Kathryn Sherwin, who helps shape costumes at the Grand Theatre, often finds solutions in her sleep

There aren’t too many people who can say they’ve "torn the trousers off" of Mick Jagger.

Kathryn Sherwin did.

In fact, the Grand Theatre’s wardrobe cutter/tailor has put her scissors to use for some rather famous names, including Sir Ian McKellen, one of the world’s most accomplished actors who played Gandalf in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, the late great Canadian stage actor William Hutt and actor/director Martha Henry at the Stratford Festival.

She also counts comedian/actor Martin Short among her clients.

Most recently, Sherwin’s work can be viewed in the Grand Theatre production of A Christmas Story, now on stage through to Dec. 30.

One of the more elaborate costumes in the show is worn by 10-year-old lead actor Callum Thompson, in his role of Ralphie, who dreams of protecting his family with the air rifle he desperately wants for Christmas, the focus of the classic story.

It’s Sherwin’s job to measure, draw a pattern and cut materials and fabrics that are sewed by others to become costumes.

Sherwin’s encounter with Jagger came while she and fellow cutter/tailor Marvin Schlithing were working on opera costumes in Toronto in the late 1990s and the Rolling Stones were planning their Bridges To Babylon tour, which stopped in Toronto in April, 1998.

white prom dress

"We had been doing opera costumes in Toronto and, apparently, his costume designer said they needed opera people to do his costumes," said Sherwin.

Sherwin and Schlithing measured, cut and sewed two coats, five pairs of tear-away trousers and two shirts for the singer of one of the most popular rock ’n roll bands in history.

She described Jagger as "incredibly nice."

"It was really fun and I got to tear his trousers off!" exclaimed Sherwin.

"I was so nervous. But he was generous. You know, he’s scheduled beyond belief, but in all honesty he gave us the impression he would have liked to have spent more time with us, talking about what we do but not about himself."

Sherwin, 63, has been making costumes for theatre since the early 1970s when she graduated from Sheridan College’s fashion technique and design program, with only a four-year interruption selling real estate with her late father, Robert.

"I didn’t know much about theatre before I went to college, but I learned it quickly because I wasn’t really into fashion," said Sherwin. "I was more costume aware."

Sherwin took whatever work she could get, including doing costumes for amateur theatre troupes, films and television.

Then she applied for a job at Stratford Festival in the mid-1980s. She got the job of sewing costumes and working as the cutter’s assistant for North America’s top summer repertory theatre company, where she stayed for 22 years.

Sherwin has been at the Grand for 14 years, including some overlap with Stratford.

Designs are handed to Sherwin in the form of coloured drawings from costume designers, such as the Grand’s Lisa Wright and the renowned Dora Award winning Bill Layton, who has designed sets and costumes for some of the Grand’s more ambitious productions, among them Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, The Hobbit, Legends, The Wizard of Oz and Dreamgirls. He’s also worked on Broadway and at several major Canadian theatres.

"You’ve got to interpret designs," explained Sherwin. "Some aren’t too specific about colours. Bill Layton likes to have input and likes the designs to grow, but others can be very specific. Sometimes it’s entirely spelled out, other times it isn’t. That’s what I like about theatre, every day is never the same."

Of course, designers are notorious for creations that only the talents and imaginations of those tasked with producing them can match.

Using pool noodles, yoga matts, foam and magnets are among some of the tricks costume makers employ to fulfil the designer’s dreams.

"Often I find my solutions come to me in my sleep," said Sherwin. "One of the more difficult shows to costume was The Hobbit and I found the solution would often come once I just picked up the fabric and touched it"

Last year’s hit holiday show, Shrek, also posed challenges.

"Making the legs for Lord Farquaad (the diminutive character played by Liam Tobin), mostly on his knees," said Sherwin.

"It was fascinating trying to figure out how to get his legs to work, like when he’d have to walk backwards."

Her design clearly worked as audiences enjoyed several belly laughs with Lord Farquaad’s movements.

Among her favourite costumes that adorn her fourth-floor working space are Joseph’s technicolour dreamcoat, a Christmas tree worn by Grand Bend’s Anna Bartlam in Miracle on 34th Street and the red steampunk dress worn by Isabella Wolder in the High School Project’s Hello, Dolly! last September.

Sherwin was born in Hamilton and raised on a farm where her dad was also a butcher before he started working for United Co-Operatives handling hog and chicken contracts, moving the family around the province until they settled in St. Marys.

Her brother, Claire, is a well-known lawyer in St. Marys.

"Nobody in my family had ever done anything like this (theatre) before and they thought I was nuts," said Sherwin.

Aside from the challenges of bringing costume designs to life, Sherwin said her other favourite part of working at the Grand is the annual High School Project, where students from across the region work for months on a fall musical, some acting, some working behind the scenes with people such as Sherwin.

"I just love the kids, mentoring them and their ability to learn," said Sherwin.

"The other thing I love about this work is I love the fantasy aspect of costumes and, of course, the historical aspects. I guess it was the right path for me to take."

strapless prom dresses

http://www.kissyprom.co.uk