Costume College Teachers

Our Teachers

“The following is an alphabetical list of instructors who presented classes at Costume College 2008. Should you have any questions regarding our teachers, or wish to volunteer as a teacher for Costume College 2009, please contact our Programming Team at programcollege@yahoo.com.”

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Joan Severa – Special Guest Teacher in 2008
In 1958, Joan began at the Wisconsin Historical Society Museum as Registrar and by 1960 was Curator of Costume and Textiles. The costume collection was particularly rich in everyday 19th century clothing, all very loosely dated when she arrived on the scene. Research was top priority from the beginning, and Joan eventually recatalogued the entire collection. The Society operates several outdoor museums, dating from 1840 to 1900. Joan, early on, began a personal campaign to provide more authentic costumes for the interpreters. In 1973, they started a project called PATTERNS OF HISTORY, a set of women’s dress patterns over the date range, drafted by Edward Maeder. This was to be a Bicentennial project for the Museun. Joan was responsible for obtaining funds for the Museum to match, and they published seven patterns. She then supervised the making, fitting, variation and use of costumes from these patterns for the Historic Sites Program, while still curating the collection. After this project was underway, Joan wrote a Museum Grant proposal to provide folders for each site which would contain photographs of working class men, women and children of each period, along with written material about the relationship of high fashion to common dress, and how the fashionable cut was translated into working dress. She received a grant of $30,000 from NEH for this project. Upon satisfying the grant, Joan wrote an NEH application for another $30,000, to search out photographs of working class people from the entire nation and to research manuscript collections nationwide in order to study 19th century dress habits and the relative importance of high fashion. The object was publication. The grant was awarded in 1989. In 1995 the book “DRESSED FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840 – 1900” was published by Kent State Press.

Martha Davis – Dean of Costume College 2008
Martha has been creating costumes for over 25 years with an emphasis on historical patterning and techniques for the last 15 years. She enjoys researching her projects for both male and female clothing. Martha strives to create historically reproduced “clothing” rather than “costumes” and goes to great lengths to find fabrics and trims that emulate those that may have been used during a specific period.

Lynne Ashby
Lynne has been a member of the NCWA since 1993 and is a founding member of the Trades and Professions Guild. She and her family got started in re-enacting after they attended a Civil War re-enactment and her older son announced that HE was going to do this. Lynne and her husband figured that they had better go along, and the family has been re-enacting since then. It didn’t take her long to figure out that it would be much easier to make her own clothes for events, and she has been sewing ever since.

Lana Bailey
Participation at Renaissance Faires led Lana to an interest in historical accuracy. A scholarship to FIDM supplied the training to expand into pattering. Combining her love of fashion and history she started Legacy Dreams, a design studio specializing in historically-themed wedding dresses. Lana has added Civil War reenactor to her resume and is a founding member of the Historical Citizens Association, a group of reenactors focused on representing the average person throughout history. Lana is proud to have served as Dean for Costume College in 2007 and truly enjoys the opportunity to share her love of historical clothing with the Costume College membership.

Trystan L. Bass
When she was five years old, Trystan loved to dress up in black tights and a trench coat to play Mrs. Peel from "The Avengers." She's been wearing funny clothes ever since. Having learned to sew at her mother's knee, Trystan's dearest hobby has always been creating her own fantasy, gothic, and historical outfits. She has worked Renaissance Faires, judged science fiction masquerades, organized countless costumed events, and launched the Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild into cyberspace. Stuff she makes can be seen on www.trystancraft.com.

Casey Bernay
Casey is a long standing fan of science fiction and fantasy. Always following her heart she has turned her hand to many professions, among them: Make-up Artist, Assistant Director for film and TV, Comic Book Artist and Educator. A fan of Tim Rickard's comic strip Brewster Rockit: Space Guy, she founded the official fan club and began costuming with its engaging and masquerade award winning character, Bucky the Robot. She now serves as Synergist for IATSE Hollywood film unions Illustrators and Matte Artists, Local 790 and Set Designers and Model Makers, Local 847 and as Industry Liaison for IDEAS at LAVC.

Debbie Wells Bogdan
Debbie learned to sew 30 years ago, but Civil War reenacting caused a new appreciation for costume sewing. She loves to bead to have the instant gratification to wear something new.

