An garbled Idea for the attention of those of a crafty or costumey disposition
This is mostly aimed at the various creative bods I network with as they are likely to be very interested in what I am talking about. But even if you are not a creative type but have some observation or opinion (that is constructive, I don't mind criticsm as long as it is constructive).
I don't know if many people know, I do try not to sewing geek at people if I can, but I have a long an detailed fascination with clothing and costumes. Started with historical stuff from my re-enactment days and has since extended into Film and TV. Ostensibly because with LARP you always need kit:). Anyway in response to this interest I have been, over the years, collecting literature,images and patterns which relate to particular pieces that I have been asked to make or wanted to make for mayself. This collection has been growing exponentially as I started to notice particular costumes in various films and have been looking up how to make them myself.
Anyway, I was at a sci-fi convention at the weekend and one of the attendees there had set up an little exhibition of his private collection of costume and props from the various series. He was very nice and was allowing people to actually touch and manipulate the exhibits... so like a good little costume geek I spent a good 30 minutes+ photographing as much of the costumes as I could. Especially the little seen sewing detail like hems, back seams and the tricks to holding on decorations etc. As a result of my intense scrutiny of his pieces the guy running the exhibition an his otherhalf noticed what I was doing and we fell into conversation about the construction and creation of the pieces (needless to say he is also a re-enactor who is also fascinated by the construction of the props and the costume).
From this conversation I gathered that much of interest in his collection comes from costume makers looking for that ellusive detail you cannot get from screen shots, like what materials are used in the constructon, where the seams actually are etc..
So I started to wonder you know, would it be worth my time cataloguing this stuff and putting it up as an online resource for costume makers. I mean I have spent many years complaining that they never produce books detailing the clothing construction, the prop making etc.. or if they do it's two pages of the "making of" book or programme which usually has a few publicity stills of the character and/or the initial design sketch if you are lucky, and possibly three words from the costume maker/designer about how difficult it was to find the buttons. Unhelpful.
So question is, given the epic number of specialist costume/prop making sites out there (many of which i use myself), do you think it worth my while to join in with my meagre library of stuff? If you think YES, then is there anything in particular that you yourself would want from such a site?. (e.g. my bugbear has always been the lack of information regarding the backs and linings of characters costume). So if i go out there and find costuem and catalogue it, what is it that you usually have to make a guess at when you try to make a costume yourself? I have some ideas from my own experiences but the more information that can be supplied the more useful it is.
I am thinking at this moment that it will end up being something like a sort of general costume Wiki.
anyway that is my latest random thought..
Opinions please
I don't know if many people know, I do try not to sewing geek at people if I can, but I have a long an detailed fascination with clothing and costumes. Started with historical stuff from my re-enactment days and has since extended into Film and TV. Ostensibly because with LARP you always need kit:). Anyway in response to this interest I have been, over the years, collecting literature,images and patterns which relate to particular pieces that I have been asked to make or wanted to make for mayself. This collection has been growing exponentially as I started to notice particular costumes in various films and have been looking up how to make them myself.
Anyway, I was at a sci-fi convention at the weekend and one of the attendees there had set up an little exhibition of his private collection of costume and props from the various series. He was very nice and was allowing people to actually touch and manipulate the exhibits... so like a good little costume geek I spent a good 30 minutes+ photographing as much of the costumes as I could. Especially the little seen sewing detail like hems, back seams and the tricks to holding on decorations etc. As a result of my intense scrutiny of his pieces the guy running the exhibition an his otherhalf noticed what I was doing and we fell into conversation about the construction and creation of the pieces (needless to say he is also a re-enactor who is also fascinated by the construction of the props and the costume).
From this conversation I gathered that much of interest in his collection comes from costume makers looking for that ellusive detail you cannot get from screen shots, like what materials are used in the constructon, where the seams actually are etc..
So I started to wonder you know, would it be worth my time cataloguing this stuff and putting it up as an online resource for costume makers. I mean I have spent many years complaining that they never produce books detailing the clothing construction, the prop making etc.. or if they do it's two pages of the "making of" book or programme which usually has a few publicity stills of the character and/or the initial design sketch if you are lucky, and possibly three words from the costume maker/designer about how difficult it was to find the buttons. Unhelpful.
So question is, given the epic number of specialist costume/prop making sites out there (many of which i use myself), do you think it worth my while to join in with my meagre library of stuff? If you think YES, then is there anything in particular that you yourself would want from such a site?. (e.g. my bugbear has always been the lack of information regarding the backs and linings of characters costume). So if i go out there and find costuem and catalogue it, what is it that you usually have to make a guess at when you try to make a costume yourself? I have some ideas from my own experiences but the more information that can be supplied the more useful it is.
I am thinking at this moment that it will end up being something like a sort of general costume Wiki.
anyway that is my latest random thought..
Opinions please