A blog about how to make original costumes for children’s plays.
I am a grandmother, retired after a career as a theatrical costumer in professional and university theatres. I have a BA in theatre arts (costuming) from the University of California, Irvine, and an MFA in costume design from the University of California, San Diego. During my career I designed and built costumes for more than 100 productions spanning classical to contemporary plays, musical theatre, opera, and dance. I have worked behind the scenes with actors such as John Lithgow and F. Murray Abraham and with directors such as Peter Sellars and Peter Brook.
I also have three grandchildren who are often called upon to perform in their schools’ plays or programs. Most of their plays take place at Christmas or Easter, so they need costumes that are inexpensive, simple to make and easily adaptable to multiple children’s sizes. This blog is an archive of what I have made for them over the years: instructions for making these costumes as well as photos of the finished results.
Believe it or not, I actually made the costumes for our school play. I don’t sew, but I’m crafty, so I was able to make the costumes out of whatever materials were on hand. For example, the lion’s head is a fabric shower curtain with a hole cut for his face; the handles of his mop are made from plastic flower pots with the bottoms cut off.
This blog is about how to make original costumes for children’s plays. When you’re making costumes for kids, it’s important to think about which materials will be most comfortable (and least likely to catch fire).
How to create original costumes for children’s plays. I have worked on many plays including: The Wizard of Oz, Charlotte’s Web, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, & Rapunzel. I love being creative and coming up with ideas so that everyone can look their best. My favorite part of working in a play is seeing how happy everyone looks at the end!
Hello! Welcome to my blog. I’m going to use this space to show you how to make costumes for children’s plays. I’ll show you how to make a costume, and how to alter off-the-rack clothes so that they don’t look like off-the-rack clothes. I’ll also talk about sewing tricks and tips, so that you can get the most out of your tools.
If you have any questions, please drop me an email or leave a comment. Thank you for visiting!
I am making costumes for a children’s play. I have made one costume and it looks good, but it needs to be shortened as the girl wearing it is quite short. I want to shorten the costume from the waist, which is the narrowest part of the costume. Taking a piece of material from the bottom of the dress (which is wide) will make it look odd.
I will need to take a side piece from under the arm and then cut this up into two pieces so that I can take out each side seam of it and tape it back in again without having to sew them back in. I have marked where I need to take out the material with tailors chalk on both sides of the dress so that I can see where I will need to adjust it by.
The first thing to consider when altering a costume is how much of the garment can be reused. Some older patterns may have slightly different construction methods than modern patterns and may even be constructed completely differently, so you must evaluate whether or not the pattern can be used as a basis for your new costume design.
The two character costumes I am working on today are an old-fashioned nightgown and a 1920s dress.
The nightgown pattern is a simple drop-waist style and has a bodice that is gathered into the neckline and sleeves. I will remove the sleeve pattern from this and make it into a short sleeve, similar to the dress. Then I will change up the skirt by adding several tiers of ruffles in different colors.
I will construct the bodice for both costumes out of the same material, then add a different skirt to each one. The dress skirt will be made from a turquoise satin, which will be cut on the bias for more drape and movement. The nightgown skirt will use three different fabrics–a light yellow satin, lavender tulle and purple fabric with white flowers. The skirt layers will all be gathered onto an elastic waistband that sits at the natural waist. The undersk