Whenever Broken Box actors take the Eagle Theater stage, sophomore Hannah Field’s work is featured right along with them. As one of two costume designers, Hannah sews, seams and hems costumes for Los Altos High School student performers — including her work for the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Sewing has been Hannah’s passion since elementary school, which took her from hobby projects to full creations for the stage.

“I first started sewing in fifth grade,” Hannah said. “I used to flip between hobbies a lot, but sewing stuck because I’ve always liked working with my hands, and I’ve always been interested in fashion.”

As her skills grew, Hannah’s hobby didn’t stay at home for long. In middle school, she ran a sewing club at Bullis Charter School and helped create costumes for the school’s theater, including projects for their productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Addams Family.”

Entering high school, Hannah continued connecting her hobby to school — and Broken Box was perfect.

Over casual conversation during English class, acting and English teacher Lisa Battle heard about Hannah’s hobby — while others talked about their weekends, Hannah shared her recent projects. Battle knew Broken Box would be a fit and pitched the idea of joining the class to Hannah.

“I’ve had actors that have sewn before, but it hasn’t been our practice until Hannah to sketch, buy fabric and then make the costume,” Battle said. 

Hannah’s work in Broken Box includes the Scarecrow and Dorothy costumes in “The Wizard of Oz” and various pieces for “The Alibis,” all hand-sewn. 

She designed and sewed Dorothy’s costume using a pattern from Etsy, a template that guides how flat pieces of fabric are cut and assembled. She created the Scarecrow’s costume entirely from scratch without a preexisting pattern — an impressive feat even for experienced designers, Battle said.

Hannah also volunteered to create a gown for this year’s musical “Singin’ in the Rain.” In class, she focuses on constructing full costumes from start to finish.

“Making garments from scratch is college-level work,” Battle said. “She can go straight from idea to fabric. That’s not something I can even do, and I studied costume design in college.”

Beginning their costume-designing process, Hannah and fellow costume designer senior Jayden Nagy create vision boards using character references and images from the script’s setting. From there, they decide what costumes can be sourced, altered or sewn. 

Though her projects are most often featured on the stage, Hannah stays equally dedicated to sewing outside of theatre. Since sixth grade, she’s made her own school dance dresses, mapping out inspiration to creation step by step.

“I remember the first few things I made were all really bad,” Hannah said. “Sewing is one of those skills where the more you practice it, you’re able to envision things better.” 

Now, Hannah finds inspiration for personal projects from photos online, her own sketches or a certain fabric that she finds interesting.

Unlike theater costumes, which are designed to look good from a distance, Hannah holds her personal clothing pieces to a higher standard. She created her freshman year homecoming dress, which took up to 30 hours to complete.

“Not everything always turns out exactly how you expect it to turn out,” Hannah said. “It’s very frustrating when you make something and the size isn’t quite right. You have to readjust consistently.”

Hannah’s friend, sophomore Natalie Cheung, has watched her sewing skills grow since middle school. A fellow sewing enthusiast, Natalie co-ran the middle school sewing club with Hannah. They are continuing its legacy at LAHS by running a sewing club, Sew it Forward, together as co-presidents.

“She’s very organized with every project,” Natalie said. “I would have half-finished projects from six months ago, but she makes time for hers.”

Hannah hopes to continue to connect her hobby to her life consistently, whether through Sew it Forward, Broken Box costumes or making her own clothing.

“The possibilities are endless with sewing,” Hannah said.