Bridget Bradley-Scaife
Bridget started costuming at the age of twelve when she got involved in Renaissance Faires. Since then, she has expanded her love of costuming to all time periods, including fantasy. She loves researching and collecting images of historical clothing and also finding the supplies to recreate them. Bridget is an active member in the Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild and is currently on the board as the Web Administrator.

Simone A. Bryan
Simone became hooked on costumes when she saw "Cinderella." However, after a strange burning incident in Home Ec., she became "sewphobic." She joined the SCA in 1985 and became a Stage Interpreter for the Renaissance Faires without ever getting close to one of those scary sewing machines. After marriage though, she picked up a second-hand machine, and with lots of encouragement, conquered the fear. Simone began to bring to life the creations in her mind, and now is making costumes for play and garb for her family. She is the founder of the West Kingdom Costume Guild within the SCA.

Frances Burns
Frances has been active in costuming for over 20 years and sewing for more years than she cares to remember. After making the mistake of making a garment as a gift for her mother, she became the family seamstress. She has been altering and fitting patterns for family and friends since grade school, perfecting the art of making clothing that fit real-world bodies.

Jonatha Caspian
Jonatha is a fine-arts-trained craftsperson continually exploring new techniques. She makes costumes because it's FUN, to discover how people dressed in previous eras, and so she’ll have something to wear at events she attends! What Periods She Does: She’s been saying "The fall of 1830 was pretty dreadful, but other than that..." Note that “Other” extends to different galaxies and realities. Why limit oneself? There's a broad spectrum of detail and creativity. Jonatha’s been exploring fibers, fabrics, dyeing and embellishing since her mom taught her chain stitch (embroidery) in 1966.

Lisa Coffey
Lisa has loved sewing, needlework, and doing anything creative since she started sorting her mother’s button box at the age of 2 years. At 16, after many years of drawing and dreaming of hoopskirts, she began Civil War Reenacting and costuming in Las Vegas, NV, where she still resides. She is currently the Civilian Director for the Southern Nevada Living History Association, and a history major at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

Olivia Competente
Olivia, a jeweler, is a native of San Francisco. With a love of all things jewelry, she is versed in metal smithing and her first love, beads. She became intrigued by PMC (precious metal clay) three years ago and has loved it and been a fan ever since. Olivia has been a participant in several bay area showcases including Lacon 6.

Colleen Crosby
As the current vice-president of the CGW, Colleen has been keeping busy with event planning. She also continues to make and wear costumes to historical, science fiction, and fantasy events, as she has been for many years. As a producer and costumer for Lux Theater, she is often called upon to come up with quick science fiction costumes. As a result, she has an awfully odd costume closet.

Shawn Crosby
A freelance artist, Shawn has most recently worked as an Art Director for the Griffith Observatory. He has been a prop builder for Star Trek, toy designer for Mattel and Playmates, model maker for the Disney parks, and a computer game designer. He is a founding member of the Enigma Players and Lux Theater. Despite these accomplishments, he will probably forever be best known as the owner of the "H-Wing" Star Wars art car. Beginning with a Jan. 1st Rose Parade appearance, Shawn spent 141 days of 2007 in costume, mostly portraying Star Wars characters for charity.

Rory Cunningham
Rory is a professional costumer in film, television, and stage. He has worked in the industry for almost 20 years and has taught costume construction at UCLA for three years.

Loren Dearborn
Loren has been making costumes for about 14 years. She is a member of the Costume Society of America and the Victorian Society and a frequent attendee of Costume Con and Costume College. Her main areas of interest are 18th and 19th century costumes and movie recreations. She has a particular passion for hats and shoes.

Joycelyn Falsken
Acting in the Northern California Renaissance Faire in the 80s was the start of historic costuming passion. Taking classes to learn to make better costumes for Joycelyn’s family quickly became serious study. It has taken her through 5 colleges, a custom historic reproduction sewing business, and collections manager of the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection at OSU. She recently completed a doctorate focused on dress history and currently holds a faculty position teaching design and construction at Kansas State University. The questions she always asks is “How did they make it?” and “Why did they make it that way?”

