Can you give me career advice on how I can costume for a living?

Hi, Tara. Just been perusing your site. It's just marvelous! I've never seen anything like it. I hope you'll forgive me if I sort of spill an abbreviated life's story. My name is Rachel. I'm 26 and I've been costuming since I was 15. My passion for the art verges on fanaticism. I've never found anything else that fills me with such energy, that motivates me so much. I've completed all but a year of a liberal arts degree, and I've held jobs in a lot of different fields, but I spend every free moment sewing, shopping for fabric, reading crumbling library books about fashion through the ages, or walking through any costume/textile/period dress exhibit that comes to the Smithsonian. >From time to time it's occurred to me to try to pursue this as a vocation rather than just an avocation, but there seems to be no end to the reasons not to do it. There's no work to be had, I'd learn to hate it, I couldn't live on it, etc. But the truth is, my needs are simple (hell, I'm a secretary making about 20K in the Washington DC area. I'm already poor!) and my fiancé is an engineer. While I need to stay financially independent, I've managed to live on much less than I'm making now, and I'm beginning to think that creating costumes is more important to me than anything else. So, I hope you'll understand that I must humbly beg for your advice. Do you think I should pursue this? I know there are design schools here on the east coast. There are lots of theaters, TV stations, etc. who need people to design costumes. I just don't know any people in the field, and I guess I'm a little intimidated at the thought of going down to the Folger and saying "Hi, I'm a costumer wannabe. Any openings, or advice?" If you have any personal experience or thoughts, or *anything* to offer, I'd be awfully grateful. You have a really fabulous site. It's a beacon in the darkness for those of us who are hopelessly addicted to costuming! Regards -Rachel

My advice generally is that it is financially a bad choice, but then, which choice did I make? Life is about trying to have fun while you survive. The Folger idea isn't a bad one actually, but in addition to that I think you should try to attend the Costume Con 15 in Baltimore over the Memorial day weekend. I'm going, and you can ask me questions while I'm there, since it's about an hour's train ride from Washington. For info on the conference surf to the Costume Con CCXV Home Page site, and you will get lots of details. Most of the people at the convention will be folks like you with normal jobs, who do costuming compulsively, and they are enjoyable people to know. There will, however, be a percentage of people like me who do it for a living, all of whom, will probably love to give advice! ---Tara