Creating Custom Costumes

Creating Custom Costumes

By J.L. Comes

I’ll be the first one to admit that I am not extremely well versed in Costume Design; I can’t always remember the correct names of stitches, or the right terms for fabrics, and good luck trying to get me to use a sewing machine. And yet, somehow, I still love to make outfits. Don’t get me wrong, they can be a pain in the ass a lot the time. I’ve definitely cried, thrown a temper-tantrum or two, thought about giving up constructing outfits all together every now and then. But there’s just something about the beauty of that is needle and thread coming together to weave and stitch incredible garments together that keeps me coming back for more.

By the way, I’m Joey Comes. My penname is J.L. Comes for personal reasons, but please call me Joey, it’s just easier that way. I am a Writer, an Actor, a Singer, and a Baker. Those are my four main pursuits in life. Sometimes they are my destined career path for the day and other times they are considered merely hobbies, depending on my levels of self-esteem for that day in particular. But one thing I will never, ever call myself is a Costume Designer. Even though I have now made a quite a few successful outfits, I still don’t see myself as one. I can’t tell you if it’s because of a self-esteem issue, or just not feeling qualified or educated enough on the subject, but I just… don’t think I could ever title myself that.

However, I have to say I absolutely love getting to make clothes by hand. It is such an amazing experience for me to not only construct wardrobe by hand stitching it together (not that I don’t appreciate a sewing machine, but I also don’t currently own one) but to see someone wearing clothes that I made and looking fantastic in them.

This is a very recent development, just so you know. It all started when my boyfriend, aka Ric Angel, up-and-coming R&B/Hip-Hop/Pop singer and songwriter asked me to help put together outfits for him to wear for his album covers for a few of his upcoming Singles. He had asked me because I do have a small, teeny-tiny background in costume construction (shoutout to Coastal Carolina University’s Theater Department!) and, because I love him, I said yes. Even though in my mind I was definitely thinking “Are you insane?! You haven’t sewn a damn thing in several years, how the hell did you expect to accomplish this?”. But the one thing that outweighs my fear is always my determination. Also, my stubbornness. I will always go out of my way to prove someone wrong, especially if it’s my own inner monologue giving me a hard time.

Which leads me to the pictures I’ve attached to this story. For his very first look, we shopped around at a local JOANN’s for fabric and came up with a few ideas before settling on a specific type of fabric and heading home. Once back at our apartment in North Hollywood, we started talking out loud about what he wanted for his look and what I was thinking about for how to construct it, and that I needed to sketch it out in order to help me visualize it. So that sketch is included above, the first step of the process. From there I literally pinned the fabric around him, skintight (per his request for this particular outfit). Then, I carefully unpinned him, re-pinned the garment back in place as close as I possibly could, and went to work on cutting fabric (with fabric scissors, of course) as carefully as possible, hoping for the best. But of course, he had picked a fabric that was so, so difficult to work with for my first time doing this kind of thing in years. It was glittery, sparkly, sequined, stretchy, sheer, and rainbow. I’ve said I will never do that again but knowing us, and especially knowing his taste, it will undoubtedly happen again. Anyways, it took a lot of hard work, and a lot of long hours, and a lot of sleepless nights and pricked fingers and frayed nerves but eventually, it came together. I made adjustments as we went on, having him try it on repeatedly, reinforcing stitches that ripped apart or broke easily, learning how to fasten hooks on the back of the pants and on the front vest portion, just forcing myself to finish. We even used a wire hanger to get that crested collar the way he wanted it be, so I just said screw it and sewed it in as best as I could and we went with it. The finished product was, and still is, remarkable. Sure, it’s not perfect, which drives me a little crazy with my perfectionist mentality, but it is exactly what he wanted and worked for what it was meant for, and for that I’m happy.

It’s been several months since then and I have made quite a few more outfits for him, all by hand, and the more I do it the better I become; it’s officially easier to feel like I may actually have what it takes to be a part time Costume Designer. I’ve even figured out how to tailor clothes to people (but only clothes that are too big for them, definitely not the other way around. I re-educated myself on the different uses between a back-stitch and a cross-stitch, even though I may still get other terminology mixed around from time to time. I can know tell if a fabric will be easy to work with or not just from looking at it. So, the growth is obviously there. But I still have plenty more to do, which is just fine with me. My love for constructing custom costumes will always outshine that pesky little voice in the back of head telling me that I’m not really worthy of being a Costume Designer. I’ll keep hand-sewing my way through the Imposter Syndrome and the doubts and frustrations that come with the territory, because the end result is always worth it; it makes me happy, and that’s all that matters.