BEHIND THE SCENES

The Art and Trade of a Costume Maker

Sandy Barton, CSU, Chico’s trés petite costume shop manager, is afloat in a sea of sequined, beaded, beribboned, and beruffled gowns. Many of these gowns and other costumes hanging nearby are Barton’s creations, or at least built under her watchful eye during 16 years as a costumier in the theatre arts department.

Barton rummages through a rack and fishes out a beaded black and gold toreador jacket worn in Carmen. One rack over, dozens of drab Depression-era cotton dresses hang together, limp and forlorn, like a group of shy, homely schoolgirls. Other gowns, she points out with pride, are “backed and boned, some have netting.”

Around the corner is another jam-packed-to-the-rafters storage room, including showgirls’ headpieces (from The Will Rogers’ Follies, one of the largest shows ever produced at CSU, Chico, with more than 150 costumes), British military uniforms (redcoats!), smoking jackets, peignors, kimonos. And then there’s a Mayan snake god headpiece and the fiberglass tortoise costume Barton built for The Great Cross Country Race.

Back in the costume shop (PAC 259), a fleet of sewing machines fills one side of the room, there’s a gaggle of shapely dressmakers’ forms, and wide worktables for creating patterns and cutting fabric. A lone student contentedly hand stitches a collar, the ubiquitous tape measure dangling from her neck.

Students work in the costume shop either as paid part-time employees or to fulfill course requirements. Gail Holbrook is faculty supervisor for costume design students. In the workshop, Barton currently oversees eight students. Hattie Gomez is a part-time staff member.

“My goal is to teach students everything they need to know, including difficult things, like making a man’s three-piece suit,” she said. “I walk them through the whole process. They get the learning experience by doing.” If a student arrives with no sewing skills—as many do—Barton teaches them how to sew. “I can teach anyone how to sew,” Barton said, noting that almost all of the students in the costume shop are women, “because men think they can’t sew.”

With that niggling detail out of the way—knowing how to operate a sewing ma- chine—students plunge into the art of building a costume. Production begins by studying design students’ color sketches of costumes needed for upcoming theatre arts shows. Research is the first step of stylization. “The design elements must be specific to the time period, like the placement of seams, for example,” said Barton.

The students learn how to create paper patterns, as well as muslin prototypes, using the actors’ measurements. Finally, the students settle in at their machines. “I try to get the students to sew as much as I can,” Barton said. “If I need to jump in, I do.” The actors go through two or three fittings, the garment is tweaked and—voilà! A costume is ready for the limelight.

Barton is proud of her craft and tries to instill that pride in the students. “I tell them, ‘You are valuable and should be highly respected. If you don’t value your work, no one else will.’” She believes it is important, for young women especially, to “learn immediately that their skills are worth something.” Barton, who was raised in Chico, started sewing when she was in fifth grade. By the time she was 15, she was designing and sewing her own clothes. For several years she worked as a custom dressmaker, including designing and creating wedding gowns. On occasion, if it intrigues her creatively, Barton will take on a project, such as the 4-foot penguin she recently created for a bookstore display. “I had to research penguins and taxidermy, and find the right materials,” she said. Barton hired students to assist her. “It’s professional work for them,” she said. “It also shows them what they can do with their skills.”

Working with students has become her greatest joy as a costumier. “I like being a mentor and giving them that sense of accomplishment,” Barton said. “I build costume makers.”

Lisa Kirk