Two Steps You Should Take if You've Agreed to Make the Costumes for Your Child's School Play

If you're a talented seamstress and have agreed to make some or all of the costumes for your child's upcoming school play, you should follow this advice.

Buy a cheap, broken sewing machine and have it repaired

If you already have a sewing machine which is in good working order, then the idea of buying another secondhand, broken one for a few dollars and getting it spruced up by a sewing machine repairs technician might sound odd. However, there is a reasonable explanation for this advice.

It is essential to have a backup sewing machine on hand from the outset. Most non-commercial sewing machines are designed for light-to-moderate use. As such, even if your current, functional sewing machine is working fine, it might begin to act up if you use it to make, for example, thirty costumes over a relatively short period of time. If it breaks just before the opening night of the play and you still have a few costumes or extra accessories that need to be made or altered, you might find yourself scrambling around, desperately trying to purchase a new sewing machine or, if you cannot afford to do this, trying to find someone else with a machine that you can borrow. If you don't succeed, some of the children might have to wear half-finished, ill-fitting costumes.

Whilst you could simply buy a brand-new additional sewing machine at the start of this project, doing so might leave a bigger dent in your wallet than you would like. The best solution, as described above, is to pick up a sewing machine that is being sold for very little, due to its poor condition, and to then get it repaired. Even when the cost of paying the person who repairs this sewing machine is factored in, you should still end up spending a lot less on this purchase than you would if you bought a brand-new sewing machine.

Get your garment steamer de-scaled

If you own a garment steamer, that you plan to use to ensure that the costumes are completely wrinkle-free before the children wear them on stage, then you should have this de-scaled by an appliance company that provides this service a few days before the opening night of the play. If you live somewhere that has hard water (or have used the garment steamer whilst travelling in areas that have hard water), then you will probably need to remove all of the scale that has built up inside it. If you don't get this scale removed prior to using this appliance to remove wrinkles from the costumes, some of the scale will be emitted with the steam and may leave brownish-white stains on the fabric.

Whilst there are some DIY tutorials that can teach you how to de-scale this appliance, you could end up breaking it if you make a mistake (or if the tutorial instructions are incorrect). As such, getting it done by a company who routinely carries out this procedure is a safer bet.