Thread: How do you arrange/organize your Costume Closet?

(I hope this is the correct forum for this post...)

I am a beginning dancer, but as I slowly accumulate costumes, practice-wear, and accessories, I find I'm having trouble storing everything in an organized way.

Do any of you seasoned (read: expert) ladies have any tips to share? Thank you in advance!

Different people are going to give you much different advise on this. For costumes, I have zippered bags which I make out of old sheets, Then those bags go into an oversized plastic bin with several others. I have 4 bins, one with costumes which currently don't fit, one with costumes which need repair work and two with costumes I can wear. There is also a package of note cards in each bin that tells what is in each bag. Working on refining that.

I hang most of my skirts, store practice gear in a dresser drawer. Hipscarves and zills are in individual bags and kept in a larger a bag in the closet. Veils are either hung or kept with the coordinating hipscarf.

{{{HUGS}}}

The way I organize my costumes is like this as I have a lot of costume: I have very big plastic gallon boxes (I bought them from Target, but you can put them from Wal Mart, etc...) and I wrap and fold anywhere between 7-10 costumes per box. Each costume is wrapped and folded within layers of old (but clean) towels and bedding. If I have a costume that I haven't worn yet, I will keep it packed in the original plastic bag is came in and place that it one of my gallon boxes, but once I wear a costume, I let it "air dry" before I pack it to avoid perspiration stains. Then I wrap it in a towel or old bedding, such as fitted sheet or bed spread. Hope this helps. Its my understanding not to hang your skirts because the weight of the bead work will actually stretch the skirt on its hanger. I have been told that even if you hang a chiffon skirt that doesn't have any beading, it will still stretch over time. Some of the designers from Egypt send me my costumes on hangers. Still, even with the hangers on, I will fold them in layers of towels or bedding and place them in the plastic boxes.

Sincerely,
Christina
www.christinarizkallah.tumblr.com

I personally do not like to hang my skirts... hanging the cotton ones is kinda ok and I do that, but the chiffon and satin skirts like to stretch in odd directions on the bias, so you don't want to hang those... fold them and put them in pillow cases in a big box or trunk or something. I use dryer sheets to keep every thing smelling fresh and I make sure that the box and costume pieces get air, otherwise things get stinky.

I got one of those $50 9 cube shelf organizer things at target along with the fabric boxes that go in the shelves. They are perfect for storing costumes. I put my hipscarves and pants in one, veils and some skirts in another, fabric, and the others are filled with full two piece costumes. One of those under the bed plastic bin things is perfect for storing my bedlah as they can lay flat which protects the beads.

Much of your decision will be based on space issues. I am currently looking at an antique armoire to hold and organize all my costumes.

{{{HUGS}}}

I am lucky enough to have a super big drawer custom built into the weird space in my A frame house- where I can lay out my bra & belt sets, a second drawer where I can layer my skirts with acid free tissue paper between each. before that, I used an oversized acid free storage box (the ones you can buy to preserve quilts & wedding dresses) - the big box means they don't have creases & they don't stretch out like they would if I hung them. I'm thinking about transfering my bra & belt sets to hat boxes- I have one hat box that works really well- the bedlah fits nicely, they would stack easily & be easy to grab & transport for a performance. I used to tack a picture of the cossie on the outside of the boxes they were stored in (before I had the deep drawer) so it was easy to find the one I wanted.

I have one of these:
Commercial Grade Garment Rack - Bed Bath & Beyond

I have suspended from the bar a sweater storage shelf like this:
Real Simple 6-Shelf Sweater Organizer - Bed Bath & Beyond

And a shoe rack like that but it has smaller compartments.

A hanging jewelry organizer like this:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Household-Essentials-01943-80-Pocket-Organizer/dp/B0010XX7ZQ]Amazon.com: Household Essentials 01943 Ultra 80-Pocket Hanging Jewelry Organizer: Kitchen & Dining[/ame]

Obviously a lot of stuff (skirts, harem pants, etc.) hangs from the bar in the middle.
One bedlah fits in each sweater compartment.
Scarves, some jewelry, and whatever else I want goes in the shoe compartments.
Shoes, dance bags, whatever goes on the shelf on the bottom.
The shelf on the very top has other miscellaneous stuff.
The jewelry organizer is hanging on the outside so it's not taking up space on the main bar. (Actually now that I think about it, this doesn't even contain any of my bellydance jewelry. That was just a convenient spot for me to put it at the time. The little slots aren't large enough for my bellydance jewelry, but this idea might work for you in some other way.)
Other stuff could be hung on the outside like that.

