Halloween Costumes and Poldark

28/10/2016

Ross Poldark, so hands up who has a secret crush on him?! Not necessarily someone you would associate with Halloween though? let me explain…

Halloween

Do you like scary, or fun and kitsch Halloween? What is your style of costume when it comes to dressing up for a serious costumed affair? Scary needs a touch of subtlety, its all in the details
because after all an old dress is just an old dress until you add those all important accessories that turn it into a witch’s costume.

At work I am presently making four dresses for our December production of ‘Our Country’s Good’ Each of these distressed dresses would be perfect for a Halloween costume, so I thought you may like a glimpse of how I work? Let me say I am not a professional ‘costumier’ indeed I bow down to those very talented and knowledgeable people. I am however employed to do this and this is how I start the process…

First there are production meetings, at which we discuss style, settings, colour and era. This is all up to the Director of the play. Once this information has been established. I gather my inspiration from everywhere and start to research via books, online, even the TV…

Poldark is set in the same era as the play!

I used this pattern, did you know I designed and made that actual crochet cowl for simplicity too?

After I have sorted out some colour schemes, I find some patterns to work from and start cutting and playing with the fabric. I prefer to use the fabric as a textural base from which to start to build up a picture. The costume is telling a story as well as the actor.

Referring to my chosen colour schemes, I start to dye the fabrics, I always use Dylon Machine Dye for this process. Its very exciting to see the results, as each fabric will hold the dye in a different way depending on its fibre content. If I dont like the result I play around with it for awhile, either washing the fabric again or mixing in another colour. it is always best to wait for the fabric to dry first as it drys lighter.

Before and after dying with Dylon machine dye.I used Olive Green for this one.

The hardest part is making something look old and distressed that you have just made…a cheese grater always helps!

…and here is the witch transformation I mentioned earlier, just add accessories!

They are not finished yet, lots of details still to add, but I am happy with these two so far. Do you like them? would you wear a costume like this for Halloween?