Costuming Forms and Resources

Wardrobing on my previous films has often amounted to browsing through each actor's closet and, if they're lucky, making a quick stop by the Goodwill. For my new project, though, there are about 20 characters, not to mention 150 extras, all of whom we have to dress for a mid-19th century masquerade ball.

Just kidding.

In all seriousness, we're going to have to do a little costuming for the new project I'm working on. It's nothing elaborate -- just a uniform for a baseball player -- but a even single costume means taking measurements. I found the following forms online, and they've been useful for me. Maybe they'll be useful for you.

How To Take Measurements

Measurement Form

The first form listed above comes from The Costumer, a costume rental house.

The second form comes from MIT's OpenCourseWare website, specifically their Fall 2004 course entitled Costume Design for the Theater. I browsed the site for a few minutes. It looks like it could be a great, and free, resource for budding costumers.

Also, while I'm on the subject, MovieMaker Magazine had a pretty good article about low budget costuming last summer.

Finally, if you're serious about looking at the art of the costume designer, it's tough to go wrong with Screencraft: Costume Design. It is a good book and, as an added bonus, there's a large photo of Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman on the cover. Meow!