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Summary: Patterns for Theatrical Costumes:Garments, Trims, and Acces
Review: I've been a costume designer for over 25 years. 18 years ago I picked up a copy of this book. Little did I know what a Godsend it would be to me over the years. This book is great for the costume designer, who has a small budget, a big cast, a flaky volunteer crew, and a month to put together a peroid show. This book is to be used and doggear with a broken spine. I costume six to ten shows a year, and this book is always at my side. The simple drawings give directors a quick idea of the period, the patterns are amazing and easy to draft.I will often times give my costume interns a copy of this book for a going away present. It is an invaluable resource. One warning, it is not for the picky historical reinactors. This book is for the "down and dirty" theatrical costumer.
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Summary: Put together with incredable form!
Review: I've been very interested in costumes lately and all I needed was the next step. This book is very,very thurough. I've never read a book that went through the 11th and 12th centuries with such detail. I could defanatly make a costume very easily with the patterns this book has to offer. It has male/female design patterns for each century and brief descriptions of each piece of clothing.It also has speciality costume patterns for nuns,monks and priests (only 3),chinese and japanese folk costumes(only 4),and fantacy robe variations(only 3).
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Summary: Useful Practical Guide
Review: If you are a costumer with basic sewing skills, Ms. Holkeboer's book contains a large amount of practical information that will enable you to copy a number of basic historic "looks" (and some popular fantasy-style costumes) very easily. An invaluable resource, especially when you need to cobble together a costume quickly. It is not, however, for reenactors seeking to achieve museum-quality reproductions of costume.
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Summary: you better know how to sew!
Review: It is an okay book, you better know how to sew and know some history of clothing. I do, so it was no problem, but if you don't, another book would be better for you.
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Summary: Excellent basic costuming resource.
Review: The strength of this book lies in its collection of sillouettes. Each major era has a very basic male and female outfit with straight-forward diagrams for construction. The exploded diagrams are particularly helpful. Be advised that supplementary sources will be needed to trim and decorate the garments properly.
The patterns are not for the complete novice, some knowledge of sewing and garment construction is required.
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Summary: Decent amateur theater/halloween costume book
Review: This book covers a very wide range of time periods, and so only offers one male and one female garment from each era. It's good for getting a feel for the silhouette of the period and some insight into pattern shapes--I haven't used the patterns inside because they have no scale or instructions. Some accessories are also shown. This is not a good book for reenactors or people looking for depth, but if you're looking for simple costume ideas, it's a good start.
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Summary: Good place to start
Review: This book does not attempt to provide patterns for exact reconstructions of historical garments. However, for the theatrical person or someone just getting into more serious historical costume, this is a good place to start. The patterns provided are not traditional sized patters, so it assumes the ability to draft and adapt a basic pattern shape. The patterns given (at least for the medieval period) do give results which duplicate the basic looks of the period, without introducing some of the grevious errors of many books of this type. It's meant for practical use, so its usefulness as a research resource for documentation of a particular style is limited.
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Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: This book is an excellent resource for basic period costumes. It is relatively easy to copy the patterns onto a grided template, as long as you can use graft paper. If you are looking for historically acurate information, you will want to use other resources in conjuction. Also, if you are a begining sewer, this will not give you the how-to directions, but as far as pattern books go, this is a good one!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: This book is an excellent resource for basic period costumes. It is relatively easy to copy the patterns onto a grided template, as long as you can use graft paper. If you are looking for historically acurate information, you will want to use other resources in conjuction. Also, if you are a begining sewer, this will not give you the how-to directions, but as far as pattern books go, this is a good one!
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Summary: A true bible for Costume makers.
Review: This book is so very useful for my business. We work in the amateur theatre industry, mainly dealing with period costume. Often we are called on to create some garment from a particular period and we usually run straight to this book to get our ideas. I especially like the fact that it shows costumes from SO MANY periods in history. Anything else wirtten by this author, I would buy without hesitation.
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