My goal is to not overfill that. I'm telling myself that if I've got too much stuff to fit on that, then I've got too much stuff, period. That's my cue to weed down to what I really like and sell/get rid of the excess.

..c:: Organized?????

Edna

I am addicted to wire shelving (like the kind you see in upscale delicatessens) because I can take it apart, reconfigure it, and move it myself. I have bookcases, sewing tables, media centers, computer tables, pantries etc made out of the stuff. So of course the troupe costumes are stored on them also. Most of my poles are 7 foot high, so several layers of items can be stored. For stuff that hangs, I leave a suitable space with a hanging rod that I made from curtain rods and 'S' hooks (you can buy hanging rods for these kinds of shelves, but they are $50 each). For items that need to stay flat, I have long flat rubbermaid bins (or similar) where the belts, bras, etc can live with the lids off so they air. Jewelry, hair flowers and shoes live in plastic free-standing shelf units sold in office supply stores and department stores. The fabric and raw items for costumes live in their own wall of shelving inside bankers boxes labelled with the contents.

I hang them in the closet where they can have air circulate through. Anything with special issues (weighty skirts, delicate material), I deal with on a case by case basis. I used to keep all my bedlahs in individual zippered sweater bags, but have since moved away from that as I do less mixing and matching with the custom sets.

Veils get accordian folded and hung from skirt hangers. Class wear all goes in a drawer (a big, messy drawer). Hip scarves, etc, go in another drawer (a smaller, but just as messy drawer).

~~Wow~~

Thank you all for the amazing suggestions! I'm going to get busy. (One of these days...) hee hee!

I get canvas bins from BB&B and store one costume, with all accesories, per bin. I have a tiny closet in my guest room that fits two bins per shelf. That is becoming our nursery, though, so the costumes will need to find a new home! But the bins are a lifesaver.

canvas hanging bags with the zipper in my closet for my skirts (i make them myself and hang them for months before hemming) next to that is a sweater organizer with my bedlah and bras wrapped in acid free tissue and index cards taped to the organizer telling me what's in the tissue. next to that i have a shoe organizer with arm bands and other accessories in it.
eta: i also have one of the hangers with like 5 rungs on it where i put veils and dance trunks/spankies
i used to keep my bedlah in plastic bins, but a bug got into one (no damage) and i learned it's better to "let them breath", plus the bins were too bulky. so now i use the bins for projects i have going. hopefully that will help me limit the number of projects im working on! ^_~

I also use plastic bins and layer costumes wrapped in old sheets or towels in them, but I drill holes in the bins first for air circulation.

There's a neat thing you can find at Ikea that I saw a local vendor using for veils, liked it so much I got one of my own--it's called Komplement and is meant for hanging ties and scarves. Basically it's a bunch of circles linked together like the plastic rings that hold together six-packs of soda cans, only there's 28 circles, with a hanger at the top. The whole thing is wrapped in string so it's soft and won't snag. I can't find it on the Ikea website but here's a link to a photo of it on Kaboodle:
IKEA | Clothes & shoes organizers | Clothes organizers |... review at Kaboodle

I loosely gather each veil, fold it in half, and then pull the folded veil halfway through one of the holes in the hanger. The overall effect is pretty enough that I'm considering hanging it on my wall rather than in my closet ..g.:

great thread! I have my bedlah's (4 in all LOL!) in bins and my fabric in my canvas hanging closet deal. I'll switch them up so the bedlah's have more air circulation. I should get some acid free tissue paper as well.

Closet??? I cram everything between rarely worn formal wear and more casual dresses or slacks. Makeup in a makeup tote. Plastic bin for jewelry. Ziplocks inside bigger ziplocks for other random stuff. Anything not put in a bin or bag is likely to be chewed on or fuzzed by the cat. This is all crammed in half of a closet that I share with my husband, and it's currently the ONLY closet in the house!

I do use plastic bins because of incredible dust issues, but for costumes I never latch them tightly shut and I keep dry herbs in there to offend possible bugs and to deodorize any possible odors remaining after they are air-dried after use. (It's a humid climate.)

I usually pad things with towels and sheets, so beadwork isn't rubbing on beadwork.