I'm posting this, hoping I can encourage more Burners to build their own costumes. Homemade costumes, as opposed to the constant stream of stripper paraphernalia and raver gear that people spend bank on, are a truer form of self-expression. They're not just about looking hot. They offer up something new, and inspire others to do it themselves. They also continue the fine Burner tradition of not engaging in vapid consumerism or allowing corporations to craft our identities for us. Finally, they break the mold and crack open our brains about what we could be, and that, in my mind, is what Burning Man is all about. That said, here is a laundry list of helpful tips I have learned the hard way:
1. One of the easiest ways to approach a costume is to buy a finished piece from a Goodwill or garage sale, such as a leather jacket or dress, and transform it. You can cut sleeves and pantlegs, add drapes of lace or stretchy material, border seams in fake fur, glue notions like pleather or microfiche or rivets onto it, and basically rebuild it from scratch. This takes very little sewing know-how, and the payoff is huge.
2. Another approach is to build smaller accessories that can transform a costume, such as a hat, headress, arm gauntlets, or belts. These feel less ambitious, but actually are fun to mix and match, and often become my favorite pieces to wear over and over again.
3. Or, if you are an artist like my husband, you create one major costume that takes a month of solid work. (I don't have the attention span or the engineering mindset that this takes, but his costumes blow people's minds. This is his Mr. Death costume.) There are tons of tutorials for costumes online, on websites for comic book conventions, cosplay, or just
theater and movie designers. He likes to use mattress foam and foam tubing because they're lightweight.
4. Build on what you already know, and acquire new skills you need. I took a five week sewing class that taught me some important basics, and then I broke all their rules to build Burning Man costumes. Once I learned how to make a decent shrug (a short shirt with long sleeves), I made four or five variations on that pattern. Once I figured out how to make a hat with ears, I made seven of them. I quickly realized that aspiring to make a suit in two days wasn't going to turn out worth wearing.
5. Keep track of reference materials that inspire new ideas for you. We have a reference folder of images we find from the internet, and often books on video game character design have gorgeous ideas for costumes. We also like perusing comic books and W magazine for haute couture ideas. (Who woulda thought that Vogue and Burning Man have something in common?)
6. Remember: a costume for Burning Man only has to last a few days. You don't have to finish every seam, reinforce every buttonhole,etc. There have been times in which I followed a pattern and came out with a fur shirt with a cut that looked like Kmart- so I took the scissors and cut the front until it had the shape I wanted. Glue is your best friend for adding trim, etc.
7. Remember the weather and make sure your costume is comfortable. If it takes forever to put on, lace up, etc, you won't want to wear it. When buying fabric, feel both sides. I line very few Burning Man costumes, so I want the fabric to be soft on both sides. I designed extremely lightweight, skimpy stuff for the day, and furry long sleeved things for the night.
8. Give yourself a break: there have been many heartfelt attempts at costumes that just didn't work or came out looking totally lackluster compared to the glorious vision I had started out with. That's not failure- it's a learning experience. Laugh about it, and move on.
9. GET A SEWING MACHINE. I bought mine on Craigslist for eighty bucks. It was thirty years old, weighs forty pounds, and is completely dependable. When a part broke, I was able to look up the part online, find a store that carried it, and had the part mailed to me for three dollars. The older machines are mechanical and that makes them easier to fix.
10. Use FABRI-TAC fabric glue. We go through bottles of it, but it is superior to hot glue for fabric because it stays flexible and dries almost as quickly. I have built entire skirts without a single stitch of thread because of this glue.
11. Consider unusual materials for costumes: I have built tutus out of microfiche and filmstrips, added broken camera parts to a corset, and have used sheet music to make sleeves.
12. It sucks to bike with crinoline- it tore up my inner thighs, so I suggest considering how the costume will be to bike around in. I made a pair of leg gauntlets with strips of floating fabric and they got tangled in the wheels and I almost bit the dust.
13. Play with lights. I haven't done this enough, but EL wire and tiny floral lights with a battery pack can really add to some types of costumes. I built a swarm of insects with tiny christmas lights in the headdress and it gave off a soft glow which accentuated the little bugs.
14. Make pieces to share or gift. One of the most annoying elements of Burning Man is the few people who pay to manufacture 100 bottle openers with Burning Man etched on them or who pass out lame bumper stickers. Then they stop my bike and try to give this uninspired piece of crap to me as a gift. Hmmm- why don't I feel the love? Instead, this year, I made those seven animal hats out of fake fur, and when I had a cool conversation with my neighbor or had a friend who bemoaned the lack of fuzzies in their wardrobe, I had the delight of watching them rock my designs. Another dude actually walked around and sewed fabric flowers onto people's wrists- very cool. One friend of ours would sew costumes right onto people during the day, but she was a costume designer.
In future posts, I will explain how to do a few of the weirder techniques we have used and hopefully people will send us their ideas too. Peace and happy crafting!
