Cheap as Heck Costuming: Costuming a Play on a Small Budget

I wear costumes for a hobby. I usually wear them during anime (Japanese animation), comic book, and science fiction conventions. Occasionally I wear costumes for movie premieres. The costumes are representations of my favorite characters from an anime or comic book series, a work of science fiction, or a movie. Costuming is an interesting hobby to get into if you have the time, patience, and maturity range, but that's a different article. Costumed talent shows are also a highlight of the various conventions I wear my own costume to. Occasionally I am drafted or I participate in said costumed talent shows. I've also had my fun participating in school plays and theater groups as a teenager. All of these costumed activities had one thing in common: I was required to provide my own costume with what little money I had in my pocket. And so begins my retelling of my tips, tricks, and techniques to some cheap costuming.

Lesson I: Break Down Your Costume Project

When broken down to basics, costumes are basically broken down to embellished clothing. Once you break down the embellished clothing into clothing you have access to, you've got a place to start. If the play you are doing is set in the 1940s such as "Death of a Salesman," you can let out a sigh or relief knowing that you will not have to shell out the cash for a shopping spree at Bloomingdale's or that $100 per day costume rental store. Taking a look at the men of "Death of a Salesman," I see that they dress in khakis, dress shirts, and suit jackets. Every fashionable man worth his salt has at least one pair of khakis, a white button up dress shirt, and a suit jacket. Put them together and add a fedora for an instant 1940s costume.

In the summer of 2003, I was part of a costume group set to perform at Anime Expo, the largest anime convention in the West Coast. I was assigned the role of Miroku from Rumiko Takahashi's anime series "InuYasha." My first reaction to being cast as Miroku was, "Who's Miroku and what's 'InuYasha?'" Following my own lesson plan, I researched the character and took note of the clothes making his costume: a black robe with a purple sash, sandals, beads, and a glove. With the costume broken down to the basics, it was time for the next lesson.

Lesson II: Acquire Materials

Once you know what components that the costume breaks down to, it's time to get those components. This is usually the most expensive part of the costume making process. This can also be the most fun as a test of diplomacy and creativity. It's a slim chance that the particular costume you are going for will fall off a costume supply truck and into your arms. You'll have to find the materials yourself or with your theater group. The difficulty in getting materials will vary depending on your location and who you know. Thrift stores are some of the best ways to acquire basic costume parts at a cheap price. Plain solid colored trousers, dress shirts, and skirts are plentiful there in plenty of sizes. There may even be unique clothing that may work for the costume. Occasionally, you may even find the particular costume you are going for that fell off a costume truck and landed into the thrift store. If the costume is more complex than basic shirts and trousers, sheets of fabric will be needed. If there's a fabric district in your area, take advantage of it. Joann's Fabrics is a somewhat reasonable fabric store, but I recommend taking advantage of any sales or discounts they advertise. Wal Mart has some sewing materials that can help make the costume possible as well. If you really want to get creative in materials gathering, talk among your group and find out who knows who. Need costume armor? Find someone who knows someone who plays hockey or football and has spare padding. Need paint to decorate the sets? Someone in the group may have some to spare after having painted the house. Fabric can be found among discarded items like curtains and bedsheets. If your group knows anyone with material to spare, grab it.

To continue with my Miroku costume: Once I had the list of materials to find, I started looking. I was able to score a lot of black fabric from a local restaurant's black tablecloths. Since they were planning to throw it away during their redecoration, I was able to easily talk them into letting me have it. I picked up a pair of sandals and beads from a thrift store for three dollars. I dug up a solitary glove from my junk drawer. I spent the most money on the purple fabric, which I bought from a local fabric store for about six dollars.

Lesson III: Tools

You'll need to alter the materials to make the costume look like its intended form. Almost every costumer I know packs a combination of the following for costume construction: Needle and thread, sew-on Velcro, sew-on snaps, buttons, scissors, safety pins, duct tape, and a glue gun. These tools will help add to a costume by attaching new alterations, openings, and other embellishments a costume may need. I also recommend using fabric paint or bias tape for cool edgings for the costume. A sewing machine would be great if you have access to one. It'll speed up alterations and help create original outfits. If your sewing skills are on par and you have a sewing machine, working with patterns will help create original outfits. It's best to purchase patterns when they're on sale to keep things cheap. And remember to keep those used patterns in case you want to make multiple versions of that particular outfit.

Working with the cloth I bought and salvaged, I reexamined the Miroku reference pictures to get an idea of what his clothes should look like because I couldn't find a similar pattern. I ended up pinning the fabric together and cutting out anything that didn't look like the robe I wanted. I took some creative liberty to make the cloth close enough to the referenced robe. As I was about to sew the robe together on my sewing machine, a personal situation occurred that required me to pack up my sewing machine and the rest of my personal effects. With one day left to finish my costume, I resorted to more unconventional means of putting my costume together. First I began hand-stitching. When I got tired of that, I safety pins to pin it together. When I ran out of safety pins, I stapled parts of it together. When I ran out of staples, I used duct tape. When I ran out of duct tape, I used one thing I had plenty of leftover: chewing gum. Needless to say, I was the mintiest smelling Miroku of the anime convention.

With a little imagination, a small initial investment of tools, and a lot of improvising, costuming can be done on a budget.