§ I have good arm-hand steadiness and dexterity. I will be using my fingers constantly while making costumes, holding the fabric in a certain way, pinning the fabric, or sewing. It is very important that I am very good with my hands so that each costume will be created to the best of my ability.

§ I am a very critical thinker when it comes to making costumes. I can look at a costume design and figure out various ways that I can complete a costume to look like a picture without using patterns. I also had to use my critical thinking to figure out how to create a showing and hidden zipper. I have also had to make various adjustments to costumes such as making a high neck, and adding extra length to a dress.

§ I also have great near vision and am able to see objects at a close range. It will be important, not so much now, but when I am older because I will be working very close with the fabric while pinning and sewing.

§ I am also working at Hancock Fabrics now, which is giving me a lot of fabric experience. I am learning about the various fabrics that are available such as Fleece, Flannel, Ponte, Bonavista, Satin, Suede, Cotton, Crushed Penne, etc.

§ I have already made costumes so I do know that I have talent with making them. I have been able to look off of pictures and recreate the outfit that was show, paying strict attention to detail. It is very likely that I am so good with costumes because I have been drawing since I was little and I am very good at correctly perceiving proportions.

 

5. Steps to be taken

I am just now finishing up my high school career and I know that it will be essential for me to go to college if I want to receive high pay. I will apply for scholarships to pay for a few years of college, and for my freshman and sophomore college years, I plan to go to the community college to receive my general credits that I need to graduate college. I will also looking various subjects to ensure that I am making the best choice for my career. (While I am attending the Junior College, I will continue to work at Hancock Fabrics and save up money for my junior and senior college years.) Then, after the two years, if I am positive about becoming a costume technician, I plan to attend a college that is very focused on theatre (period dress and décor, esthetics for the stage, seminars in lighting, theater theory, scenery design, and/or costume design?) where I will be able to acquire the skills that are necessary to become a talented costume technician. Once I graduate college, I hopefully will be directed as to where I can find work. Hollywood seems like a very likely place to be a costume technician because major film companies are located in that area. There will be competition from other costume designers; yet, there should be many jobs available. Perhaps I will need to intern for a while before I will actually be hired, but that would give me plenty of experience that will help me survive as a costume technician.

6. Sources of likely support (financial and emotional)

I understand that it is very important for me to receive scholarships since my brother is already in college, and my sister and I will be starting college at the same time. College is very expensive and I don’t believe it will be too easy paying for it. If I was able to get scholarships, it would save us a lot of money. Money is another reason that I’m going to the community college as well. I will be able to keep my job at Hancock Fabrics longer and a Junior College is only a few hundred a semester compared to a couple thousand a semester. Yet, I should be able to also receive some help from my parents to help me pay for college. (And of course I’ll have to pay them back once I get a good paying job.) And my friends will be a good source of emotional support. I should be spending time with Cristina and Michelle. I plan to take a few classes with them, which will be very comforting to me. (Unless Michelle finally moves away, which she very well might.) And Amitie will be around for me to spend time with. I do not want to ever lose contact with her even when I leave Napa to go to a real college.

 

7. Sources of likely hindrance (financial and emotional)

I myself am a hindrance to my moving on in life. I don’t want to take the responsibilities of life and start thinking about my permanent career or leaving the security of my high school life right now. And I have problems focusing on tasks that do not directly relate to my grade. Such as the scholarships and trying to save money. I know that those are very important, but I am only motivated to work on something when I know that it will maintain my good grades in school. Yet, money is a very important issue. I am not sure if my family and myself will have enough money to pay for college so I need to start saving now and try my hardest not to spend my money. I’ll definitely have to work during the summer, perhaps full time.

Also, I will have to worry about the actual work of a costume technician. I am not sure if I can make costumes fast enough or as the company wants them made. And even if I can, I cannot expect to have a steady job. I could very well have to wait weeks between jobs. Which means that I will have to work temporary jobs in between or else study in the more general area of set technician, and help with sceneries.

I am not sure whether I should just be a costume designer, though. It almost seems as if costume technician is not a well-known job, and therefore would not have a very good demand. Yet, if I go into the job of costume designer, I know that I will not be creative enough with drawing an outfit (I never have been) and I would probably go crazy from drawing. But I have to wonder that if there is a demand for costume technicians, what makes me so much better than all the other costume makers on the Internet. Many of them seem very good at making costumes; yet, they are not making a living from it. What makes me so much better that I can do this for a living?

 

8. Personal reflection

I’ve been studying various aspects of costuming. I’ve looked at costume attendants, costume designers, and costume technician. I’ve especially learned the duties of costume technicians which involve supervising the costume making aspects of the play, maintaining the actor’s wardrobe, researching the certain clothing of a specific time period, creating and drawing sketches of outfits and ordering the specific materials that the are needed to make the costumes. I simply do not think I could go into such a job, which I believe Ms. Wheaton thought I wanted. She had tried to tell me which schools offered fashion design, etc. However, I do not want to take on such a job. If anything, I would like to physically make each costume that movies and plays need. I have seemed to enjoy myself when I have made the costumes for convention. And I think there is at least some demand for costume technicians because I have seem various movies in which it would be impossible to buy the various outfits that the characters are wearing.

Yet, I simply do not know if I want to be a costume technician for the rest of my life. At the moment, it seems like the best occupation for me to go into because I have not been crazy about any subjects that I have taken in high school and other that those subjects, I can only draw. (And I refuse to go into a drawing profession.) All that I can hope to do is go to the community college and explore as many different subject areas as I can so that I can really find what I would like to do with the rest of my life.