How to Stay Organized When Costuming a School Musical

Creating costumes for a school musical may seem like a creative endeavour, but it relies heavily on good organization skills to make it work.  All your wonderful costumes won't be noticed if one kid has to go on stage in a black T-shirt.  Or, God forbid, he has to sit out this number because there's no costume for him.

If you don't feel up to the task, get yourself a costume manager, and tell them what you need help with.  Give them a list on a clipboard and tell them to keep track of everything. Hey, maybe they could collate your expenses for the finance department, too!

You might want to keep all costumes with you. My colleague Miriam told me this after I mentioned some of the mishaps below.  She said she just kept all the small props in the back of her car, only pulling them out when needed for rehearsals, and personally taking them back afterward.  She was (rightly) afraid all her hard work would be wasted when something was lost or damaged.  

Next time, I would use the actors' boxes to store only personal items (like costumes they put together themselves, make-up, etc) and would not leave 'my' costumes laying around.  It's not a question of not trusting the kids.  Alright, maybe it is, but it's just some added insurance.  If I do allow kids to put their costumes in the boxes, I would label and issue them like a library book.  Then they would understand the responsibility.
 

Label each costume with a kid's name, or have them one size fits all. If they are one size fits all, and not labeled, then keep them yourself.  I found that the only costumes that went missing were from the chorus. Garments that were unique or labeled never seemed to be a problem, oddly...

Count, count, count again. I had trouble with this one a few times.  For example, poppy head pieces went missing, and we knew we had had enough.  But when were they lost?  Was it me, the hair and make-up crew or the  actors? Because I hadn't been religiously keeping tabs I didn't know and couldn't look for them.

So, the night before the performance I was making replacements, having to paint fabric because I didn't have enough remnant. It's tough to sew wet fabric.

And then (again, the day before the performance), the  tornadoes complained they were one costume short.  We were positive we had just ironed and stacked up the 11 needed, and insisted the kids scour backstage and find the missing one.  They looked for about half an hour before one girl said she was new to the group and maybe she wasn't on the list.  Sure enough, there were 12 tornado dancers.  

Thank goodness her mum could sew and I had enough remnant backstage and the sewing directions still in my binder!  Whew.  She took home a plastic bag and brought back a costume ready for the performance the next morning.  Thanks, Mum!

My lesson there is to continually count and ask the director about any changes in the line-up.  She has a maelstrom in her head by this point, and you need to look after this detail yourself, or maybe your costume manager can.

With sewing bees, always write down who takes home what, with phone number, date, and number of garments.  And of course, check them off when the come back to you.  In the end, another garment that went missing was Kalidah tunics.  I really had not the foggiest idea what went wrong there.  Had they been sent home with a sewing mum and forgotten?  Had I lost them?  Had I lost count and not made enough in the first place? I think the last one is the most probable, but the end result was the same--another last-minute panic I could do without.


This post sums up just about the worst of my experiences doing costumes for this musical. A little more organization would have avoided these problems, and I would have finished the whole thing feeling much healthier and happier.


Still, for me this was a wonderful experience, and I know next time I'll do it so much better!

Some back stage shots

Evillene and her 'eye boobs' giving Dellylu a creepy hug. The eyelids open and shut with wires in her corset.

Two of the crows.  Lovely Donna came up with the clever head piece.

Dorothy in the costume Izzy Rose designed for her.

The Wiz in her 'power coat', my piece de resistance.  Made from ten sweaters and a knit skirt.

How to design costumes for your school musical Part 3

Designing costumes for a play or musical will take up so much more time than you might think. It will also take up a huge amount of space.

When I first said, 'yes' to our musical I went straight upstairs to my sewing room and started de-cluttering. Confession time--I am not very good at de-cluttering.  However, the sewing room is in pretty good shape now, if I keep the cupboard doors closed.  I am careful to clean up as I go, so that it never gets too bad, but there are lots of bags lined up on the periphery.  Most of them are labeled, which helps.


Musical costume clutter is like the Blob.  It takes over and spreads mercilessly.  My car, our stairs, my side of the sofa.

I have been fortunate enough to have a little room at school.  Each actor and dancer have a (recycled photocopy paper) box with a lid and their name on it.  A couple of the principle actors have bigger, green A3 paper boxes.  Not all of the costumes will fit in the box, but I am thinking smaller items can stay there. One thing I am desperate for is a proper clothes rack.  The one in the photo is only high enough for a garment like a top or skirt.  Nothing full-length.  The situation will be dire very soon.

Tutu skirts and the like might be transported in those huge stripey bags or even garbage bags.  So far my Quadlings' skirts and Poppies' skirts are one size fits all.  That will save confusion backstage, right?

Next I might write about organizing a sewing bee.  Or sewing a specific garment or maybe something else...

How to Design Costumes for your School Musical, Part 2

Gathering ideas:

For me this was the fun part. Start by sitting down with the director and ask her (I'll keep using 'her', because everyone in our production team is a woman) about her vision.

From that meeting I wrote down words like, 'magical, crazy, fun, fantasy'.

Then ask any specific requirements she has for the costumes.

