Costuming on a Budget

When I first started dancing professionally, I designed my costumes before I went shopping for components.  I studied costume design in college and was taught to sketch out designs before spending any money.  We had to use our costume budgets wisely in school, and that training was so valuable.

I'm not going to spill the beans on every part of my next act, but I will share some tidbits as I work on it.  I was inspired to put together this act last month.  I found a wonderful costume component at a very reasonable price and made my color selections around that piece.  I sketched out the costume on a ready-made fashion design figure, jotted down what I had and what I needed to complete the design.  I knew I'd have to match the color of the base piece (the first component I purchased) for a few of the other pieces.  What's really great about sketching it all out before going to the store is that I know how much of everything I need to get.

Fortunately this new act won't require a ton of fabric.  I knew what I needed first so I could work the act as I continued building and embellishing the pieces.  I had to match the base piece (on the left) with some mesh fabric.  Since I am on a limited budget, I had to be very smart about my purchase.  I matched the color in my rendering to the base piece.  I used the rendering to select the matching fabric.  My husband and I hunted through the discount section of Michael Levine in downtown Los Angeles first in hopes to find a deal.  We seriously scored.  I got the fabric on the right for $1.50 a yard.  There's plenty of it to make all the pieces I need with a little leftover.  (I bought all 2.5 yards that were available because that was too good of a price.)

While I enjoyed spending my first year as a professional burlesque dancer going to the store and buying fabric and trim with just an idea in mind, it's much wiser for me to design the costume on paper first and create a shopping list, especially in this economy.  This means I have less "waste" at the end.  Sure, I tend to use leftover fabric and trim for other projects, but I run out of space in my home office for leftovers and I don't have the same money to buy things I don't use right away.