Quick and Easy Bible Costumes

Today I needed to provide costumes for a quick team photo for Open the Book.  Between us I think we did rather well don't you?

The golden cloak used to be a curtain but has been used in various drama productions over a number of years.  The turban and other head scarves are all pashminas.  The blue and white costumes are all made in the way below, the white one is just a little wider, whereas the stripy one, is made by pinning two pieces of fabric together in 4 places along the top and popping the head through the middle.

The following instructions come from the Open the Book resources.

Making basic costumes

The following instructions are very simple and require only basic sewing skills. 

Tabards (open-sided tunics)

These are the most versatile items of clothing. This team has striped ones (worn by the shepherds), a white one (usually for Jesus), a blue one for women, a brown one and muted pattern one for "ordinary" roles of men or women and one of a richer fabric for a higher status person.

Materials

• 2 1/2 metres of fabric x 115cm wide (45") will make TWO tabards economically.
• Bias binding (or use strips of bias from extra width of fabric)
• Cord for belt.

Construction

• Fold the fabric in half and cut out hole for head.
• Bind edges of neck with bias binding or use strips of surplus fabric cut on the bias.
• Sew narrow hems all round.

 As we go along we'll pull more resources together but I think that for now we're doing very well.

One last photo, just to show how excited we are to be part of this: