I would highly recommend the following books:
Instant Period Costumes, Costuming Made Easy, and Costumes, Accessories, Props, and Stage Illusion Made Easy all written by Barbara Rogers. These books have been extremely helpful to me. They are written with the idea that even if you can't sew, you can create great costumes. I am an accomplished seamstress, but they are still my turn-to sources. Does your area have a community theater? I am the costume shop supervisor at the community theater in my city, and part of our outreach is to loan costumes to local high schools. Put out a call to your students' parents and see if you have someone who would be willing to help. You might have someone on your staff who would help. In my building we have a custodian who stitches for us. Our local thrift store manager is one of my best sources. I can tell her what I am looking for, and she will start putting things back for me to look at.
Since I am the director and costumer for my shows too, I start early. I get everyone measured in the first week and start searching early. I count on my assistant director or music director to run rehearsals while I pull actors to try on costumes. We do not rehearse on Fridays so I sometimes use that day for costumes try ons. Good luck!
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Karen Crispin
West Terre Haute IN
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2019 14:25
From: Christina Vincent
Subject: Costuming for the Director?
Does anyone recommend any workshops, books or resources for directors who need to costume their own shows? What is best practice for accomplishing both responsibilities?
Thanks!
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Christina Vincent
Director of Theatre
The Woodhall School
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