Kitchen Costuming

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.

Wow! Where did the last two weeks go?  So much for those daily blogs on Blog Shorts!  Sorry folks, I just got slammed with all kinds of financial and health issues that needed to be taken care of and unfortunately I had to temporarily sacrifice a new blog or two on Kitchen Costuming.  Oh well, life happens…so now I can get back on track.

How do you know when to hand stitch versus sewing with a sewing machine? 

This is an interesting question because it really depends on what resources you have, the look you are going for, and whether it is easier to sew by hand or machine.  Even if you have a sewing machine available to you, it might not be the way to go.  For example: the gloves I made for AZspidey’s joker costume were sewn by hand.  The material was vinyl which is difficult to feed through the sewing machine.  There were also a lot of small turns in the movement of the article as you are sewing which makes neat stitching difficult.  Sewing by hand is always more time consuming, but necessary if you want to have a desired effect.  Some of the newer sewing machines won’t sew through heavy thicknesses of fabric or leather, in which case you may have to sew parts of the piece by hand.

If you are a filmmaker and are making a pirate movie (for example), you wouldn’t want your costumes to look machine sewn.  That doesn’t mean everything has to be sewn by hand, but you might want to do any noticeable stitching that way.  With the introduction of high definition technology, more details will be noticed on film that didn’t used to be.  That includes the making of accurate looking props too (and costumes would be included as props).

Where to start? Part IV  How much could it cost if I were to try to make a costume from home?  Upcoming Post!

What type of thread works best? 

This might seem like a simple question, thread is thread, right? At least that is what a friend just asked me today.  Hey! What does he know anyway?  He specializes in visual effects!  I, on the other hand, should know something because, not only did I once work at Jo Ann’s Fabric and Crafts, but I have been sewing for a good part of my life.

Okay, just to be thorough with my son’s second question (and not to just pull this answer from my all-knowing “mind”), I thought I would take a little research trip over to the fabric store. OMG!!! Did I not pay any attention to the thread while I worked at Jo Ann’s or did the thread industry expand while I was gone?  I think the problem here is that fabric stores around me seem to be closing en mass and I am left to barely find what I need at Wal-Mart (not much selection there and it sounds like a good excuse for being ignorant). At any rate, what I found was a veritable wonderland of cottony colors and shiny, strong threads that would make a silkworm drool.

There were Dual Duty, Specialty and Decorative threads.  Spools of thread came in all purpose, fine, heavy, metallic, clear, button and craft, hand quilting, machine quilting, extra strong, silk, top stitching, elastic, fusible, jeans (heavy), jeans (regular), serger, and upholstery. Whew! I also saw variegated (different colors on one spool) with “cute” names like piñata, teddy bear, gumballs, sunny day, and bowl of cherries. And of course, for the quintessential thread collector, neon colored  and “glow in the dark” threads are a must.

Now back to the original question, for which the answer, I am now going to pull out of my butt…er…I mean my mind.  It depends on what fabric you are using, what you are making, and how much you are going to wash/wear it. For most of your general sewing, you will use an all purpose Dual Duty thread. You will most likely never use a specialty thread unless you just want to. Mostly what you will use will be polyester covered polyester or cotton (even to sew on buttons). Thread, like fabric (made of woven threads), does wear out from general use and frequent cleaning with hot water and detergents.

And finally, I’d like to give you a tip about buying the correct color thread for your fabric.  Always bring a swatch of the cloth with you.  When you find a spool that looks close to the color, unwind the thread strand and lay it across your fabric.  You will get a more accurate color match if you do this as opposed to just putting the spool up to the material.

Where to start? Part III   How do you know when to hand stitch something versus sewing with a sewing machine?  Upcoming post!

This is a request from my other son, Shaun, about this site and some of the things he would like to see here.  Shaun like many others out there knows little what it might take to make a decent costume.  Here are some of his questions…

•  What tools are needed?
•  What type of thread works best ( I know some threads come apart in the wash)?
•  How do you know when to hand stitch something versus sewing with a sewing machine?
•  How much could it cost if I were to try to make a costume from home?

What tools are needed?

Well this really depends on what your project is.  Are you making a hat, shoes, a garment, props that go with your costume, or all of those things?  I hope as I cover each of the projects I have on my plate, I will be able to give you specifically what tools will be needed.  If you really want to tackle costuming, a sewing machine is essential.  Singer has some nice inexpensive sewing machines.  I tend to like brands that I know have been around for awhile.  Do some research on the internet of various brands and styles and look for feedback from customers.  You might be able to find a sewing machine at a thrift store, but buyer beware.  Just because they run when you plug them in doesn’t necessarily mean they will sew.  I had a friend who picked up a working sewing machine at a thrift store for what he thought was a reasonable price only to find that the timing was off.  To have it serviced plus what he paid at the thrift store, cost him more than if he had bought it new. If your mom used to sew, maybe she would be willing to let you have her machine or at least use it.  Don’t forget to oil it or have it oiled if it hasn’t been used lately.  I suggest if you want to buy a new machine that you don’t get one with a lot of fancy stitches.  I have a few different stitches on my machine, but basically I need straight stitch (backwards and forwards) and zigzag for stretch fabrics/edge finishing.

Where to start? Part II  What type of thread works best?  Upcoming post!