Elizabeth Martin Gerds
A past president of the CGW, Liz has been costuming for most of her life, and has been creating and wearing costumes at Renaissance Faires and Science Fiction/Fantasy Conventions, as well as working professionally for the Civic Light Opera South Bay Cities, UCLA and independent theatre productions. Along with her husband Eric, Liz has been involved with Costume College from the beginning. Currently focused on corsetry, Liz is working at Farthingales LA and will happily discuss the different types of supplies currently available.

Barbara Gerleman
Barbara has been a member of the National Civil War Association since 1984 and is a founding member of the Trades and Professions Guild. She started in reenacting after attending the 1983 Dickens Faire. Barbara learned to make period clothing the hard way – through trial and error and under the tutelage of two very sharing sisters. She has since gone from being just a student to being both a student and instructor.

Steven Gillan
For the past 26 years, Steven has headed Clan MacColin of Glenderry, the oldest operating 16th Century Highland and Irish reenactment organization in the United States. Through extensive and ongoing research, he has striven to establish and enhance a plausible, historic appearance-standard for Clan MacColin. This information has been used variously by many subsequent Highland and Irish reenactment groups from the Middle Ages to the English Civil War.

Tracylynn Gomez
Licensed hair dresser by trade, Historical costumer by choice! Tracylynn has designed for film, television and print . She is the owner of Making Your Dream Come True. She began in the theater as a small child and grew to love artistic costume and clothing. Tracylynn started her own wedding and special-occasions business. Her business is more than just bridal and costume design; covering everything from wedding and event planning right down to special-occasion hair design and makeup. Tracylynn is a member of SASS, Lady Fleur #73656.

Tracey Gorin
Tracey started her beading and crafting as a young girl, but didn’t begin costuming until 2003. As a beginning seamstress, she found sewing a wonderful challenge which allowed her to expand her creative repertoire and gave her so much inspiration. Tracey loves learning from others, finding new ways of doing things, and combining talents into new projects.

Diane Harris
Diane started costuming and modeling at about 9, which lasted through her teenage era. She picked up a lot of tips and tricks from this era to help one pose for the camera. Diane is President of Southwest Costumers Guild. Her “fetish” period is Victorian – 2nd bustle era. She has developed a curriculum – “A Day in the Life of a Victorian Lady” – which she does for socials, fundraisers, etc. all over the Southwest. She is also a wardrobe stylist with commercial credits.

Mela Hoyt-Heydon
Mela is a union costume designer for the entertainment industry and is the head of the design department at Fullerton College. She is also part of the Smithsonian’s “American Research Expedition,” a member of the Costume Society of America and currently working on a book about men’s period tailoring. Additionally, Mela is one of Costume College’s most veteran teachers as well as a Dean Emeritus.

Mary Jane Jewell
Mary Jane Jewell has produced many forms of fabric art including beautifully made clothes, silk painting, soft sculpture, wedding dresses, historical & stage costumes and quilts. Recognized for her excellence in design, she has also received prizes for her historical costumes, including Best Journeyman at Costume Con II. Handwork has been another passion for Mary Jane. Exquisite embroidery and appliqué have often figured in her prize-winning quilts. Her business of making costumes and clothes for others keeps her so busy that she doesn’t always have time for her own projects.

Ingrid Johnson
Ingrid is passionate about costuming. She believes in dreaming big. She believes in style over fashion. She believes in solid research, the creative process, compassion, clarity of purpose, and in not being overly critical or harsh to anyone with the courage to create. Seek her out, and you will be rewarded for your effort.

Kathy Lear
Kathy has been sewing since age 7 (for her Barbie and larger dolls) and costuming since age 12 – in many time periods and ethnicities. Thanks to her grandmother, she was introduced to a treadle sewing machine and an almost unlimited range of needle arts. Kathy now teaches dance, Medieval through the Turn of the 20th Century, and makes the clothes to go with the dances. She believes that the way to make anything wearable look good is to make clothing for people, not costumes for mannequins. She is a long-time teacher at Costume College.

Tonya Lehman
A great day for Tonya is spent creating a flapper dress for herself, princess costumes for her two little princesses, then munching popcorn with her tolerant husband while watching a Clark Gable movie. On normal days she keeps house in La Mesa, California. Tonya has been teaching at Costume College since 2003.

