Tiny tools: snips that handle details
These special scissors complete the finer points of costumes.
In this series, The Well looks at a variety of tiny tools that Carolina staff and faculty use in their work, each tool’s function and its importance.
Employee: Triffin Morris, head of costume production, costume director for PlayMakers Repertory Company.
Tool: Scissors, 3.5 inches long, 1.5 inches wide.
To turn a costumer’s design into a reality, says Morris, drapers use a variety of tools to construct, sew and fit costumes for actors. For work around applique or to trim excess fabric from a pattern, “you need something tiny.” Her Gingher brand scissors, with finger holes too small for many people’s fingers, do the trick.
Some drapers use a harness or tool belt for tools, but Morris carries the scissors in her back pocket. “Lot of holes in my jeans,” she says, “but worth having a little pair of snips always ready. I probably use them on about 10% of my work.”
It’s an important 10%. She might use the snips to cut fabric from around a flower or to trim excess material from two pieces of fabric sewn together, usually ironing the fabric first to flatten it. Sometimes she will trace a template in chalk on fabric before cutting.
“All we do takes patience and attention to detail.”
