CostumeCrafters.com
Costume Design & Inspiration
Looking for the perfect costumes for your next production? Look no further! On this website I step you through how I did costumes for Shrek and other shows. I can help you design and curate your costumes, from classic to whimsical, everything you need to make your vision come true. Browse and get ready to impress!
About Me
I have sewn all of my life, making many of my clothes including my prom dress! About 15 years ago, I started making costumes for my daughter's middle school productions. Since then I have worked with high school drama teachers to bring their vision to life without breaking the bank. Shows I have done include: Peter Pan, Legally Blonde, Once Upon an Island, Shrek, Momma Mia, Chicago, All Shook Up, Little Mermaid & Hairspray, and many more.
Get Inspired
Shrek Costumes
Lord Farquaad
The most fun for a costume maker is creating Lord Farquaad. I will first explain the legs because that is where it all starts.
I used a simple foam noodle as the base. Cut it in half and than cut off a section to use as knees. I then wrapped each leg in batting using a glue gun here and there to make the batting stay. As pictured, I made the thighs wider and thicker than the shins. I found cute child boots at Target. I think I used a size 5. I bought a child size yellow tights.
The actor should get very sturdy substantial knee pads and black pants (like cargo style). He will wear the cargo pants over the knee pads. We attach the legs with velcro - with straps from the back of the boots around the knee, and straps from the upper part of the legs to around the actors thigh. Once we add the velcro to the legs, we will put gold spandex over the legs with velcro and add a waist band with parachute clip.
Fiona
I found it is best to buy Fiona, because you need so many versions of the same outfit. I bought 5 - Young Fiona, Teenage Fiona, Grown Fiona and Ogre Fiona (I bought an XXL), Dancing Fiona. The Dancing Fiona is made so that she could tear away the skirt for the dancing rats number, but wasn't practical to use as her main dress.
I used this Dress pictured from Amazon, I liked the dark green velvet, click on the items on this page to be taken to the Amazon item.
To "jazz it up" the dresses a bit I used a glue gun and added gold sequin ribbon trim (stretchy). I added to all dresses with the exception of young Fiona. It comes in 10 yds increments, I needed two.
For the Dancing rats, I cut the dress where the top meets the skirt right under the gold band. There is a side zipper, that I shortened. I bought inexpensive green velvet-like fabric and added it to the width of the skirt and made it a wrap around with a long piece of velcro so actor could easily pull it off.
For the jazz skirt I wanted it sparkly and swishy. I attached this belly dancer skirt to this skater skirt.
For the wedding scene, we bought two of this dress. Reasons? Long sleeve and covered neckline so don't need green makeup on arms and neckline. Sewed the fat suit into the xlarge and added velcro to the back so she could just step into it quickly (and not mess up hair)
Donkey
The Donkey costume you will want to make it. It is pretty simple. I used a Tigger pattern and changed the colors/fabric. Simplicity Costume Pattern 0601 - Make the headpiece bigger and put a black stripe down the center of it.
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I used these hooves for his hands and painted them grey to match the outfit.
Shrek Costume
For Shrek I purchased 2XL flannel pajama pants and 2XL simple long sleeve beige shirt (waffle style fabric). I "tea-stained" the shirt - which is putting it in boiling water with tea bags to give it a distress/dirty look. I shredded the edges of the shirt. I added this fat belly suit, and added padding to the legs of the pants to make him look fat. (I bought 4 bellies, used them for Shrek, Humpty Dumpty, Pappa Shrek and Dwarf at end of show.
I made the vest out of a thick dark brown corduroy. I originally had a cool beige fur but looked too washed out on stage.
We used thick piece of left-over bungie cord as the belt - it worked great!
Duloc Dancers
We had 24 Duloc Dancers so this was a lot of costumes. I bought the most inexpensive long sleeve red tee shirts I could find. I found these fantastic red/blue spandex pants on Walmart (ship from China so allow time). I bought them all in the Plus size (it didn't seem to make a difference). Since the tunic covers the actors waist, if the pants are too big or too small, it really shouldn't matter - however, they will not fit a 2XL person or larger. We bought yellow wigs.
I made the tunics. I bought inexpensive crushed velvet fabric in red and blue - 60 inch wide. I cut fabric approximately 12-14 inches wide and kept the fold - so each piece of red and blue is approx 12 by 60 inches. I sewed the two pieces together and cut a "V" at the neck and glued yellow felt around neck and added a yellow circle at the front.
I used the yellow felt to cut out the crest, and blue felt for the "F", and glued them on the front of the tunic. I used bands on the sides to keep the tunics together. Be careful to make sure when attached the crest that you always have the red on the same side, and make sure it is opposite of the pants.
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Services
I work with drama teachers and others to help you plan the costumes for your production. I help you take inexpensive ideas and adapt them to create the costumes you want. I help you with the "Make or Buy" decision. I am sensitive to the budget restraints and will give you cost-conscious options. I can also make costumes if needed.
Brainstorming - Where do you Begin????
This is a no charge service. I will work with you to come up with low-cost ideas to help you get started with your costume plans.
Design Your Production
If you need more help, for a small flat charge, I will help you design and curate your production, including ideas for each character and scene. This will include make or buy decisions, providing links or a shared list on Amazon of what can be bought and modified.
Custom Costumes
For some shows and some ensemble numbers, it is easier to make costumes. I will make them for you and we will negotiate a price up front.
In addition, if desired I can travel to you during dress rehearsals and help you with fittings and last minute additions/modifications.
Learning to sew?
Here are the items I recommend you get when starting out:
1. A good pair of scissors:
2. Pre-threaded bobbins
These are a game changer. Tons of colors, when aking costumes you are constantly changing colors. I bought this set and the thread quality seemed fine. It came with a seam ripper - my absolutely favorite sewing item!