Swagged red drapery framing a lit blue festoon curtain, with dancers in silhouette on the Moulin Rouge! stage

Creative design and production support

From concept to curtain call.

We turn a designer's concept into soft goods that can be built, hung and toured: fabric chosen with swatches in hand, a specification the sewing floor can make, and support through the build.

Talk to the makers →

Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Photo: Michelle Grace Hunder

The Drape Selector

Spec your drape
before you call.

Answer five quick questions. The Drape Selector matches fabric, fullness and opening style to your space, then turns it into a spec ready to send to the makers.

Start the Drape Selector →

Five questions
No email gate
Quote-ready spec

Drape Selector

01What is the job?

House curtain

Masking legs

Cyclorama

02Which fabric?

VelvetIFR

Wool sergeIFR

MoltonNDFR

03How full should it hang?

Flat

75%

100%

04How does it open?

Traveller

Guillotine

Tableau

05What size?

FabricWool serge

FR classIFR

Size12.0 x 7.0 m

SpecReady →

Step 1 of 5 · The job

Two productions

Brief in. Soft goods out.

Every job runs the same four cues: the brief, the constraint, what we did and how it landed.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Red velvet booth seating and a fringed table lamp beneath the gilded balcony of the Moulin Rouge! set — Velvet and lamplight on the set. Photo: Chris Parker

Red velvet drapery in progress on long workshop tables, with a coloured drawing of the drape laid beside it — Drapery in progress during the shutdown

A long run of red fabric laid along a cutting table in a wide workshop, makers working at the far end — Moulin Rouge! drapery on the workshop tables

The Moulin Rouge! stage framed in red drapery, chandeliers and lit signage — On stage. Photo: Michelle Grace Hunder

Our scope The soft goods

MJ the Musical

A blue-toned graffiti brick wall cloth laid out on the chequered workshop floor — An MJ graffiti brick cloth in the workshop

Two makers kneeling on a large ornate cloth of red rays and gold detail spread across the workshop floor — An MJ cloth finished by hand on the floor

An ornate red and gold cloth hung upstage in a theatre, seen from the side of the stage — The MJ show cloth, hung in the theatre

Our scope The soft scenery. The wider set came from other workshops

Where we plug in

From the first sketch to after opening

Stage	What we do
Concept	Material advice with swatches on the table: weight, fall and how each cloth takes light
Specification	The concept turned into a specification the sewing floor can make
Build	Cut, sewn and finished in our Melbourne workshop
Bump-in	Fitted alongside the lighting, rigging and scenic teams
After opening	Care guidance, plus repairs and re-treatment from the workshop that made the pieces

Tracks, motors, fly systems and automation: production engineering at TSA →
Know exactly what needs making? See the range →

The work

Made by hand, for the stage

On both shows our part was the soft goods: chosen, cut, sewn and finished by our makers, wherever the work had to happen.

Rows of red and gold sari silks laid out across the carpeted foyer floor of the Regent Theatre — Sari silks laid out across the Regent Theatre foyer during the Moulin Rouge! build - when the deadline demanded it, the workspace moved into the theatre.

Two Reveal makers kneeling on a large ornate soft scenery piece for MJ the Musical, detailing it by hand on the workshop floor — Soft scenery for MJ the Musical, detailed by hand on the workshop floor.

Questions

Design support, answered

How early should we bring you in?

As early as the concept exists. Material choices drive build time, compliance and cost, and they are cheapest to change while they are still on paper.

Do you work from a designer's drawings?

Yes, and we flag anything that will not sew, hang or tour the way it is drawn. If all that exists is a reference image, we develop the specification with you.

Can we see the fabric before it is cut?

Yes. Material choices are made with swatches in hand, so you see how each cloth hangs, moves and takes light before anything is cut.

How is fire rating handled?

Fabrics are shortlisted with their fire rating on the table. Where a cloth needs treatment, it is flame retarded to AS 1530 standards through our fire treatment service.

Do you handle the tracks, motors and fly systems too?

The fabric and the sewing are ours. Tracks, motors, fly systems and automation are engineered by Theatre Safe Australia, our parent company, and we work alongside their engineers.