Art to Wear

Period Costume for Stage & Screen : Patterns for Women's Dress, Medieval-1500

Period Costume for Stage & Screen : Patterns for Women's Dress 1500-1800

Period Costume for Stage & Screen : Patterns for Women's Dress, 1800-1909,

Men's Seventeenth & Eighteenth Century Costume : Cut and Fashion

Fetish Fashion: Undressing the Corset

The Corset: A Cultural History

ModCon: The Secret World Of Extreme Body Modification

Purpose:  To learn advanced processes of design and construction for costumes in performance.  This year, the class “theme”, by student request, will stress millinery and costume craft skills.

 Grading: Grading is based on a system of points given for successful completion of assignments (90% of grade) and participation (10% of grade).  Grading is based on the following table:

 1000-900 pts= A       This comes out to: 100-90%

899-800 pts= B                           89-80%

799-700 pts= C                           79-70%

699-600 pts= D                           69-60%

599-0   pts= F                            59-0%

 Evaluation: Project assignments will be graded based on

• 25% Completion (Is the project really done, or have important steps been left unfinished?)

• 25% Neatness, accuracy, clarity (How much have your drawing/sewing/crafting skills improved?)

• 25% Creativity (Are the choices you have made in design or construction boring and ill thought out or interesting and clever?)

• 25% Practicality (Would the project actually be usable in a show on stage?)

 Instructional methods (and related grading info):  Most classes will begin with a demo where I will show you how to do a technique for a possible project.  After the demonstration occurs, the remainder of class time you will spend working on the project and getting help from me in how to do them, or work independently on an alternate project.  You may choose from online projects, projects as arranged with Tara or Lorraine, or projects demonstrated in class.  You will also need to work on projects outside of class time.  You may come into the costume shop during the times we are open to get extra help, work with our tools, or just have a place to work that is less awkward than a dorm room, or you may choose to take projects home to work on them.

Course calendar: The Tentative schedule for the demos is as follows (This will almost certainly change):

Jan 24: Class intro, Plaster Bandage Masks demo.

Jan 31: Plaster Bandage Masks, continued.  Bring your blank mask from last week, and a picture of the mask as you wish it to be finished.  (Xerox of historical mask or drawing of own design).

Feb 7: Mask Due.  Gauntlet Gloves, and/or Monster gloves demo.  (Bring cheap cotton black or white garden gloves.)

Feb 14: Gloves due.  Costume rendering the way I do it demo.  (Bring previous examples of renderings, or photos of costumes if you have them).

Feb 21: Rendering the way I do it, part 2 (Bring watercolors if you have them.)

Feb 28: Costume rendering due, Hat rendering due.  Buckram Frame Hats demo.

Mar 7: Buckram Frame Hats, continued (Bring fabric that you wish to use to cover the hat)

Mar 14: Spring Break, no classes

Mar 21: Buckram Hat Due.  Discuss Oedipus and assist with show costumes. 

Mar 28: Demo of Pattern alterations, QAD pattern drafting.

Apr 4: Pattern Drafting due.  Bring in drawing of proposed wire mask. Wire Sculpture mask demo.

Apr 11: Wire sculpture, continued.

Apr 18:  Wire sculpture mask due. Design for a “metal” helmet, mask or headdress due. Foam headpiece demo. 

Apr 25: Craft felt/wet buckram hat demo.

May 2:  Foam OR Craft felt/wet buckram base for “metal” mask or headdress due.  Demo on metal finishing.

May 9: Final Exam Period, same time as usual class. Finished “metal” costume piece due.  Portfolio of designs and photos of past projects due.

Assignments: 

• 25pts Design or research Xerox for plaster bandage mask.

• 100pts Plaster bandage mask.

• 75pts Monster or gauntlet gloves.

• 100pts 2-3 COLOR renderings using Xerox & Watercolor method

• 50pts COLOR Hat rendering for buckram hat.

• 100pts Buckram hat with cloth cover.

• 100pts Pattern Drafting

• 50pts COLOR Rendering for wire frame mask.

• 100pts  Wire frame mask.

• 50pts COLOR Rendering for “metal” helmet, mask or headdress.

