Costume On 3
Teachers
DENISE WALLACE-SPRIGGS
Denise Wallace-Spriggs is the Costume Crafts Artisan at the Tony Award winning Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, and has served in this role for 30 years. Her duties include working with designers to bring their designs to the stage.
She is the recent recipient of the Adrian Tinsley Award for Achievement in the Arts from her alma mater – Bridgewater State University and the Gerard and Sherryl Cohen Awards for Excellence from the Huntington Theatre Company. Her work regularly appears in Broadway and Off Broadway productions in New York and around the country.
Denise has taught millinery, and fabric dyeing and modification in the Boston University School of Theatre for over 25 years. She regularly offers workshops at other colleges and craft schools in the area as well as privately in her studio in Stoughton, MA.
BUILDING THE BONNET
HOW TO WORK WITH STRAW BRAID
DENISE HENDRICK
ROMANTIC RECOLLECTIONS
Denise Hendrick started her costuming journey over 25 years ago. The hobby eventually led to an apparel design degree followed by starting Romantic Recollections in 2005. (https://romanticrecollections.com/)
Since 2014, she’s been offering designs and classes to help other costumers bring the beauty of historic embroidery & embellishment to their own projects.
CATHERINE SCHOLAR
Catherine Scholar read "Little House on the Prairie" at age five and has been obsessed with historic clothing ever since. She learned to sew at her mother's knee and to embroider at her grandmother's. In high school she discovered vintage dance, the Northern Renaissance Pleasure Faire, and Dickens Fair, and was amazed to learn that she could combine her passions for dance, costume, history and theater.
Catherine served on the board of the Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild for 10 years as Newsletter Editor, Events Coordinator, and President. She has taught many costuming workshops for GBACG, Lacis, Renaissance Fabrics, and Costume College, and is a current fashion student.
OF PRESSING IMPORTANCE
IRONING TECHNIQUES FOR A PRECISION FINISH
BECCA JEWETT
Becca Jewett is a dyer and craftsperson based in Boston Massachusetts. She specializes in fabric dyeing and textile creation for theater. She currently works at the Costume Shop Supervisor at Salem State University and the Assistant Dyer/Painter at the Santa Fe Opera. Her work regularly appears in regional theaters, national brand cruise lines and european touring operas. Becca received her Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Vermont and her Masters in Costume Design from Boston University.
Becca's passion for costumes was sparked after watching the Lord of the Rings. Becca's love of fabric dyeing began when she realized that it was the perfect marriage of her passion for math and chemistry with art. She most enjoys making recreations of historical textile patterns for stage and reenactment. She loves researching paint and dye products and using them to create the feeling of wear and age without truly destroying the integrity of the fiber.
CHUCK KOVACIC
CHUCK KOVACIC is an accomplished, award winning artist that paints in the plein air tradition of the Impressionists, who paints while wearing modern attire as well as attired in a plethora of past fashions. A signature member of the California Art Club and the Laguna Plein Air Artists Association as well as the Oil Painters of America which has allowed him to paint the world. He has painted in the south of France, as well as Scotland, Switzerland and China. Chuck will utilize his interest in costuming history, mingled with his knowledge of past painters as he’ll guide attendees along the artistic path of proper attire.
BOBBIE JO NELSON
Bobbie has been sewing since high school when her grandmother bought her first sewing machine for Christmas. While in college, she became involved with a medieval organization which sparked her interested in historical fashion. Later, she joined her love of history with a master’s in library science which helped her research fashion further. This pairing allowed her a tangible way to learn about people and the society they live in.
Bobbi enjoys taking historical styles and techniques and applying them to non- historical accurate designs. A recent project involved creating a Puss n’ Boots outfit using ideas and techniques from the 16th century. She looks forward to a time when she can show off her designs again at conventions and events with friends.
GINA BARRETT
GINA B SILKWORKS
Gina Barrett began her career as a graphic designer and illustrator, which included covers for historical romantic novels. This led to a more intense study of costume, which in itself led to a passion for historical passementerie, including buttons and other trimmings. She now provides bespoke items to costumiers for film, theatre, museums and fashion, and continues to research and to write about both old techniques and developing new ones. Gina and her husband run Gina-B Silkworks, which brings original tools, kits and materials for traditional crafts and trimmings to a modern audience through their website, shops and the UK TV craft channel, 'The Craft Store'.
