Course Description: Costume Design

Course Title: Basic Sewing/Costume Design I
 
This course introduces the basics of costuming, design and sewing.  Students are taught the basics of sewing including sewing terms, parts of the sewing machine, how to use and trouble shoot simple problems with the sewing machine, sewing safety, how to create clothing, closures, pinning, cutting, textiles, patterns and pattern usage.  Second semester focuses more on costuming and design.  Students learn how to design and create costumes inspired by character descriptions, influenced by geographical location, social and economic status, time period and mood.  We focus on using color, texture, cut and style in our designs to convey information to the audience, building creativity and learning the human form and rules for design.

Course Title: Costume Design II
 
Prerequisite:  Basic Sewing/Costume Design I
Costume Design II continues building on the fundamental skills learned in the Basic Sewing/Costume Design I course and has the added challenge of designing and creating basic/ensemble costumes for the school productions.  In this course, students work to improve skills in sewing, costuming, design and sketch in an effort to prepare to move to the next level in costume design.  Students will begin to create a portfolio to catalogue their works.
 
Course Title: Costume Design Lab Course
 
Prerequisite:  Basic Sewing/Costume Design I and Costume Design II.This class is by instructor invitation.
In this lab course, students design and create original works for our school productions.  Students will work to balance creativity, budget, mood, movement and ability to create a costume unique to the character they are assigned in the production.  Students are given hands on lessons in new techniques as the creative process guides each student through their learning journey.  Students create a portfolio of all of their works in order to prepare them for interviews and careers in the Arts and Entertainment Industry.
** Any prerequisite may be over ruled if an assessment is performed by the instructor and it is determined that the student’s prior experience can replace the needed prerequisite(s).