• 150pts Finished “metal” helmet, mask or headdress

The Costume Technician's Handbook 3/e

The Magic Garment : Principles of Costume Design

Cutting and Draping Special Occasion Clothes: Designs for Eveningwear and Partywear

The Foam Book : An Easy Guide to Building Polyfoam Puppets

Costume Construction

Costumes and Chemistry: A Comprehensive Guide to Materials and Applications

The Business of Theatrical Design Medieval Costume and How to Recreate It 

How To Alter A Bridal Gown

The Sewing Machine Guide: Tips on Choosing, Buying, and Refurbishing

The Costume Designer's Handbook : A Complete Guide for Amateur and Professional Costume Designers Ali Baba Studios Costuming Secrets Unveiled: Creating Basic Bra & Belt Sets VHS

Attendance, Punctuality & Common Politeness:  It is difficult to earn full participation credit (10% of grade, remember?) if you miss a lot of the class presentations, or regularly come in late.  There is no specific number of absences that is a “cutoff” line for full credit, rather it is the amount of time I see your shining faces, the extent to which you do or don’t participate in the demos/discussions, and above all, the frequency of times I have to shout to be heard over your private non-costume-related conversations that influence my judgments on this matter.   I know that major portions of costume class feels exactly like the Theatre Dept Monday night “stitch and bitch” meeting, (and this is fine) but there are times, most obviously when I’m trying to address the whole class, that you need to stop your conversations and let me be heard.  Repeated brainlessness in this matter WILL lose you points.  100 points are possible in this area. 

 Substitute Assignments: Any and all project assignments can be substituted with designs from a real show.  You may choose to re-render an old show you have done without rendering (in which case you will be graded on the rendering, not the show), or you may substitute a SDA, FDA, or mainstage show (or portion of show in the case of large shows) which you actually bring to completion (in which case you will be graded for results as well as renderings).   

Additional choices available from the online lessons:

• Design Analysis & Renderings
• Reading the Play 
• Focusing on the actor: Rendering for "On The Harm of Tobacco"
• Designing in Cooperation
• Analyzing Film Designs 
• High Concept Films
• Realistic Films
• Historical Research
• 3 Renderings for The Marriage Proposal
• 6 Renderings for Patience
• 6 Renderings for The Contrast
• No Color Designs

• Suit Conversions
• Paint
• Applied Decoration
• Surrealist Pockets 
• Changing Collars
• Masks
• Plaster Bandage & Foam
• Foam and Airball on a Plastic Base
• Carved Insulation Foam Mask
• or Foam Mold for Muslin Mask
• Wire Sculpture
• Muslin Mache Mask
• Sewing
• Renaissance Hat
• Cape
• Paperwork
• Measurements 
• Building Your Portfolio
• Millinery
• Placemat Hats
• Amazing uses for a Baseball Hat 
• Basic Bandeau of Buckram
• Edwardian Hat
• Hat Made Using Craft Felt
• Craft Felt Sculpture
• Straw Braid Hat 
• Thermoplastic Helmet Project 
•  Non Toxic Metal Finishes for Armor

• Wigs
• Beauty School Dropouts & Other Painted Wigs 
• Witch Wig into Samurai Lady 
• Extensions & Hair Rolls
• Making your Own 18th Century Men's Wigs 
• Chemotherapy Patient Hats
• Fabric Modification
• Fortuny Style Pleating 
• Make a costume using the pleated fabric
• Foam crafts
• Airball Sculpture
• Simple Foam Headpiece
• Complex Foam Headpiece
• Animal/Bird Foot Shoe
• Other Crafts Projects
• Plaster Bandage Breastplate
• Make your own Geta (Japanese wooden shoes) Project 
• Copying Period Fans 
• Sample Sheet of Antiqued Jewelry Finishes

If you are interested in a Topic or process, other than those shown, let me know, and I can try to find you a book that shows you what to do, or help you to do that process during the lab time in class.  Points can be arranged for projects of this kind as well.

Important selections from the UAF Student Code of Conduct:  “UAF requires students to conduct themselves honestly and responsibly, and to respect the rights of others. Conduct that unreasonably interferes with the learning environment or that violates the rights of others is prohibited…. Honesty is a primary responsibility of you and every other UAF student. The following are common guidelines regarding academic integrity:

1.      Students will not collaborate on any quizzes, in-class exams, or take-home exams that will contribute to their grade in a course, unless permission is granted by the instructor of the course. Only those materials permitted by the instructor may be used to assist in quizzes and examinations.

2.      Students will not represent the work of others as their own. A student will attribute the source of information not original with himself or herself (direct quotes or paraphrases) in compositions, theses and other reports.

3.      No work submitted for one course may be submitted for credit in another course without the explicit approval of both instructors.”.

Course policies: This does not imply that you cannot ask for help on your costume projects both from Tara and Lorraine, other students, or even your dear old Mom.  This is especially important in doing sewing projects.  Just don’t have that person do any major part of construction (minor ones are allowed) and then claim the work as all yours.  Specify to Tara those parts of a project you had major help on, and you will be graded on the work you could do by yourself, yet still be able to accept help on a small part of a project that requires more expert hands. If you did it all yourself, while someone was telling you what to do while looking over your shoulder, it’s still all yours, that is how you learn these techniques in this class.