For example, our Wiz has to get dressed on stage from PJ's. So her dress (our Wiz is a girl, too!) needs to open in front and be simple to put on. And preferably, be able to fit over PJ's without looking strange.

Then I started prowling the internet, using image search engines to find pictures of ideas. After exhausting image searches, I used Google and found lots of new ideas, so be sure to do both types of research.

I kept a document open and copied images into it, trying to sort into characters as I went. Labels are helpful, like, 'This wig is good', but I don't think I really needed them in the long run.

A really surprising source of ideas was fashion books and magazines. My daughters are haute-couture obsessed, and we've got lots of that sort of publication around. FiFi Lapin (above) provided my sketches for a Marc Jacobs outfit for Evillene and a Vivienne Westwood-inspired Addapearl costume. Vogue Italia's March 'Wasted Luxury' photo story has given me an idea for a crown. After all, haute couture is not for the real world!

Now, I suppose it is copyright infringement if you copy a costume exactly, but no creation of mine is going to turn out exactly like something from, for example, 'Wicked'. And I don't think Vogue Italia is going to chase down a high school group for intellectual property rights.

image Vogue Italia, marzo 2011

Be sure to look to others for help. Ring the theatre companies and schools near you. Has anyone done this show lately? Are they willing to loan you their costumes? Our local amateur theatre company loaned us quite a few costumes, which is a relief.

For me sitting around the table with a few girls, some paper and a bunch of pencils was hugely productive. Maria over at Avenue M came up with ideas for Glinda's dress, Izzy Rose designed Dorothy's outfit, and Dellylu created the crows. Being able to bounce ideas around was invaluable, even though, like me, none of those girls has ever been involved in this sort of process before.

Talk to the kids in the production. Some of them have been doing theatre for years and years. They know what works and they might even have something at home. I found some of our kids had strong opinions and good ideas. Some ideas are not so good, but you always have the right to say 'no'.

For example, two actors asked if they could wear bike shorts to be cops. Bike shorts and a hat. And nothing else. I've been stunned at how Aussie boys are keen to get their shirts off. Guess what my response was?

Well, that is how I got started with the creative process. There will be more on that later, but the next installment will be about equipment and space. You might be shocked at how much space you'll need.

How to Design Costumes for your School Musical, Part 1

So, have you said 'yes'? Are you already panicking? Well, I said 'yes' to doing costumes for The Wiz late last year. So far I am enjoying myself, but it is a lot of work.

I'm going to post about my experiences in the hope that someone can learn from it. I've never done anything like this before, and it would have been nice to find helpful hints. You might learn what NOT to do, but that's handy, too.

For some background, I have average sewing abilities and crafty tendencies. I am slap-dash when it comes to quality control, which I think is a positive attribute for this. You don't have time to obsess and rip out, and you have to let other people help you. Remember that lights, distance and movement on stage will make your creations look wonderful.



So the first thing I did was to find a binder to hold all my info. One from the cupboard was just fine. I got lots of display pages and made tabs with sticky labels. There is a label for:

• each character
• each dance group costume needed
  
• shops, hire companies, etc
• lists
• patterns/sewing
  
• communication

Also, in the back I put an envelope for receipts (dockets in Australian). Theoretically this should have a running list of costs on the front, but I really don't want to know at this point!


My first page is my 'To Do' list. Of course this changes as I accomplish these items.



For each character I have a page of measurements of the kid playing the part. This image was downloaded from the internet, and the wonderful helper-guy at school added a spot for 'name' and 'height', which wasn't on the image. Next time I would add 'character/s' to write in the costumes needed.


Across from this are images, sketches, ideas, websites, etc. Anything at all that relates to that costume. Of course some characters might have more than two pages if needed. Below are Addapearl, Glinda and Evillene.





For this production we have three groups of dancers with three or four costumes each. Just like the main characters, they have a page for each costume (not each kid!), and I grouped them together. So, group 1's costumes together, then 2, etc.

Below is a page for Group 2's Kalidah dance. Note the sewing directions (more on that later) and the tag from a bolt of fabric. The shop has ordered more for us, and I've saved the tag to make sure I've got all the info needed.




Under shops and hire places I list all the recommendations from friends and colleagues, mud maps, notes made when I visit places, websites that might be helpful, etc.

Under lists I keep, wait for it... lists. Who wears what, which groups are on when, etc. Also, I keep a measurement sheet for the kids in the dance groups.

For sewing I've got pattern info, especially if it doesn't apply to a specific character. Here are also my 'to do' lists for the sewing bees.


Under communications are all the letters that have gone back and forth. There's also a folder in my email account, and I try to write down phone calls, as well. Make sure to get your principal or other person to approve any letters home if applicable.

One thing that's not here but you would probably find useful is a calendar.

Keep the binder in a bag with an over-the-shoulder handle and add a pencil case with a tape measure, some sticky notes, pen and pencil. Now you are ready to get started!

If you are a FlyLady fan, you will recognize this as a control journal. It will be your constant companion over the coming months. I keep mine in my car, and I feel lost without it.

Next up is the fun part, gathering ideas.