Homemade Costumes
How to sew your own costumes

Making your own homemade costumes is fun and creative. I love to be able to use my imagination and create anything I want. If you have an idea for a costume, you can make it yourself. 

I have worked in the costume industry for many years, so I have had the privaledge of seeing many beautiful theatre quality costumes. Watching a master costume designer at work gave me great inspiration and I want to share it with you. 

Costumes give you freedom to break free of the usual fashion constraints and let your imagination fly.

The only thing holding you back from having a great costume is lack of vision, so go onto the internet, or look in magazines. If you have a Pinterest account, start filling it with pictures that inspire you. Gather your ideas and get started.

 I hope to inspire you and show you ways to make a costume you will be proud to wear using sewing patterns and your imagination.

My Homemade Costumes

Click any of the links to see more about these costumes.

Colonial Costumes

When my daughter's were younger, they were involved in dance, musical theatre and singing. During this time, I  had many opportunities to sew costumes for them. Eventually I was volunteering at their musical theatre school and these were just two of the costumes I made during that time. These two dresses were made for the musical "Oklahoma". 

Steampunk Clothing

Where To Find Costume Sewing Patterns

There are a variety of costume sewing patterns available. If you can't find the exact pattern for the costume you want or need, I will show how to be creative and make costumes using more than one pattern.

Even if you are not a sewer or are a novice sewer, there are easy ways to make great costumes using sewing patterns.

Start by looking at the pattern companies costume pages for costume ideas and patterns that you would like to make. Simplicity.com has the largest variety of costume patterns for all ages.

Burda carries a smaller selection of costume sewing patterns, but it is worth looking at their selection.

My Modern Met is a wonderful resource for costume ideas and free costume patterns. This is just one website to look at there are many others. 

Historical Sewing.com in another great historical pattern resource. 

McCalls and Butterick and KwikSew have a good variety of period costumes. These pattern companies offer accessory patterns for example crowns, jewelry, hats etc.

Go to www.butterick.com. 

   Go to www.mccalls.com

Costume Sewing Fabric

When you purchase a costume sewing pattern, the instructions will tell you what fabric is suitable. However, fabric can be expensive, so take the time to look for fabric on sale or clearance.

It can be quite expensive to make a homemade costume, especially if you purchase supplies at full price. Keep in mind it is a costume. There are many places to find fabric for less. If you can find a deal on your fabrics, you may want to spend a little more on the trims. 

Your local thrift store is a great way to support your community and find fabric that is much less of a cost than a retail store. The selection will be random, but if you have a good idea for what you're needing and looking for, it's a great place to start. 

Fabric.com

Historical Costume 

Historical costumes are a lot of fun for any reason. Dressing up like your favorite historical person gives another dimension to dressing up and creating your own version of fashion from the past is interesting and rewarding. 

Historical Costume Accessories

Have a costume that is complete with accessories makes your outfit that much more eye popping. With a little patience, you can create  your own historical jewellery and hats, as well as a purse also known as a "reticule". You've likely seen one of these in a movie or book. It's that little bag with a drawstring closure. 

Leave homemade costumes to Go to sewing patterns for more info on how to read patterns.