Hey...so how to start a blog..or should I say 'sew how to
start a blog'? No, no I shouldn't; we won't have any sewing puns here, but to
be honest I do like the occasional one, but don't tell anyone...
This feels like I'm starting an essay at school again. As if
this is a big deal or something but I'm not expecting anyone to read it.
I wanted to start this blog to push myself to make more
costumes, costume accessories, try out patterns, experiment etc, but also to
give myself somewhere to write about the method and the things I have made or
experienced with costume. And if by some chance someone does come along and
find this blog: Hello :) I hope you find
this blog useful; makes you smile; makes you think 'ooh that looks interesting,
I'll have a go at making that,' or even
if it just makes you want to write your own blog on costumes because you think
you can do a better job than me (which to be fair you probably can), I just
hope you take something positive away from it. It acts a pit stop on your
journey, as it will for me, whether this works or not. We shall have to wait
and see.
What I would like to do is let you in on the costume
production side of the performances I do costumes for, this is your backstage
pass in a way. It might help me work out problems/challenges I'm having by
writing it out, but it also allows me to document my work in another way, and
gives other people the opportunity to get an idea of what the process is
like. Though the group I am a member of
is an amateur drama group or technically
a "Theatrical Society" and I have no actual costume qualifications,
however I do have a GCSE and an A-Level in Textiles but am looking to get an
apprenticeship in Costume and Wardrobe, to get into the industry. So I may not
be doing things the right way but I sure am doing my best to do as well as I
can, as I learn more/ different ways to
carry out the processes. If you have any useful pointers, or tips please let me
know; I endeavour to improve my knowledge and understanding any way I can.
Now before I start any actual blog posts I should also
mention that my drama group has no budget and so I have to produce the costumes
for performances from the stock they own or from the actors/actresses
themselves. However if needed they will allow me to make and alter the
occasional costume as long as I "don't spend billions of pounds". If
I do want/need to make/alter/buy materials, I ask permission first and make
sure to get them the best deal for the materials and components needed to make
the costume by comparing prices over numerous sources, without going too far to
end up with bad quality materials. Or if I have the materials at home and we
are likely to have lots of it or it wasn't expensive I will use it for the
groups costumes for free, for example using cardboard, tissue paper, paints etc
for masks and headdresses.
But I would personally say the material you use to make a
garment can make a huge difference to aesthetics, which I can say probably let
me down with one of my GCSE pieces, although I still got an 'A' I just wasn't
as pleased with it as I would have liked to have been and I would say that was
probably because of the choice of material as I didn't want to spend a lot of money
on something for school and not something I would even wear myself.
Okay that's my little introduction to the blog, for the
first couple of posts I'll tell you about my most recent production costumes.
Bye for now, and hopefully talk to you soon.
~ K
