Vanessa's first realized costume design was at Utah State University, where she was co-designer with main Costume Designer Lydia Semler and Director Paul Barnes. She was in charge of designing costumes for six of the characters in the Spring 2018 production of Once Upon a Mattress: the Minstrel, Princess #12, The Nightingale of Samarkand, and three of the ensemble characters, as well as overseeing the construction of the pieces and stitching them. Below are the renderings made for this production; above are the production photos of this realized musical.