Karey Leichel
Formerly of Karey L Masques, Karey has recently opened a store in Sacramento with another long-time friend of Costume College, Margaret Mannatt of Fine Books and Collectibles. Their store in the Greater Sacramento Area is The Gilded Bat located in Citrus Heights, California. The store’s web site is gildedbat.com.

Mary Linhart
Mary has been sewing since she was 8, designing and creating prom and wedding dresses since high school and spent several years participating in and costuming for Junior Theater and Civic Light Opera. She has been re-creating historical clothing for 15+ years, primarily in the Renaissance, Regency and Victorian periods, for both re-enactment and commercial purposes.

Cheryl Looney-Whitney
Visual Arts and Dramatics teacher for 27 years, Cheryl is Guild Mistress of Thistle House Renaissance Acting Guild. She has taught many classes at Costume College since it began.

Sarah Lorraine
Sarah has long had a passion for historical costuming that dates back to her earliest memories. For the last fifteen years she’s dedicated herself to learning and mastering the nuances of 16th-18th century clothing construction. Easily distracted by shiny fabrics, her emphasis is always on the fashion of the upper classes. Sarah is currently a full-time faculty instructor at a private fashion design college in Sacramento, CA where she teaches everything from basic illustration to advanced draping and garment construction. In her spare time she is active in the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild.

Tara Maginnis
Tara Maginnis, Ph.D. is the author of the website The Costumer’s Manifesto (costumes.org) and the DVD ROM teaching series Theatrical Makeup Design Interactive. Formerly a Professor with the University of Alaska, she is now the Costume Designer at Diablo Valley College in Northern California.

Sandra M. Manning
Sandra started costuming when she was about 13 or so and has been doing it ever since. She has been belly dancing for the past 7.5 years and making a lot of her own dance clothing. Sandra has also been gardening forever. She spends her year in the wilds of Alaska teaching mathematics.

Robert McLoughlin
Robert holds a Master of Arts in History and Local Studies from the University of Limerick, Ireland. Growing up in the Medieval Quarter of Limerick City, Robert developed a passionate interest in local history. He graduated as a National Tour Guide of Ireland and conducts tours of the British Isles. Robert began medieval historical reenactment in the late 1980’s where he discovered a love for recreating historical purses and shoes, and participates in reenactment groups from the Viking age to the 16th century Irish and Highland group Clan MacColin. Robert is currently a T.A. at UCSD Craft Center where he has been producing historical jewelery for the past 10 years.

Lynn McMasters
Lynn has tried her hand at almost everything that one can do with a sewing machine, from everyday clothes, to period costumes for such places as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Point Reyes National Sea Shore and Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. In the past 10 years she has concentrated on period hats and has started a line of period hat patterns. Examples of her work can be seen on her website http://lynnmcmasters.com. Lynn has taught at Costume College, the GBACG Costume Academy, and workshops at SCA Arts and Sciences. She teaches corset making, millinery, and Elizabethan embellishment-related classes as well.

Heather McNaughton
Along with her sister Laura, Heather is the creator of Truly Victorian Reproduction Patterns. Her main focus is on the bustle periods of 1870-1889. Heather also works full time as a custom seamstress. Like her sister Laura, Heather has a reputation for excellent costumes, and has a superb knowledge of historical clothing. Additionally, Heather is a veteran Costume College teacher and has assisted the Guild in its year-round programs and many of its fashion shows.

Laura McNaughton
Along with her sister Heather, Laura is the creator of “Truly Victorian Reproduction Patterns.” Her main focus is on the bustle periods of 1870-1889. She is known throughout the CGW as one of our finest costumers. Additionally, Laura is a long-time Costume College teacher and has assisted the Guild in its year-round programs and many of its fashion shows.

Shannon McSmith
Shannon was taught early in life to embroider and sew while watching television and during family holidays. Although she was not able to properly sew a garment until well into high school, she spent time copying and designing costumes. In recent years, she has not only improved upon her textile skills, but has also worked to become a true maven of fashion rules and acceptable appearances in the many time periods in which she indulges her creative skills. Shannon has taught embroidery courses at Costume College over the last few years, and is active in historical, recreational, and educational groups.

