Vanessa's first realized costume design was at USU, 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 Once Upon a Mattress, produced in Spring 2018: 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 as well. Below are the renderings made for this production; above are the production photos of this realized musical.