Our Mission, Studio & Clients

Our mission is to make you look fantastic.
Whether for your production, performance, product, or your own fabulous self, we're here to help.

McGrew's is a skilled professional group with many years' combined experience in design, draping, cutting, tailoring, pattern-making, stitching and materials fabrication. Our cartel includes designers and costume staff in-residence plus an extended network of artisans, each specializing in particular costume, makeup, accessories or special-effects applications. Your creation is guaranteed to look, fit and function the way it's supposed to.

It gives us great satisfaction to publicly offer the level of craftsmanship and services normally available only to professional theater and film companies. We're immensely proud of our commissioned creations. We also proudly sell and promote local art. Our boutique and our online catalog carry the original fashions, costumes, jewelry and accessories of more than a dozen talented designers.

The Custom Costume Process      Click here for more pics.

Bring in your ideas and sketches, pictures you've collected from books, films and websites, plus your business cards, letterhead and other media so we can match colors and duplicate your logos. Use anything that inspires your costume ideas, including comic books, children's book illustrations, movie stills, costume history books, fashion magazines, art history books, circus, burlesque and pin-up photgraphy, old family photographs, etc. We are specialists who enjoy a good challenge. Give us a call at (801) 596-2210.

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How we bid your job

When we meet to talk about ideas and images you have in mind, we normally create working design sketches or renderings based on what you show and tell us. Our studio has a big library of costume history books and related media to help pinpoint any unknown factors. We analyze individual features of your design in order to calculate specific costs for materials, yardage, cutting/draping fees, stitching labor, etc. We take measurements of the wearer(s) and we quiz you about any double-casting, quick changes needed or special circumstances in the performance.

We need to know as much as we can about how the costume functions -perhaps it needs pockets in specific places, interchangeable parts or breakaway pieces, etc. We'll also ask you about symbols, metaphors or motifs involved, color psychology, and about elements such as period accuracy vs. period irony, etc. This is a fun discussion process and we are skilled at helping you brainstorm.

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Pricing

* Check out the online catalog for costumes and accessories that are on sale right now and ready-to-wear! There's more in the store.

* Custom projects cost between $30 - $150 per yard of fabric or other materials used.
* There's no such thing as an "average" costume, but we do have fairly standardized pricing on a number of specific items shown in these pages or in our online catalog.
* Labor/pricing factors = complexity of cut, amount of tailoring, ornamentation, stitching demands, etc.
* Simpler silhouettes, less tailoring and less intricate patterns cost less per yard.

* Labor and fabric costs calculated separately, to give you plenty of options.
* You are welcome to provide your own fabrics if you wish. We don't force you to buy our fabrics.
* Providing your own fabric makes you responsible for your color palette and fiber content.
* We can advise you on fabric suitability and care.

* Mascots start at $650 for common geometrical shapes.
* Mascots with their own heads, including animal costumes and sports mascots, start at $900.
* Labor is for draping, drafting, cutting, and stitching/building your costume, all done in our studio.
* No Asian children chained to sewing machines here- sorry if this disappoints you. If you're cheap, go to Walmart.

* Your costume bid is complimentary.
* Your bid is detailed, so you know exactly what to expect from your end product and how much it will cost.
* We need a fitting with the person(s) who'll be wearing the costume, if at all possible.

* Forms of payment: Visa, Master Card, debit card, cash, Paypal, layaway.
* Checks accepted by prearrangement and from long-term clients only.
* Tax on sales to Utah residents: 6.85%.
* Your deposit gets our labor started. Your deposit is typically 1/2 the total.
* You pay your remaining balance when your costume is finished and you pick it up.

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