Where to start? Part IV
by Cookster on Apr.02, 2009, under Blog Shorts, Costumes, Sewing Tips
How much could it cost if I were to try to make a costume from home?
How much a costume you make at home could cost quite a bit depending on what your costume is and whether you choose to take advantage of cost saving methods in building your costume.
Fabric can probably be one of the biggest expenses you might have towards the garment, but it doesn’t have to be. Look for fabric remnant stores, shop the internet, and use coupons and sales at local retail stores. When JoAnn’s Fabrics is offering forty to fifty percent off coupons weekly through either their stores or online, it is just plain foolish not to use them. You can have them mailed to your house and emailed to you by signing up at www.joann.com or any JoAnn’s location. The Sunday’s paper usually has a flyer with coupons for the week (coupons can be used for other things besides fabric). I know other retail stores have these kinds of savings, but in Phoenix we have lost a lot of our competing fabric stores. Check the stores in your area. I find remnant stores to be a better value than retail because you can buy some fabric by weight instead of per yard. The down side here is that you may not know what kind of fabric you are buying or how to clean it. Todd (AZspidey) and I bought over 6 yard of 60 inch wide material for about $16.00 for his purple joker coat. Remnant stores also have sales. That much fabric at a retail store would have cost us at least $60.00 without a coupon or a sale at JoAnn’s (if we could even find the type of fabric or color we were looking for).
Obviously a costume can cost as much or as little as you want to put into it. The point here is that a great looking costume does not have to cost a fortune, be smart about buying the materials and do it yourself. If you just can’t sew or can only make parts of the costume yourself, think about bartering for services when you don’t have the money.
Buying clothes from a thrift store is a great way to jump start a project also.
September 7th, 2009 on 9:56 pm
You’re so right about costumes don’t have to cost a fortune. I’ve found marvelous pieces of clothing at Goodwill Thrifts stores that I’ve cut up and saved lots of money. I one time dressed a whole cast of a Christmas play from cast off from Goodwill. It’s a snap to make gorgeous jewel tone robes for the three kings when you buy women’s bath robes and a bit of gold trim and jewels! I made the belts out of large gold tasseled tie backs from the Christmas decoration isle. Once I had only a few days to make a civil war ball gown for a friend with no money. I bought a set of fancy lace curtains for around 15.00 bucks and $5.00 for a bridal hoop slip. No one had a clue that this fabulous creation was from second hand curtains!
Good ideas gal and keep them coming!
Sarah
http://laughwithsarah.wordpress.com/
September 9th, 2009 on 2:59 pm
Sarah,
Sorry, somehow your comment found its way to my spam.
You sound like a regular Scarlett O’Hara making a gown out of curtains.