Costume Research

If you want to reproduce a costume from a movie, TV show or comic book, the first step is to do some research. This can be as simple as watching DVDs and making sketches of the costume you want to create. Even if you're making something completely original, hitting the books for historical references or ideas doesn't hurt.

Ghostbuster front
Ghostbuster back

Mike Johnson as a Ghostbuster.

Mike Johnson watched "Ghostbusters" and took notes when creating his Ghostbuster costume. He wanted to get the pack, trap and goggles as accurate as possible. "I freeze-framed the movie," he says, "and got points of reference in the film, and [I] measured so I [would] know how long the lenses stuck out." Johnson also looked for information online, since other costumers often create play-by-play tutorials once they've finished their own costumes.

Firefly hat
"Firefly" fan Squirrel models a hat based
on an episode in the series.

Fans of the TV show "Firefly" have extensively researched a hat that appears in one episode of the series. The hat -- a gift from character Jayne's mother -- has become a symbol of the "Firefly" fandom. Here's what Patty Ward, who made this hat, had to say about the process:

I saw a couple of patterns on the Internet, and I kind of did a little adjusting from them [because] I knit a lot. So I got the ideas and we went around looking for colors...[W]e looked at the DVD where it has Adam Baldwin singing the song and we...really studied it.

(If you want to make your own Jayne hat, all it takes is yarn in three colors and a set of circular needles. Check out the instructions here.)

Once you've done your research, the next step is to gather the materials for your costume.

Research and Documentation
 Costumers are notorious for meticulously documenting their costume creation process. Throughout this article, we'll provide links to some of the costume research sites you can find online. Here are some examples: