Creative, Low-Cost Costuming Ideas Reference for high school students

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Costuming is a fascinating area of theatre to work in, and if money is tight (and it often

is) the challenges are exciting.

Here are some ideas to help get your started with your own productions or ones you’re

involved with at school.

Planning

Start by determining how many costumes you will need and the style of show you are

producing. Will it require period, contemporary or futuristic costumes? Determine what

sizes and shapes you will be dealing with and the colour-range required.

If you are creating costumes for a group, discuss how much money there is for costumes

and divide that amount by the number of costumes needed. This way you will be able to

estimate the budget you will need to work with. Estimate an average amount per costume,

but note that some costumes may cost more than the amount you have allotted, which

means that others need to cost less.

Decide if you will build the costumes, or buy, beg and borrow them. Maybe it will be a

combination of these methods. Check what stock costumes your school may have in

storage, and pull the ones you think are worth considering.

Sources

Get to know your neighbourhood. Most community theatres have stock costumes and

will lend or rent costumes at a low rate. They may ask that they be returned dry-cleaned.

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You could ask your neighbourhood dry-cleaner to consider sponsoring your production

by giving you free cleaning!

Many community theatres also have specific period costumes in their stock, so get

familiar with their inventory, and also with the staff or volunteers who costume the

shows.

Costuming for contemporary theatre

The best, and usually least expensive way to costume a contemporary theatre piece is by

visiting used clothing stores.

• Salvation Army thrift stores, Goodwill outlets and church bargain shops are all

good sources of inexpensive pieces.

• Some secondhand stores have the advantage of well-organized clothing racks, but

the prices may be slightly higher.

• Check out garage sales for clothing of all sorts. For real economy, you might

borrow contemporary clothing from your friends or hold a clothing rally and have

your friends bring no longer needed clothing from home. You’ll be surprised at

what turns up.

Recycling existing clothing

Look at the clothing you have and imagine the clothing you need.

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• If you have lots of corduroy pants, but need breeches cut the legs below the knees

and elasticize the openings.

• If someone gave you some old white shirts but you need the collarless variety

know that most collars can be removed, leaving a band of fabric to give you the

look you want.

You can create futuristic costumes easily and economically by using donated t-shirts in a

variety of sizes and colours.

• Let the actor put them on in the order you request; three or four complimentary or

contrasting colours work well.

• With scissors, cut the first t-shirt short and with an uneven edge.

• Cut the next layer a little longer echoing the edge of the first t-shirt.

• Cut the third layer even longer. It could be low on one side and high on the other.

• With other t-shirts the edges can be cut into fringe, the sleeves cut out, the neck

enlarged, holes cut open to reveal skin or a different coloured t-shirt underneath.

• Turn the t-shirt inside out to obliterate the logos. Cut the label off.

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• T-shirts material doesn’t fray so hemming and stitching isn’t necessary, making

your job easier.

Jeans and trousers can be ragged or shortened or fringed. Using scissors and a little

imagination you can create a futuristic fantasy in the Blade Runner vein.

When you need to start from scratch

Most large Canadian cities have fabric shopping “districts” where you can find very good

prices in many shops. For instance Montreal has St. Hubert Street, Hamilton has Ottawa

Street, Winnipeg has Main Street, where a series of fabric shops, large and small, line the

street. Bargains can always be found and the variety is immense.

Can’t afford the fabric you want? Make your own. Basic, unbleached cotton isn’t exactly

cheap, but it is 60 inches wide, so you get more fabric for the price per metre.

• Unbleached cotton can be laundered to soften it before treating it, or you may like

it to remain “sized” (keeping the starch that gives it body). It can be dyed or

drawn on with felt markers, crayons or brush-on dyes. By designing and making

your own fabric you will arrive at something very unique.

• Unbleached cotton is available at most fabric stores but you may have to order the

60-inch wide variety in advance.

• You can also apply other fabrics to unbleached cotton by using a fusing material

with a hot iron that melts the two materials together. By cutting shapes from a

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variety of scrap fabrics and fusing them to the unbleached cotton you can create

something all your own. Be aware that producing your own fabrics is time

consuming but it can be rewarding when you create a spectacular collection of

costumes.

Period Costumes

Period costumes can be a challenge on a low budget. No matter what period or age the

director and design team has decided to portray, the most important thing to remember is

maintaining the period’s silhouette.

Every age of fashion has its own, distinctive silhouette. If you can realize the shapes of

costumes in, for instance, the Restoration period, it is possible within that framework to

create unique costumes that do no necessarily adhere to the use of typical, expensive

materials and complex stitching.

• Fake lace might be created by using paper doilies as stencils and spray painting an

edge of “lace” around the hem of a Restoration skirt.

• Similarly, using a piece of scrap lace from a scrap box, a pattern can be spray-

painted over a larger area, creating your own unique fabric.

• Depending on how durable and long lasting the costume needs to be, even paper

can, in some cases, be used (fire safety notwithstanding).

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• Accordion pleated paper will not only make very good fans for Restoration

comedies, it also will make Elizabethan ruffs and Jacobean head dresses.

You will be able to achieve a convincing period costume with an artistic eye and creative

inspiration as long as your silhouette for the period is maintained.

• See Silhouettes: activities for teachers and students for examples of silhouettes of

women throughout the ages.