Rebecca Metzger
Rebecca has been sewing for as long as she can remember and has always been fascinated with women in history and the clothes they wore – particularly the women of the 1860’s to the 1950’s. However, it wasn’t till the late 1990’s that she began using her sewing talents to create the historical fashions that have always intrigued her. Rebecca is a WWII living historian with the 45th Field Hospital.

Natalie Meyer
Natalie is the site costumer for both Heritage Square Museum and the Workman Temple Homestead. She has been sewing since she was six. Natalie has taught at Costume College since ?? and was Dean of Costume College 2001.

Jess Miller
Jess has been costuming for almost 30 years, starting with the Northern Renaissance Pleasure Faire and proceeding all over the costume landscape. She has a B.A. in Art with an emphasis on textiles, and has done further coursework in Anthropology, which only makes her that much more confused. Jess is a Dean Emeritus of Costume College and runs masquerades for such conventions as LosCon, the Los Angeles area Science Fiction convention.

Thomas Moore
Thomas is a reenactor and historical costumer who lives in Northern California and is returning to teach again this year.

Walter Nelson
Walter has been involved with all aspects of public history for over 30 years. He has organized and presented vintage dances covering eras from the Regency to the 1940s. He has also organized and presented history-related programs for organizations as varied as high schools, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Huntington Library, State Parks and the Los Angeles Opera. Walter has also served as a historical consultant and has recruited skilled costumed performers for movies and television (Disney, PBS, History Channel, A&E).

Carl Nelson
Carl is a Medieval historian with a B.S. Degree in history and geography. He has been a member of the SCA for 30 years and has been making chain mail almost as long. He is a returning teacher to Costume College.

Gail Nichols
Gail has worked in costuming for many years, from making costumes for her children to working in a costume shop doing the full gamut including sales, designing, making costumes for inventory and custom jobs. For the past 10 years, Gail has worked at the UCSC Shakespeare Santa Cruz festival costume shop as a master-stitcher and a first hand for the summer and holiday productions. Through the years she has collected a variety of skills and experience in regard to costuming, has taught at creative retreats, assisted other teachers and is a returning instructor to Costume College.

Shelley Peters
Shelley started sewing in second grade and costumed her eight younger brothers and sisters for home productions. Her three children and their friends were always dressed in creative Halloween costumes. She moved on to Renaissance, wedding gowns, and Dickens' Christmas Carolers. Seven years ago she found Civil War Reenacting and has immersed herself in learning period clothing and construction methods. To help pay for her fabric, pattern, and trim habit the “Widow Peters” is the proprietress of the Kansas Mercantile (a used and custom Sutlery) and has been the American Civil War Society, Inc. Civilian Corps Director for the past three years.

JoAnn Peterson
JoAnn has her certificate in Fashion Design and Production and has been making patterns for 13 years. She is the designer and owner of Laughing Moon Mercantile sewing patterns. JoAnn and her partner, Dale Blair, have recently begun a new enterprise, Sacramento City Dry Goods. They are purveyors of goods catering to the 19th Century Reenactor.

Corinne Pleger
Corinne’s first sewing project was a Granny dress made at age 12. Her first costume was a Medieval outfit for an early Renaissance Faire. Corinne presently lives in a 1908 house, is involved with various re-enactment groups and attends historic themed dances and events. She discovered the first Costume College by accident, has been decreasing her closet space ever since, and joined the “faculty” of Costume College in 2000. To support Corinne’s costuming habit she is a Certified Public Accountant with her own firm and has given tax advice to costumers about their activities. She was Dean of Costume College in 2005.

Jennifer Rosbrugh
Always feeling like she was born in the wrong century, Jennifer has been sewing for over 20 years mostly making her own clothes and home furnishings. For the past ten years she has found a passion in historical clothing, studying the design and construction process. She is on the Historical Citizens Association (HCA) board and is the "Dressmaker" in Oak Street during Civil War events. Jennifer is co-owner of CloakAndCorset.com, an internet resource for historical clothing construction.

Kristin Stonham
Born into a line of sewers, Kristin is sure her grandmothers never thought of all the things she’d do with what they taught her! Over a decade after watching a costume competition and declaring to a friend “We can do that too,” she’s still going strong, dabbling in every type of fabric craft she can get her hands on.

