The Costume Technician's Handbook 3/e 3rd Edition

Book is wonderful. Waited a long time to be able to order this. Very good form of information. However it arrived damaged. The cover is ruined the first few pages. It was just thrown in an oversized envelope package with no care at all how it was packed. 5 stars for the book. Zero stars for the packing.

I wish I'd bought this years ago! It's an all around reference on the process of making costumes. As an unexpected bonus, it has the BEST SHORT COURSE IN PATTERN DRAFTING I've ever used. I've been doing this for while, and this book taught me several new things about draping and pattern drafting. The instructions are succinct, yet complete--and readily understandable (I cannot say this about many pattern drafting texts). Instructions are given for men as well as for women (not all pattern drafting books remember that other gender, the guys). Another wonderful section covers fabric characteristics--and how to identify fabrics of unknown origin (is it silk? rayon? polyester?) and how to best use them! There is excellent information on construction, that would be helpful to the beginner and those of us who've been stitching things together for awhile. Both dressmaking and tailoring are covered. Need to dye? There's a discussion of that, also. Millinery? Yep, it's in there! There is a section on computers in the costume shop.In short, this book is not exactly indispensable--but it will make the costume process much more professional. Definitely, it's one I'll be using a great deal as long as I continue to work in this field!

If you want to make costumes, or just clothing in general, this book is probably your best bet.This book is jam packed with with information about sewing and craft techniques, design guidelines, materials, common problems, and workarounds. Clear instructions, useful illustrations, and complex tasks are broken down into manageable parts.It's great for all skill levels from intermediate on. You can learn to do something the first time, and I still look at it as a reference for tasks I've done many times over the years.

One of the best-- and certainly one of the most comprehensive-- books out there on building costumes. Not just construction techniques for millinery, stage armour, and period wigs, etc., but also a place to go for drafting basic patterns, and deciding what fabrics to use. It also contains invaluable resources for costumers on where to find the nearly impossible. There are few books I would say no costume library should be without; this is one of them.

This book is really a must read, for people who work with volatile substances (like dyes) while they are sewing at home. Extremely informative, very one of a kind, could not put it down! I told a lot of my friends about things discussed in it while I was reading it, especially the sections on safety precautions! stupendous!

I just received the book and the way Amazon packaged it was too flimsy — wrapped in a piece of cardboard that was too big. The brand new book was jostled around and tore the corner up. Not a huge deal because I’m not trying to waste time and resources to replace something I can tape, but worth mentioning. Also glad it wasn’t wrapped in a ton of plastic, but what if it got wet? But didn’t, so it’s fine. Now, let me drink some hot tea, cool my jets and read the darn book.

A wealth of information on costume making and anyone involved with pattern making as well. Wish I had had this book back in college when I was studying apparel design! Worth every dollar!

took a class at SUU at 70 learned a lot and it was fun.handy book. interesting.

If you have any interest in constructing costumes, whether for the theatre or for your own uses, this book is invaluable. It has the best drafting instructions I have ever come across, sections on fitting, on materials, on dying, design, hairstyles, hats and accessories...The costume construction sections, in particular, are brilliant and the others, whilst not as comprehensive as a book devoted to the individual subjects, are more than adequate for most situations.In fact, my only gripe with this book is that I'd like more colour pictures.

I finally bought this book after taking it out of the library multiple times going back about 15 years. It's a wonderful reference in terms of the scope of topics covered from information regarding industrial sewing machines and the technical running of a costume department to the processes of making corsets, hats and armour and everything in between. It's a fantastic book for anyone even remotely interested in costuming.

Ordered the book for my wife as a birthday gift since she's a costume technician working in the theater world. She was very satisfied and happy with the item.

An excellent resource for anyone working on costume design