Costuming on a budget?

[cosmoblue]

What are your best tips for costuming on a budget? Do you plan your projects months in advance so you can spend time comparison shopping? Do you only buy on sale? Do you have a super online resource that you use to get awesome deals? Do you buy fabrics and things ahead of time so that you can spread the cost out over the year? Do you sometimes use less nice fabrics to cut cost?

[chiemi]

Okay so I know this thread is a little older, but I noticed that nobody ever answered.

For me if I usually plan around events. If I have months beforehand I will shop around and get bargains on nice fabric and notions. Spreading out the costs. Though most of the time I have month to finish a project so I tend to have a stash of things I have picked up when they were on sale. Mostly I pull from my stash, but if it comes to a last minute type project I just get what I can afford and do what I can with it.

[Goblin, esq.]

Budget? What is budget?

That said, I tend to (i.e. at least half the time) base projects on fabric that I find (i.e. on sale, usually at Stone Mountain & Daughter, or at the Pendleton outlet when we visit Portland). I've become way too picky to settle for less nice fabric, unfortunately, especially for regency clothes, which I intend to wear a lot and which I expect to last.

However, there are period solutions to shopping on a budget. Use the expensive stuff for details, and where it will be seen. I'm going to buy expensive handkerchief linen for my next shirt - for the cuffs, collar and ruffles; the body of the shirt will be made of much cheaper (and coarser) linen.

[Mme de Beaufort]

Remember, they used muslin for many, many things, it may not be the same muslin, but modern muslin is inexpensive and can be dyed or embroidered... you can do lots of things to make it different and unique