Rebecca Thelin
Rebecca has always loved dressing up and re-creating historical eras inspired by reading classic books such as "Little House on the Prairie," "Little Women," and "Anne of Green Gables." It was in college, however, that the "sewing bug" and enthusiasm for reenacting really took root. Rebecca is a founding member and President of the Historical Citizens Association and runs an "Inn" for Oak Street at Civil War events. She can also be found at English Country Dance events and the annual Jane Austen Evening. Rebecca first attended Costume College in 2003 and has been a teacher since 2006.

Barbara Troeller
Professionally trained in millinery at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, Barbara has devoted much of the past 25 years to the study of antique millinery and hatmaking. Her passions, and her collections of over 500 antique hats, millinery historical items, plumage, trims, rare ephemera and books, have led her into a full-time business as a speaker, consultant, and dealer in antique hats and clothing. She also designs her own unique millinery creations, as well as devoting time to the restoration of antique hats in her California studio.

Kendra Van Cleave
Kendra has been creating and studying historic costumes for approximately 15 years (although we won't talk about those early mishaps). She currently serves as newsletter editor of the Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild and performs with Bella Donna Venetian Courtesans at various Northern California Renaissance Faires. Kendra maintains a costume website, "Demode" (http://www.demodecouture.com/), where she presents her research and projects.

Regina Lawson Voorhes
As a teenager, Regina costumed high school theatre productions and rock bands, such as Motley Crue and Quiet Riot in L.A.'s rock scene. Starting in 1985 at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern California, she has costumed Highland and Irish, English, Italian, and German re-enactors for the last 23 years. Regina branched out into 16th C. and 17th C. Polish and Turkish costuming, Victorian evening wear for the last several years, and has returned to her real love, 16th C. Irish and Highland clothing.

Fran Wasielewski
Fran has been studying and teaching various re-enactment skills, from acting and dancing, to clothing, cooking, and lifestyles, for at least 15 years. She has a Master's Degree in American Studies (living history/outdoor museum studies). Trained as an anthropologist, archaeologist, and folklorist, Fran enjoys bringing the past to life. She works for the Santa Barbara Historical Society and is a member of ALHFAM.

Dave Wilson
Dave has an ominous interest in history that has expanded into costuming because of Costume College. First as a student for three years then as an instructor for five more years, he has thoroughly enjoyed learning and sharing with other people a growing involvement with all things sewing. Dave is a Renaissance re-enactor, makes chain maille, plate armor and cuir bouille and does coats of arms for his friends. Renewing friendships and making new ones at Costume College is one of the high points of the year. He hopes to add to his knowledge and friends for many more years to come.

Kathryn Wolters
Kathryn is an "incorrigible" costume/jewelry/needlework junkie for 35 plus years. She started at a tender age of 8, making historical costumes for her Barbie doll, and has gone on to costume adult sized 'Barbies', 'Kens', 'Skippers', as well as anyone else who'd stand still in front of her long enough. She has worked/played/taught with several different costuming and re-creation groups over the years, including Renaissance Faire, S.C.A., Friends of the English Regency, Past Times with Good Company, and has been a repeat teacher at Costume College. The words "lifetime addictions" come to mind.

Cat Slater Woodward
Cat started out her costuming adventure in the vintage clothing world wearing a mixture of vintage and modern clothing. By high school, she was an accomplished hand sewer and beaded beautifully. Eventually she found herself in the costuming world and learned machine sewing. Since the time of her first sewing machine, she has won awards, had her costumes in fashion shows and on display, and she and her girlfriend started their very own carpetbag business.

Diane Yoshitomi
Diane has been engaged in some form of needlework since age 9. In her 20s she began seriously to make her all own clothes, and graduated from a San Francisco fashion design school in 1977. She started on period dress while a docent at the Banning Residence Museum, acquired valuable new skills at Costume College, and subsequently won several awards at Costume Cons 23 & 24 for her Victorian gowns. She is also a self-styled CJJ, or Certified Jewelry Junkie, with a substantial collection of Victorian, Edwardian, and later vintage jewelry.