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Starting early on your custom dance costume design can save you time, stress, and money, but one of the main constraints we hear is, "I don't have my team or money yet!" 

No worries, there are ways to get started even without your team assembled or your funds in place for the year. 

You can take advantage of early bird savings by getting started with your design and prototype before you have your team or your full funding. Then, when you have your team and funding secured, you can place your full order.

Inspiration for your next dance costume can come from anywhere: the runway, your Instagram feed, a sneaker, or even something as random as that gorgeous peach that's sitting on your desk! 

We know it can feel overwhelming to narrow your focus to create a concept that is unique from your competitors.  To help, we've rounded up some of our favorite resources for finding dance costume inspiration.

One logo created with 5 different techniques. 
Price will vary depending on logo size  and exclude base garment price - shown here at 7.25" high. 

Most teams brand their cheer and dance uniforms with logo and lettering, but you may not realize that there are many different options available! "Which logo and lettering option is best for me?", you might ask. The answer is that it depends! Some factors that affect which option is best for your dance or cheer uniform are:

• Your overall budget
• Level of detail in your team logo 
• Fit of your uniform or location of logo

Below, we summarize 5 ways you can add your logo to a cheer uniform - embroidery, vinyl, sublimation, spangles and rhinestones - and the pros and cons of each! 

In our How Much Does a Custom Dance Costume Cost series, we’ll be covering a few things that will affect the price of your dance costume: patterning and set-up fees, fabric choices, the number of costumes being ordered, and embellishments. Today we’ll talk about construction details that add to your custom dance costume costs - the “cut and sew” features of your costume!

Construction details include the base pieces of your costume that need to be cut out of fabric and sewn together, and doesn't include add-on features like rhinestones, appliques, or fabric choices. Generally speaking, the more construction details going into your garment, the more it will cost.  

Below we break down 5 common construction details that add cost, along with average price ranges of each. Prices will vary depending on your chosen costume company and your group discount, but below we used pricing from The Line Up, before any discounts are applied.  

We've kicked off our How Much Does a Custom Dance Costume Cost series and next up we're talking about dance costume embellishments!

Embellishments add the perfect finishing touch to your custom dance costume. But when designing on a budget, they're often the first thing to get cut. Why? Because they can get pretty costly and add up quickly! Not only do you have to consider the cost of the embellishment itself, but also the labor costs to have your costume company apply the embellishments for you.

However, you shouldn't have to sacrifice those finishing touches because of your budget! The easiest way to save is to apply the finishing touches yourself.

Here are 4 dance costume embellishments that you can add yourself for the perfect finishing touch, while also cutting costs:

Aitkin All Starz Dance Team in a Custom Jazz Costume

One of the most common questions we get regarding costumes is "how much does a custom costume cost?!" This can be a difficult question to answer because a custom costume is just that - custom - and depends on what you add! Everything is completely unique, which means that the pricing is unique as well.

As a general guideline, custom costumes can range anywhere from $150 to $600. The more detail and complex, the higher the price.  However, we generally tell people the average price of a custom dance costume is around $250, and to start with that budget in mind.  

If you're looking for more information, here are six areas that will determine how much your custom dance costume costs:

You've got your choreography, your team is practicing hard, and now it's time to design your dance costume! This may seem like a daunting task, but designing a custom dance costume can really be broken down into 8 simple steps.

If you've been following along our How to Design a Custom Dance Costume series, we've covered everything from prototypes to  fabrics. We've compiled all the posts in this series to give you a brief overview of the custom dance costume design process. Check it out below!

In our recent How to Design a Custom Dance Costume series, we've been covering all the steps to ordering a custom costume.  

Once your design and prototype is confirmed, it's time to get started making your group order! The next step is sizing and measuring your team before your custom costume goes off to production.

Fit is fashion! Even with the most beautifully designed costume, if your outfit doesn't fit properly, the focus will be on your flaws and not your skills. Here a few tips to ensure your dancers are fitted correctly:

If you've been following along our How To Design A Custom Dance Costume series, we've previously covered finding inspiration, design consultations, and fabric choices.  Up next in the process is the prototype! 

A prototype, or sample garment, is the best way to ensure your team's final group order turns out how you you'd like. 

Your costume company loves prototypes because they need to figure out how to pattern and construct your custom costume.  And you'll love the prototype because you can make sure your custom costumes look and feel great before proceeding with the full order! 

We answer some common questions about dance costume prototypes below: 

One of the most important aspects of a performance is how you feel in your dance costume.  The more comfortable and confident you feel, the better you will perform!  A costume that is flattering on the entire team is one way to make sure your dancers look and feel 100%, and elevate your performance.  Here are some tips for designing dance costumes that will look good on the entire team!