I'm in the unusual position of having two jobs, so my brief is very varied. It could involve supervising design for a show, organising anything from fabric sampling to budgets to fittings, and co-ordinating the workshop. There are generally four plays the wardrobe department is involved with at any one time: the one that's on at the Abbey, the one in rehearsal, and the same pair for the Peacock.

I find doing period costumes very enjoyable - quite different to contemporary clothing, which is more subtle. People's perceptions are quite heightened when it comes to modern dress, so the clothes have to be invisible - which is the hardest thing to achieve.

The Colleen Bawn was a big period piece I did, set in the 1860s. That was quite a stylised look and, as with all shows, I had to take the set and lighting into consideration. Really what a costume designer aims to do is to evoke a particular period.

I have also worked on plays which are set across different periods, starting in the 1940s and moving into the 1970s, for example, and with something like that you have to be make the actors age accordingly - give them big bellies and that sort of thing! I work closely with the people involved in make-up and wigs. It isn't just the clothes - the whole look has to be right. I research costumes from particular eras in a variety of ways. Mostly I devour books of photography. There are also specific, more academic, costume books which can be useful.

I have to be quite practical with the materials I choose. Obviously the clothes need to look relevant to a certain era and I would love to use antique clothing for certain productions, but the clothes take quite a knocking, so you have to buy materials which are durable.

In The House, the Tom Murphy play which is on here at the moment, the clothes are from the 1950s and I was able to get quite a bit of stuff in vintage-clothes shops. I also found a website with 1950s home dress patterns I sent away for. I would always be on the look-out for clothes, scanning certain shops with particular periods in mind. You have to be sure they really are originals. You can tell from the fabric and the shape of the clothes that they aren't contemporary copies.

I have to work out costume design with the director, who would have something quite specific in mind, and with the set designer and the actors, because they have to be comfortable with what they are wearing.

Usually the actors wear period underwear too. This helps achieve the overall look, because it isn't just about the clothes but also how you wear them and move in them. Obviously something like a corset makes quite a difference to how an actor moves on stage, but there are also more subtle differences with more recent clothing.

It's a very rewarding job, partly because you meet so many people involved in all areas of the theatre all the time, and partly because you accomplish so much in such a short period of time. From when I get the script to the opening night is usually three months, and in that time I've had to create a whole world.

It isn't really about creating something of your own, though. It is a team effort, with input from writers, the director and so on. It isn't like being involved in fashion design - though it is possible some people would recognise costumes I do as my work.

I don't sit down at a desk drawing all day. When I'm designing I tend to do that part in my own time, maybe at home in the evening. Drawing is actually the smallest part of designing. The drawings are there for reference, but the largest part of the work involves actually putting the costumes and a whole look together.