Thread: Costumers: Most/Least Fave in the Process

For the costumistas (and those on their way to being a costumista...)

1) What is your most favorite part(s) of the costume making process?

2) What is your least favorite part(s) of the costume making process?
Follow up to 2): What do you do to make it more palatable/fun/easy/less time-consuming/etc.?

MOST FAVORITE for me:
When the inspiration hits me. I thrive on that initial spark of "ooh, I could SO make a costume with this!"[many times this goes nowhere ]
I love love love designing, problem-solving, and draping the initial pattern on the mannequin and constructing the costume base (whether be a dress, skirt, bra, etc.).
I also love laying down the first bead/paillete/coin. After that, feh...

LEAST FAVORITE:
Lining. Many of my costumes don't even have lining.
.w.:
When I do take the time to install lining, I try to choose an interesting/fun color of lining that works with the costume; I convince myself that this step is absolutely necessary to ensure the life of the costume. I also dislike bra lining due to the task of having to measure and account for the curves/nooks/crannies, but my costume mentor suggested putting an orange in the cup to get the most accurate measurement and shape of liner fabric needed.

Oh, I like the orange idea. I'd probably need a grapefruit!

Let's see...
Fave: Shopping! I love shopping for supplies.
Using the sewing machine, cause it's so fast.

Least fave:
Fitting. I hate taking the time to adjust hooks...take off my clothes and try on, go back and resew, then take off my clothes and measure again. I just need a dress form!
Oh and I also don't like cutting the pattern pieces.

love love love when the inspiration hits me, especially if it hits while i'm shopping. then i love designing the costume and finding all the matching beads and seeing what goes where.

Hate actually beading the d**n thing. I am such a perfectionist that if even one bead is off, then i get discouraged. I always think the costume then looks unprofessional. What helps is looking at the haphazard way most Egyptian costumes are made.

Originally Posted by Zobeida

I always think the costume then looks unprofessional. What helps is looking at the haphazard way most Egyptian costumes are made.

THIS is true. ..l;,
It lead me to the conclusion that costume design is quite impressionistic. One need only place the right amount in the right place to give the impression of the look you're after, even if the design is quite chunky. I mean, how close up are audiences actually going to be? I keep that in mind when my procrastinating/perfectionist mentality starts to crop up.

Favorite: I like designing costumes and having the finished product. There’s always a lot of problem solving involved, I think costume making is a very creative process.

Least Favorite: Beading fringe is the worst! (Covering a bra isn’t a lot of fun either.)

Hints: Get a bead spinner to make decoration for faster and search eBay for fringe. Get the fringe first and match the beads later to save money.


I used to hate sewing, but I'm pretty decent at it and I can save a huge amount of money by making my own costumes. I say I have sewing-amnesia, which means I forget how much I hate sewing as soon as the costume is finished. I don't remember how much work it is until after I've started the next one!

Favorite parts: designing, covering the bra cups because I love draping the fabric around the curves of the cup, and beading. I actually like putting in lining because I always choose soft fabric in a nice matching color and because it means the costume is done!

Least favorite: Making the belt base, reinforcing the bra, putting in hooks, and making the bra side straps.

My favorite part? Conceptualizing, shopping, wearing the finished creation and being able to say it's miiiiiine, all mine! It feels so good to know that nobody else will ever be wearing the same thing ..g.:

My least favorite? Oh, man....everything in between. Legend has it that on a windy summer night, you can hear an angry belly dancer cursing "son of a @$^@@^!!! motha***er @%@&%@&@!!!!" That's no folklore. That's me pricking my finger and burning myself with the glue gun! (Yes, I use a glue gun when I see fit - especially when working with shells). Martha Stewart, I am not.

To make the unsavory technical stuff more bearable, I like to lose myself in some good music or a stupid brainless movie like Napoleon Dynamite. And I can't lie. A bottle of pinot grigio makes the process so much smooooooother

Most favorite: designing and beading. First of course you have to create the piece, for example bra and lycra skirt or bra / belt. Then the real fun begins, because I usually have an idea of how I will do the beading (and flexibly agree with the client) but everything just takes off when I do it. I love it! I spend hours and hours on the living room floor, but I love it.

Most hated: when something goes wrong, usually sewing the garment. This is more likely happening with the skirt for example, sometimes lycra acts up for me. Or if I am not happy with the way things are, I loose my inspiration and energy to do it. I don't want to work on the costume, I drag. I often don't know why. Then I realize what it is that I don't like, and I after I fix it, everything is back to normal. But fixing something takes 3 times as much time and effort than doing it right the first time.

