one HAPPY costumer
1985 Empire Formal
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Yes, that would describe me. Everything about costuming makes me happy, from the initial idea, to the designing, to the collecting of fabrics and trims, to the cutting and sewing of the fabric.
Seems like I’ve been involved in some kind of costuming for most of my life. As a child Halloween was my favorite holiday, even over Christmas, because I got to dress up. Much of my childhood was spent playing alone, making up stories, building dollhouses out of wooden blocks, drawing, working with clay and dressing up fashion dolls such as Barbie. (I did not play with baby dolls.) And while I did not make Barbie clothes as did many of my later costuming cohorts, I loved collecting them because in the 1960’s they were intricately made and rich with detailing.  1983 The Iron Orchid
Fast forward to junior high school and home economics, part cooking class and part sewing class. I hated the sewing class and only managed to get C’s. It wasn’t until the early 1970’s and my nascent involvement in Star Trek fandom that I got interested in making my own costumes. Mother made the first couple but she soon saw the handwriting on the wall and bought me my own sewing machine, a Viking. I have upgraded numerous times, each one a Husqvarna Viking.
I have always had a dedicated sewing room, usually a converted bedroom in whatever house I happened to be living in. My present home has a studio for sewing and crafts, which I designed and my father had built to my specifications. My costuming history is documented and annotated on the pages following this one. |
Viking SE and Viking Huskylock serger.
Cutting table, bookshelves, sewing supplies.
Craft supplies, fabric in bins. (Not nearly all the fabric I own, of course.)
Dressmaker mannequins. I love the fact that these roll.
Buttons and bits.
The bald gold lady in clear rhinestones.
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Craft area.
Pressing table, more books. A blue cover at the right hides a Viking Diamond embroidery machine.
Mostly cottons, mostly for linings.
The glitz stash.
Just the purples, yum!
A very small part of my extensive rhinestone jewelry collection.
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