Ellen Raine, student at the University of Huddersfield, created costumes for Cats The Musical and other shows during a year-long placement in the Leicester Theatre Group. She was one of the ten students to benefit from the Drapers’ x UKFT Bursary scheme during the school year 2022-2023. Scroll down to find out more.

Ellen Raine, student at the University of Huddersfield, benefited from the Drapers’ x UKFT Bursary scheme for her year-long placement in the Leicester Theatre Group. Primarily focused on costume design and textiles, Ellen worked on four shows including a Christmas cabaret, SIX the Musical, Cats the Musical, and Chicago.

The Leicester Theatre Group is mostly volunteer-based and does not have an in-house costume department. The theatre works with a small production team and usually relies on renting costumes for their productions, Ellen commented:

“When I first joined the team, I was originally only going to be doing Cats the Musical, but after only a few months of working, they encouraged me to do more productions. I was responsible for designing, budgeting, buying and making all the costumes and accessories for these shows.”

This led Ellen to develop a varied skill set, from production, design, textile dyeing, through to buying and budgeting. Working on the Leicester Theatre Group’s Christmas cabaret enabled Ellen to gain experience supervising the purchase of clothing while ensuring they fit well with the production and looked good on stage.

Image: Costume design for Cats The Musical.

Costume design and development for SIX The Musical

In November 2023, Ellen was asked to supervise the costume creation and development for SIX The Musical, with only three months to see the project through. She outlined her approach:

“Firstly, I had to create my designs. I allocated colours and accessories to characters based on their personalities and focused on making sure that they all worked together on stage. I wanted each costume to be unique, whilst maintaining a sense of continuity. I therefore made all skirts the same but changed the tops. I wanted to use corsets as they’re historical, fitting with the main theme of the production.”

“Once the auditions were complete, I was told who the cast were and was able to make a start on the costumes. We had cast 13 people – a younger cast, an older cast, and our swing character. After taking my measurements I had to make a plan to ensure that I didn’t go over budget. I was given £1000 for this production, and I was able to stay under the budget. I chose to buy white corsets and used white neoprene fabric for the skirts as it hangs really well. This allowed me to dye everything to my desired colour.”

“I was able to utilize charity shops and discount stores to help with the decoration of each costume. I used old leather jackets to create panels and buckled details on my corsets which worked well. I also had to add microphone loops into each costume so that they didn’t have to hold the microphones the entire time. This was interesting as I had to make sure that the microphones fitted properly without them falling out as they move.”

Image: Costume designs for SIX The Musical.

Image: Textile dyeing for Six The Musical.

CATS The Musical: Technical challenges

Ellen’s next project in the Leicester Theatre Group was Cats The Musical. “With a budget of only £1000, I really had to utilise everything we had to ensure that I didn’t go over budget,” she said.

“As they had done this show in the past, they still had a lot of plain catsuits available. Therefore, I did fittings with all of the cast to see if we could reuse them; leaving me with only a few people to buy for.”

“I worked hard with the director for this show to ensure that the designs were exactly how he envisioned them to be. Once I had completed my designs, I began to bring them to life. I experimented with paint to create texture and add colour to my work. I also did a lot of fabric trials as I wanted to add a fur like texture to the shoulders on a lot of my costumes.”

As she progressed with the costumes for Cats The Musical, Ellen was tasked with a technically challenging project:

“I was asked to make a second Deuteronomy costume which could be ripped off of a character. This was a huge task because it had to look seamless. I managed to find a poncho style towel which I cut it in half down the front and back, and added Velcro to. Once I was happy with the way it ripped off, I started to add the decoration.”

She concluded: “The show week was exciting but very manic. I had never worked backstage before; it was really interesting and I learnt a lot about how shows run behind the scenes.”

Image: Costume design for Cats The Musical.

Image: Cats The Musical – live show.

Find out more:

LEICESTER THEATRE GROUP

UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD

Gaining industry experience via the Drapers’ x UKFT Bursary

 “I have learnt things which will not only help me in my final year at university but will also help me in my future career,” said Ellen. She was one of the 10 students to benefit from the Drapers’ x UKFT Internship Bursary scheme during the school year 2022-2023.

“I really enjoyed working in the theatre and it has made me want to focus on this line of work in the future. The money provided through the Drapers’ x UKFT bursary enabled me to buy better equipment which massively helped me this year. Without this money, I would’ve struggled massively to create the costumes I have.”

UKFT and The Drapers’ Company are working together to support fashion and textile students across the UK to achieve good quality internships through the Drapers’ x UKFT Bursary programme. The bursaries are intended to benefit students who might otherwise struggle to support themselves to take up an internship away from home. The bursary comprises of £600 per month for a maximum of three months to support living expenses.

Click on the link below for more information:

DRAPERS’ x UKFT BURSARY