Hints: For me making costumes is very stress reducing. The only thing I could never do is mass produce something (skirts, veils, pants, just to sit there and then sell.) I also couldn't just make a costume and then try to sell it. When a dancer asks me to make a costume, we go through a lot of email - discussions of what she wants, my suggestions, etc. I also ask her to show me a picture of her, not just to see her body proportions (measurements are not enough) but so that it's more personal. Then when I sew, I rally do think about her, and imagine how happy she will be when she gets it. I really do make that costume specially for that person. There's a lot of love that goes into the pieces.

Favorite:

Designing and Inspiration. Thanks Satin for starting that vintage thread. It has given me one good idea that I can go with.

Turning bras that were too small for me to fit me.

The compliments that I get when my classmates would say, "Where did you get this?" and I tell them I made it.

Least:

Just having the time and my whole weight loss issue. I have bought some things to make, but had to change my mind when they ended up too big to even start. So I have to put it on hold until I am ready. I really want to make my vintage costume already.

Poking myself with the needle. Ugh! I hate when that happens.

Favorite:
-designing
-trying out new sewing/beading/whatever techniques
-making patterns
-getting compliments and taking all the credit to myself :)

Least favorite:
- cutting the fabric (don't ask why, I have no idea!)
- finishing hems
- shopping (cause I never find what I'm looking for and always have to compromise)
- fitting (hate, hate to take clothes off then on, then off again etc... hopefully my picasso dress form will help me on this one)

Oh, and the thing I hate most is that everything takes so much longer than when I'm visualizing it in my head... Off to bead...

Three big rotary mats w/cutters has made cutting out not so bad and a serger made me like hemming more (for BD stuff like skirts). I really don't know how I survived without them!!!!

Originally Posted by sophie

- cutting the fabric (don't ask why, I have no idea!)
- finishing hems
- shopping (cause I never find what I'm looking for and always have to compromise)
- fitting (hate, hate to take clothes off then on, then off again etc... hopefully my picasso dress form will help me on this one)

Oh, and the thing I hate most is that everything takes so much longer than when I'm visualizing it in my head... Off to bead...

I hate cutting, lmao! I forgot that one too.

1) What is your most favorite part(s) of the costume making process?

the starting idea and the finished product.


2) What is your least favorite part(s) of the costume making process?
Follow up to 2): What do you do to make it more palatable/fun/easy/less time-consuming/etc.?

Finding time. ,r:; The most annoying to me is all the work that will never be seen....extra duck cloth on the bra/belt form to make it stiffer. Finishing edges so things last longer.

Right now I am working on a little beading. At least I can see this part on the final costume, and I can do it while listening to music or watching some CSI. I'll get to more once I am done with Fusion Festival.

like: designing, shopping for fabric, decor. , draping, decorating, wearing, discovering new tricks & techniques, my sewing machine, hot fix crystals, crystals with sewing holes.

dislike: constructing bra, belt/ skirt, breaking needles and extricating them from the machine, needle pricks, the smell of e6000, cutting fussy fabrics

amused by:how some projects just have a will of their own and insist on coming out well but different than the original plan. making duet/troupe costumes in one design to fit many diff. body types.

make it more fun by: listening to music i want to use with this costume. learning new music.

I actually like most of the process. The part I dislike is actually getting started on the actual making. But once I get started, everything seems to flow easily.

{{{HUGS}}}

Favorite: getting inspiration, designing, shopping and finding exactly de right fabric I need, beading, revamping old school costume or bedlah into something new and OOAK or transforming a kitch formal gown from a thriftshop into a dance costume;

Less favorite: don't mind covering the bra cups, but I hate making sidestraps (don't really know why, but just hate it..c::), my first costume didn't have linning but now they do, well specialy the belt, it's a boring process but I like the more finished look.

Dislike: cutting fabric, ajusting straps and sewing hooks for closure!

Hints: It's easier to catch the beads on the needle when they are pre-treaded, so when I use loose beads I use the bead spinner to get them on treads and make little binder of the same colors.

I have also a TV in my sewing room, keeps me company! Thanks to Jerry Bruckheimer, I'm also a CSI fan!

Qamar

Favorite: Buying fabric. This is evidenced by the many Rubbermaid bins of fabric in my bedroom and basement.

Least favorite: Actually making the costume. This is evidenced by the many Rubbermaid bins of fabric in my bedroom and basement. ..l;,

Seriously, my favorite part is sewing skirts. I am still too unbelievably daunted by the task of covering a bra, which is why I've only made skirts and accessories, and not any full costumes yet!

Sell me some fabric, lol!!!!

Originally Posted by Anjela

Favorite: Buying fabric. This is evidenced by the many Rubbermaid bins of fabric in my bedroom and basement.

