Stage Costume Technique

Abstract

Joy Spanabel Emery has given us a textbook packed with technical knowledge on “preparing costumes and getting them on stage on time.” As a teacher and designer, I welcome her fund of experience. Ms. Emery’s advice is well-tried, and it ranges over all aspects of the costumer’s craft from sketch to first night, and beyond. Workroom organization and equipment, pattern drafting, choice of fabrics, costume construction and fitting, dyeing, basic millinery and prop-making, and (very important) budgeting and the charts and lists that help to plan the smoothrunning work schedule. All this and more is discussed in soundly practical terms. As the author puts it at one point, “It is very frustrating to have to stop construction in order to buy needles for the sewing machine because the supply has run out.” She speaks later about how necessary it is for “a costumer . .. to get along with people .. . a sense of humour makes the job easier.”