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She sews for swashbucklers

By DALIA WHEATT
Published January 26, 2006

	[Photo: Slobodan Juric]
	Lauren Whitman creates a pirate costume in what used to be the garage of her Clearwater home. It can take up to 80 hours to create one of the more elaborate costumes, and they can sell for $230 to $2,000.
	Ahoy, ladies Two members of a female Krewe say being a pirate wench at Gasparilla is addictive fun. But they could do without the flashers. Plotting a course The annual Gasparilla invasion in Tampa on Saturday is a fun time, to be sure. But let's face it: It can be a big pain, too, with crowds, parking and those dreaded portable toilets. With that in mind, we've compiled a survival guide that can help keep your inner pirate from going arrrggghhhh!!!

CLEARWATER - As the costume designer for three Gasparilla parade krewes, Lauren Whitman has created hundreds of Spanish-inspired outfits since the Mystic Krewe of Santa Margarita first commissioned her four years ago. In the weeks leading up to Gasparilla, the Clearwater resident, 42, spends virtually every waking hour making costumes in what used to be her garage. Whitman, who taught herself to sew, is also the mother of five kids ages 7 to 24. She recently discussed her craft, while continuing to toil away.

How long does a costume take, from start to finish?

Eighty hours. I calculated because I had to do a price analysis in order to decide how much am I going to charge. These for the Margarita krewe, they're 80 hours. The other groups, not so bad; so they're not as expensive.

They range from $230 up to almost $2,000. But they're not going to wear it just once.

Generally from 5 a.m. to midnight, I am physically in here. It is really something. And from here on out, there have been many, many, many times I've just sewn all night long. There's a deadline, you know? Somebody needs it. This is going to happen.

I was a fire paramedic for the city of St. Pete for seven years. I met my husband there, and we were going to have a bunch of kids. . . . I left the fire department and decided to learn how to sew. I made all my kids' clothes, their bedding and stuff like that. Then when our oldest son made it to high school, they needed somebody to make the flags and then costumes for the color guards. . . . In two years I was doing the costuming and the flags for seven high schools.

He does all of the billing, he schedules when it gets crazy like this, he runs to every fabric store in two counties to get the supplies I need, or he'll buy, because we buy a lot from the Internet. It's a whole full-time person that needs to do that. So when I'm out designing with a customer or when I'm in here constructing, he's running the rest of it. Plus he runs the family then. So during this busy season, he takes a leave. He works for All Children's Hospital and he's a fire lieutenant for St. Pete - that's his real job.

January and February, because it's insane and there's parades every two weeks - boom, boom, boom all the way through. (Then) everybody just gets tired, they rest and then they pick it up again in the fall.

Yes, but because it gets so busy, I tell them, "I don't want to talk about Halloween until two weeks before." And then really this past year it was, "You guys are big enough. Come up with something because this is just so busy." You know, the cobbler's children have no shoes.

Yes.

No, it's basic. And everyone keeps telling me, "You've gotta get another one."

- Dahlia Wheatt can be reached at 727 893-8717 or dwheatt@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 31, 2006, 16:17:23]