SUSAN Earle may have decided against becoming a home economics teacher, but her creative efforts have earned community-wide recognition.

Stepping away from the sewing machine after graduation, Susan became an occupational therapist.

It wasn't until daughter Jessica, now a successful model, started dancing, acting and drama classes that Susan's talent was needed again.

"I started off very naively sewing on sequins for the dance teacher,” she said.

When Jessica joined the Rockhampton Musical Union Choir, Susan saw it as a community and parental duty to lend a hand and pulled out her sewing kit again.

From her first show in 2004, The Wizard of Oz, Susan's flare for costuming has blossomed and she's gone from helping others to one of the leading ladies behind the scenes.

On Wednesday, she was one of six Rockhampton residents honoured for Australia Day, presented with the Rockhampton Regional Council Cultural Award.

It was a humbling experience for Susan, who dedicates months to creating costumes for multiple shows each year alongside full-time work.

"I was thrilled,” she said.

"I didn't expect it. It's just wonderful to be acknowledged for the hard work you do put in.

"Our musical theatre community is fabulous so I consider it an honour to be part of that.”

Each year, Susan spends at least four months working on Rockhampton Regional Council and RMU productions from beginning to well after the final curtain call, with some shows demanding up to two hundred costumes.

Susan and her team of "Sequin Sisters” also work throughout the productions, dressing dozens of performers and laundering clothes.

"My passion is working with directors, choreographers and performers so magic does happen on stage,” she said.

"A lot of work goes into costuming.

"It's just wonderful being able to be creative, being able to problem solve, to organise.

"The most wonderful thing is just being with people, that's what I love.

"I have a wonderful group of people that I can call on. We all have different talents, different skills, but we all have that passion for working together, for achieving the goal of getting our performers on stage so they look beautiful.

"Or sometimes not so beautiful depending on their character.”

With limited budgets for amateur theatre productions, Susan and her team scour op shops for pieces which can be modified for stage.

"That's where your creativity comes into it again,” she said.

"You can walk into an op shop and go 'that would be great, but we need to do that'.

"We don't have a never ending budget. We try to weave our magic within that.”

Many of the recent productions, like Anything Goes, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, have been set in historical periods.

But Rockhampton Regional Council's 2017 production will offer exciting new opportunities.

"We try to honour in which the productions are representing and with Wicked it's different,” Susan said.

"It's magic and we can be as creative as we like.

"We want to be true to the Broadway production and our amateur take of what we can do, but it's going to be exciting.”

When dressing performers, Susan wants to see everyone feeling comfortable and confident on stage and works tirelessly to tailor each costume to its wearer.

"I love the journey that individuals have in a production from the very beginning to the very end,” she said.

"I love the challenges that come with costuming.”

"We can amend and adjust so (performers) feel comfortable in who their character is and who they're trying to portray.”

While honoured to have been recognised, Susan said it couldn't have been done without many others.

"Having people who believed in me was wonderful because there were some very special people out there who gave me the opportunity and I will always treasure that,” she said.