During both 2016 and 2020, Gina completed a “One Button a Day” challenge - making and sharing across social media a new handmade button every day. onebuttonaday.co.uk
CHANTAL FILSON
FOUNDER/DEAN, COSTUME ON
Chantal is a professional costume designer and the owner of 1886. She has always had an obsession with the 19th century deep in her bones, and the curious melding of professional design/project management and historical costume has led her here.
She founded Costume On as part of 1886, a venue for education, events and historical costuming.
WALTER NELSON
MASS HISTORIA
Since 1988 Walter Nelson has been an organizer of historical themed dance events ranging from Regency to World War II, a presenter on a wide variety of historical topics, and with his wife Sheila a historical performer and event organizer for museums, historical societies, and non-profits – and back when they were more or less about history, he made occasional appearances on the History Channel.
He has researched and taught historical dance for over a decade, again ranging from the early 1800s to the 1940s, with his current emphasis being the social dances of the first half of the 20th Century, as depicted in the films of the era. He has given classes and lectures locally in Southern California, as well as the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington DC and Paris France - and lately via Zoom. He has been doing various forms of historical or vintage dance since 1978. He has a BA in history from the University of California at Berkeley and was an Army Intelligence Officer.
MASTER CLASSES
COSTUME ON
Two new Master Classes will be announced during Costume On!
The seminars feature specialized sewing & pattern drafting and are scheduled for May & June.
More info coming soon!
-COMING SOON-
CARRIE MIDURA
Carrie Midura has been sewing professionally and as hobby for 25+ years and has lectured and taught sewing classes throughout New England. She has been researching and reproducing historic costume since 1992, with a primary focus on eighteenth and early nineteenth century methods and styles since 1999. Her clients and employers have included Revolutionary War reenactors, staff and volunteers at the Concord Museum, the historic Massachusetts estate Gore Place, Adams National Historical Park, and Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.
Carrie places a great deal of importance on period construction techniques and close attention to detail. Today, she is the Historical Clothing Coordinator for Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum which recreates life in rural New England during the 1790s through the 1830s. On and off the clock, she is passionate about sewing clothing to help costumed actors and interpreters share stories based on local history while teaching others to do the same.
SARAH NICOL
CURATOR, LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL MUSEUM SERVICE
Since 2006, Sarah has worked with Leicestershire Museum Service. As the Curator of Engaging Collections, she facilitates an innovative approach in enabling public access to the collections in a guided, ‘hands on way,’ allowing researchers to study construction, fabrics and finishes in their own time.
Sarah has curated garments that have been included in the ‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams’ exhibition at the V&A, and at large museums across both the United Kingdom and internationally.
She has also curated exhibitions at The Fashion Gallery, Snibston Discovery Museum including ‘Battledress: Women’s fashion 1905-1925’, ‘Support and Seduction’ and ‘CC41: Utility Fashion in Wartime.’ Also working collaboratively on notable exhibitions, such as ‘Taking the Plunge’ and ‘Riviera Style’ alongside Chris Boydell.
Sarah has been involved in many publications, such as ‘Foundations of Fashion, the Symington Corsetry Collection 1860-1990’ alongside Philip Warren.
Working with Suzannah Lipscomb, Sarah has appeared on 'Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home', discussing the corsets from the services Symington Archive.
IN DETAIL
CUT & CONSTRUCTION IN THE EARLY 1900S
PAULA BRADSTREET RICHTER
CURATOR, PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM
Since 2009, Richter has been responsible for curatorial research and support of the museum's changing exhibition program, related publications and core activities within the curatorial department.
Previously serving as the Curator of Textiles and Costumes, Richter organized the exhibitions, Wedded Bliss, the Marriage of Art and Ceremony and Painted with Thread: the Art of American Embroidery and accompanying publications. She was the coordinating curator for the traveling exhibitions, Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel and American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790-1840. For the 2003 PEM expansion project, Richter developed the gallery installation, Transforming Tradition: Arts of New England. She formerly served as PEM's Assistant Curator for American Decorative Art and as the Registrar for the Essex Institute. Follow her on Instagram @pbrmusings.