~Taking care of your costume~

It’s sad to see a great costume balled up in the corner of someone’s closet, all lonely and wrinkled and being eaten by moths. Don’t let this happen to your precious costume!

Here are some easy tips for taking care of your costume and keeping it in top condition. You may already be familiar with some of these simple techniques, but perhaps you will pick up a few tidbits you didn’t already know!

1. Packing up
When packing up after a con it’s a good idea to try to pack your costume just as neatly as when you brought it to the con. Leave yourself a little note if anything needs repairs so you can remember to fix it later. Once you get home from the con it’s best to keep your costumes in garment bags with all the accessories in the bag. I put a note on the outside of each of my bags with a list of the contents.

I keep wigs on wig heads, and put them somewhere out of the way of my flailing arms. This will help protect the style and shape.

I usually keep props in my closet or in an area where they are unlikely to be interfered with. If I am putting away something very delicate I will wrap it in bubble wrap before storage. Or, if you feel like doing something fancy with them, you could always hang them on display somewhere!

picture of neatly packed costume

wig on a wig head

 

2. Washing your clothes
Smelling bad is something that we usually try to avoid! However, sometimes it is a challenge to keep your costumes from smelling funny because different materials require different treatment, and you may not always know how to care for every type.

I generally apply the “only clean when needed” rule, which means that I don’t clean it until it starts to smell. Normally I will wash a shirt each time I wear it but a skirt or pants are fine for a few more wears. I would also suggest that you only wash the dirty pieces. Capes, jackets, and other clothing items that don’t lie directly against your body don’t generally need to be cleaned unless you spill something on them, or you like mud wrestling.

 

Here is a basic care list for different types of materials.

Polyester, spandex, and other synthetics: These can easily be machine-washed and dried because they are not prone to shrinking. These fabrics iron well on medium settings.

Cotton, rayon: Cotton can be machine-washed and line-dried, but if you fear shrinking or your garment is black/brightly colored you may want to have it dry-cleaned so the colors don’t bleed. Iron on high.

Silks: Hand-wash and line-dry or dry-clean. Silk is very delicate and can suffer from water stains, so if you don’t trust yourself to wash it, just take it to a dry-cleaner.

Wool, velvets of various fiber contents: When you have spent a lot of money on wool, just dry-clean it! This helps keep it fresh. It’s best to have the dry-cleaner press your garments for you. If you would rather do it yourself, wool should be done on a hot setting and velvet should be done on a medium setting with typically very gentle ironing from the back side only. Be careful not to crush the fibers!

Vinyl, pleather: Hand-wash and line-dry. If you have a tight stretch-vinyl outfit I recommend washing it out right after you’re done wearing it, otherwise the smell has a tendency to stick! It may sound gross, but make sure you really get in there and scrub those armpits and other sweaty places! XD When ironing make sure you use a presscloth. If you get any gunk or paint on your pleather/vinyl it’s actually pretty easy to remove. Just dampen a paper towl with GooGone or lighter fluid and gently whip away the yuckies. Be careful not to spill!

Handpainted, embroidered, beaded: Hand-wash and line-dry or dry-clean. You don’t want to want to put stress on the paint or tug on the beads by putting them in the washing machine.

Armor and hard pieces: Don’t put these in the wash! If you get gunk on them try the GooGone/lighter fluid method, or if that doesn’t work you can even try a spray cleaner. Always test a small corner of the armor first to make sure there are no adverse effects of the cleaning agent (some cleaning fluids may take paint off!) If you have any garments with hard pieces that can’t be removed then you should hand-wash the cloth areas. The following substances are likely to deform with water: Sculpey, Paper clay, cardboard, paper mache, surfaces that do not have a clear coat sprayed on. The following substances are likely to withstand water damage: Fiberglass.

Wigs: The only way to completely clean a wig is to get it completely wet and gently scrub it with shampoo. After that, let it air-dry. Once you have washed/dried your wig you will need to restyle it. This may be impossible with a very complex wig, so your next best option is to freshen it up a bit with Febreeze or spot-wash it. Spot washing means you will just be wetting and shampooing the netting on the inside of the wig, then splashing water on the netting to rinse. You should do this gently and avoid getting the rest of the wig wet as much as possible. Let the netting and any wet hair air-dry, and adjust style if needed after it is dry. Avoid using the blow drier, especially on its hotest setting because it can damage the fibers.