TAMPA, Fla. — This Saturday, hundreds of knights, queens, and pirates will march down 7th Avenue in Ybor City for the annual Knight Parade, but what you may not know is many of their costumes are made right here in Tampa by a team of local seamstresses.
It’s just like Santa’s workshop, only they aren’t making toys, they're making costumes.
Over the course of the year, this team of seamstresses, located in the back of the South Tampa Trading Company, will make between 400 and 500 costumes for Krewes across Tampa Bay.
“I always enjoyed sewing as a kid and made things for my children and taught them to sew, but I never thought I’d get to do something like this,” said Anna Rosa.
Anne Bartlett started the business 11 years ago because she is in the Krewe of Grace O’Malley and knew the demand was there.
“This was one of the main aspects of the business that I wanted to do. I wanted to incorporate sewing, trims, fabric, and, as you know, a lot of those stores are going away, so it’s harder and harder to find those things in person,” said Bartlett.
Some of these costumes will take over 40 hours to make, all of them tailored to the Krewe member’s custom request.
“So, for me, I come from India. You’ll see the little elephants here. Of course, there is a cobra,” said Amyn Hirji with the Krew of the Knights of Sant’ Yago. “All the women weigh in with their experiences, and that’s invaluable, right? The fact that they’ve made so many costumes for so many different Krewes.”
Hirji will be joined by this year’s queen, Alyssa Zielinski.
“At first, it’s hard to visualize it yourself, so then when you see these ladies put it all together and the finished product, it’s like, ‘Wow. I don’t know how they did that, but it’s incredible,'" said Zielinski.
Some Krewe members even bring in photos of famous pirates from movies and TV.
“We can’t do it exactly, but we are coming pretty darn close,” said Rosa.
These ladies said if there are any questions or concerns, all they have to do is look to one another.
“I’ll call Anna Rosa, or I’ll call Rosemary, and I’ll say, ‘I’m stuck, can you help me?’ and they will come, and they’ll help you out no problem,” said Mickey Stewart.
The sewing never seems to stop. Every season is parade season.
"We already had a knight for next year come in who said, ‘I want to save my place and get started with this.' So we are excited to sort of jump into it again and get started with it,” said Bartlett.
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