Least favorite: Actually making the costume. This is evidenced by the many Rubbermaid bins of fabric in my bedroom and basement. ..l;,

..l;,..l;,

who doesn't know that feeling :D i Love when inspiration hits. then you go out and buy all that fabric, and every time when you have to pay you tell yourself, "considering what i'm paying for this i'm definitely going to actually DO something with it!" and you know exactly whet. but it still sits there for ages cos i know i'm gonna mess up the basing, and secretly hoping one day the Holy Spirit of Basing will come down on me ..l;, i loove beading, studying pics of costumes to figure out how the beading works on it and all, but i *hate hate hate* making skirts. tried a couple times and they always come out wonky. the bra turns out fine, of course, but having a bra covered and beaded without a skirt to wear it with isn't going to get me very far ..cr.: way smarter being on your side of the boat Anjela, at least you can wear what you make Lol

(which reminds me, i have a thread to bump up ^^)

I'm exactly the same, love coming up with new designs and ideas, and I'm always itching to get started on something new, just not so good at finishing. I always lose momentum about 1/3 of the way through.

I sew when I'm stressed, so no part of the process itself bums me out - it feels good to create so my favorite part imagining, making and completing.

least favorite - I hate the loneliness of it. If I had a sewing circle of friends that got together to make things, I'd be much happier. I also hate that it requires sitting still - I wish I could hop on a treadmill and sew. I hate long hours of being sedentary and sewing & beading require that. so, there you go.

Originally Posted by kiyaana

Three big rotary mats w/cutters has made cutting out not so bad and a serger made me like hemming more (for BD stuff like skirts). I really don't know how I survived without them!!!!

Ple-e-ease, stop rubbing salt into my wounds ..cr.: I dream about getting a serger, but they start from $1000 in our neck of woods!!!

Hmm, I keep hearing about those mats with cutters, have to check them out! Thanks!

The mats and rotary cutters took my fabrication to the HNL!!

It's really helpful! In addition to a mat (or 2 or 3!) and the rotary cutter (and treat it carefully, any tiny nick in it affects its cutting ability), get a straight-edge implement that hooks onto the side edge of the mat to get really straight lines.

I learned through many bumps on the head and dents in the machine that prepping the project (pattern making, measuring, and accurate cutting) is as, if not more, important than the actual assembling.

Glad so see I am not the only one who hates cutting. I really really hate it. Love the inspiration phase, and even the construction phase, once I get through the ick of the actual cutting (even rotary cutters and mats dont improve my dislike of this phase. . . lol).

oh, i thought of what i *really* hate most.
when you try on what you spent hours constructing, and, well, it's just not quite right ..l;,..cr.:

well..dyeing veils that go with costumes..if an idea hits ..or sometimes i'll be rinsing out dyes and watch them interact then my eyes glaze up and my mind becomes almost blank and then i start gathering supplies to make it

it's really weird

i dislike clean up and sweating in the hawaiian sun

I enjoy much of the process, but I gotta confess to some cursing when it comes to hems, especially on circle skirts. I have half a mnd to hot glue sequins on some ribbon or bias tape and sew that over the edge instead of hemming yards and yards of god*&%$ chiffon.

The part I like most? The frosting. I like figuring out the mechanics of a costume and all that, but when it gets down to choosing beads and sequins and crystals and all that stuff, I'm like a kid in a candy store.

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

My favorite part? Conceptualizing, shopping, wearing the finished creation and being able to say it's miiiiiine, all mine! It feels so good to know that nobody else will ever be wearing the same thing ..g.:

My least favorite? Oh, man....everything in between. Legend has it that on a windy summer night, you can hear an angry belly dancer cursing "son of a @$^@@^!!! motha***er @%@&%@&@!!!!" That's no folklore. That's me pricking my finger and burning myself with the glue gun! (Yes, I use a glue gun when I see fit - especially when working with shells). Martha Stewart, I am not.

To make the unsavory technical stuff more bearable, I like to lose myself in some good music or a stupid brainless movie like Napoleon Dynamite. And I can't lie. A bottle of pinot grigio makes the process so much smooooooother

I'm pretty much the same, but I've been watching a lot of MST3K while sewing lately. That "everything in between" problem is due to my costuming amnesia.

Favorite part:

Drawing out my design ideas, photocopying, and coloring them to determine color schemes (I should make a coloring book)

Wearing the **** thing once it's finally done!

Least Favorite:
The stupid thread getting all tangled up while beading, catching on other beads etc....

Definitely in the category of silly movie watching. I'm a Disney fanatic, so usually it's a Disney movie I've seen a thousand times or The Muppets or something like that.

My absolute favorite part is the planning and patterning.

My least favorite part comes when I'm about 3/4 of the way through, and just get tired.

The part that frightens me most, though, is making the very first cut. It can literally take me hours to put scissors to fabric - I'm that afraid of ruining it!