Instant Period Costumes: How to Make Classic Costumes from Cast-Off Clothing

by Barb Rogers

Why spend a small fortune to rent expensive period costumes when you can create them yourself for less than a day's rental price? Make them the easy way from cast-off clothing... without sewing! This valuable resource presents the concept of "conversion costuming." The first rule of thumb is that you must put aside your preconceived ideas about how to make a costume. The world of conversion costuming is miles away from fabrics, measuring, pinning, cutting, and sewing. The most important tool you need is your imagination. To help you, this book includes over 65 ingenious costumes designs with photos and diagrams for many periods from Egyptian, Greek, and Roman all the way to Punk. These conversion costuming ideas will save you time, money, and deadline disasters and give you precisely the costume you want. From '20s to '80s to Old West to Renaissance, put aside the boring and mundane part of costuming and go right to the exciting and creative part!

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 29, 2001

Reviews

[Rachel L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well...she's amazingly creative; I am impressed by the looks that she gets with basically cutting and pasting thrift store dresses.

That said, I have a hard time with the idea of gluing things together rather than sewing. I'm more of a purist. But for low-budget ideas this is a good resource.