Studio owners who’ve been in the recital game for a while have likely seen thousands of dance costumes pass through their hands.
But with the hustle and bustle of recital time, we don’t always stop to think about where exactly those costumes are coming from, or how they are made.
If we want our costumes to be of the same high quality as our dancing—and for our costume-buying process to be as seamless as possible—it helps to take the time to learn a bit more about those costumes and the companies making them.
We talked to the team at A Wish Come True—who makes all their costumes at their factory in Bristol, Pennsylvania—to get an inside look at what really goes into making a costume, from conception to stage.
Costume ideas can come from anywhere.
How is a costume born? At A Wish Come True, inspiration can come from just about anywhere: A fun movie character, an exciting new fabric, or an idea to ramp up an older best seller.
Most designs for A Wish Come True‘s 100% USA-made costumes are submitted by a dedicated team of designers, but everyone at the company is encouraged to submit designs if they’d like. Eva Jeanne Tanenbaum, A Wish Come True‘s interactive marketing coordinator, is usually responsible for running the company’s social media accounts and updating their website. But recently, she submitted her first design idea—and it’ll make its debut in this year’s catalogue.
Eva Jeanne Tanenbaum
Courtesy A Wish Come True
Making a costume is a many-step process.
Once a design is approved (it has to fall in line with A Wish Come True‘s aesthetic and make sense cost-wise), it goes to a pattern maker, who translates the design from a sketch on paper to a blueprint on a computer, notating how everything will be sewn together.
Then, a sample is made, and the designer will look at the sample on a dress form and decide on any changes that are needed. Once the design has been developed, a real-life dancer comes into the picture. At this stage, A Wish Come True photographs the design for the catalogue, using the opportunity to ask the dancers questions about the costume’s fit and comfort, in case it needs any further adjustments. Then, once more size samples are created (to make sure that a costume for, say, a five-year-old dancer looks proportional to the same costume in an adult size), and all parts and pieces are accounted for, the costume is ready to be made-to-order for each customer.
This whole process is made easier at A Wish Come True because of the company’s unique setup: The offices, where the designers and pattern makers work, are under the same roof as the factory, where the costumes are made, allowing for close collaboration between everyone involved.
Courtesy A Wish Come True
Getting them right takes lots (and lots) of planning.
A Wish Come True‘s 2021 catalogue hasn’t even hit the market yet, and they’re already working on styles for 2022. That’s because the A Wish Come True team puts so much care into the design and production of each costume. That could mean poring over fabric catalogues “to find a fabric that will scream ‘this looks like a pineapple,’ ” as pattern maker Stephanie Deni says. (Yes, that means we have a pineapple costume to look forward to.) Or, it could be the countless tests to ensure that sizing is consistent across the board. Deni, who has worked at A Wish Come True for almost 16 years, says that sometimes staff members even take a costume home to wash in their own washing machine, to ensure that colors don’t bleed and sequins stay secured.
The set-up is designed to accommodate recital craziness.
Ever had a student grow four inches between measurements and costume arrival? Or maybe you’ve heard the words “My dog ate my headpiece”?
Though these are nightmare scenarios for dance teachers, they are everyday occurrences at A Wish Come True. Because the entire company—from customer service to design to production to packaging—is in the same building, it’s easy for staff to make last-minute changes to orders. A customer service representative need just walk down the hall to the factory to see if an order could be expedited, or if that barrette is still in stock.
Laura is one of A Wish Come True’s customer service representatives.
Courtesy A Wish Come True
Lots of sewing machines are involved—even a dedicated tutu machine.
Not all sewing machines are created equal—in fact, A Wish Come True has a wide variety of sewing machines, all for different purposes, from the single-needle to the double-needle to the binding machine and more.
But perhaps none are as exciting as the tutu machines, which are custom-made for the A Wish Come True factory to help seamlessly create tutus with a variety of lengths of tulle.
A Wish Come True’s tutu machine
Courtesy A Wish Come True
For every female costume, there can be a matching male costume.
A Wish Come True knows that it’s no fun for boys to be in boring black pants and t-shirts when their classmates are in exciting and detailed costumes. So they offer a wide selection of costume options for boys—and can make custom male designs to complement any female designs upon request.
It’s a surprisingly small operation.
Tanenbaum says that many people have the misconception that A Wish Come True is a huge company, when really it’s a mom-and-pop family business, operating more like a dance studio than a corporation. “We have a marketing team of three people, and we also do the graphic design,” she says. “So we’re just like dance studio owners, who have to be an owner and a teacher and a costume manager and a mom. I love helping customers realize that we’re a small business, and we’re here to help their small business.” (And for Tanenbaum, A Wish Come True is literally a family business: Her father has owned the company for over 10 years.)
Though they are small, they are mighty: During their busiest season, Tanenbaum says they can produce thousands of costumes a day, and production team members need to know how to create up to 700 different styles (not including colors!) at a time. Recently, the A Wish Come True team took on a new challenge: Creating masks for their local hospital during the height of the pandemic.
There’s a wall—yes, a wall—of sequins.
And it’s 20 feet tall. “It makes you happy just walking by it,” says Deni.
There’s also, unsurprisingly, lots of rhinestones, says Deni, which some staff members use to decorate denim jackets to wear to trade shows.
The famous sequin wall
Courtesy A Wish Come True
Some costumes are made by former dancers and current dance parents.
A number of A Wish Come True‘s designers and pattern makers are former dancers, says Tanenbaum. A Wish Come True also makes colorguard costumes, and a few staff members are colorguard coaches on the side.
But it’s the several dance parents who work at A Wish Come True, including Deni, who get to truly see the full life cycle of the costumes they create at their own children’s recitals. Deni says she’s become the unofficial costume guru at her daughter’s studio. “Seeing something go from lines on a paper to someone wearing it and dancing in it is just phenomenal,” she says. “It is the most rewarding thing.”
