki drapes were used to separate the stage for preshow acts. In this case where a reasonable amount of opacity was required IFR Poly Muslin was chosen. While light enough to drop gracefully when the solenoids are released, the polyester muslin offers the durability needed for daily use while on tour. Rent What? Inc is pleased to represent a line of Kabuki Drapes (both single and double drop) produced in this tourable and durable fabric.

Janet Jackson’s rental drapery package provided by Rent What? Inc

Photo By: Steve Jennings