Category: Halloween

Posted on

And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids!

Ah, Hallowe’en. The most wonderful time of the year. The time when I run around trying to put together no fewer than three costumes EVERY SINGLE YEAR. But no, not this year. This year is easy. One party. One. No separate costume for work, because I now work from home. No costume for answering the door, because I’ll be at the aforementioned party. And the Taxi party? I always find out the theme so late that I’m just not even going to worry about it yet.

Except…

Erica hired me to sew her costume. I didn’t have to come up with the idea or anything, so that makes it much easier. And my own costume, rather than being some painstaking recreation, is merely an interpretation of this year’s party theme. Great. Cool. So okay, two costumes. Two isn’t bad. Oh, wait, Daniel told me the theme for the Taxi party. In plenty of time to prepare. Dagnabbit. Well wait, that’s awesome, Megan and I will FINALLY bring to fruition the costume that we jointly started, what, two years ago? Awesome. Three costumes. And now Megan tells me about the annual costume party being held at the office where I’m about to start contracting. For which I will need another costume, because the Taxi costume isn’t really office-appropriate, and The Party costume is a seekrit until Hallowe’en night! So that’s right, I’m now creating FOUR costumes. The first of these parties is three weeks from tomorrow, and I’ll be contracting full-time in a matter of days. Time to do some rummaging in the depths of the costume closet, where old costumes go to be undead! Spoooooky!

Posted on

A Monday Update

I promised you all more sewing updates regarding Secret Halloween Costumes, so here goes: The costume that Erica hired me to construct is finally “done.” I use the quotes because I don’t think it’s true. You see, the costume has only one point of entry: at the neck. During the initial fitting, Erica and I discussed the shimmy-room, and she was able to get it on and off at that point, and as I was only going to make the neck opening bigger, we figured it would be fine.

We may have figured wrong.

I did indeed make the opening a little larger when I sewed in the yoke inset. BUT… (tell me about your big “but,” Simone) the knit fabric for the inset isn’t as stretchy as the fabric used for the remainder. So, um, it isn’t as forgiving in regards to, well, pulling up over one’s butt. I haven’t had the “final” fitting with Erica, so I’m not tearing back into the costume yet, but my hopes aren’t high. I have planned, mentally, how to handle the Just In Case procedure. So there’s that.

My own costume is still only in the mental vision stages. I have the required fabric and notions, and scored from Hancock a Butterick pattern that I can use (and of course, modify) for the bodice. It’s a wedding dress pattern, and my mom raised an eyebrow when she stopped by and saw it on my kitchen counter. “Is there something I should know?” No, Mom. Other than, were I to be getting married, it would NOT be in that particular dress. You should probably know that. In a mother-daughter fashion, though, we both said, in unison, “View B would be cute as a top in a cotton print.” So yeah, we have known each other for a while. 🙂

Total expenditures for my costume so far:
– fabric A: $1.50 thrift store remnant
– fabric B: $5 for one yd at Big Lots (!?!?)
– fabric C: from my stash
– Butterick pattern: $2 (sale!) from Hancock
– zipper: $4 from Hancock
– boning: from my stash
– trim: $6 from Dollar Tree
– hat: from my stash
– KILLED vintage motorcycle helmet: $5 at thrift store
– KILLED satin bustier: $7.50 at thrift store

Even with the good-idea-at-the-time items that I have since dropped, this is buckets of money less than I’ve spent in years past. I still need to find just the right shoes, though, and that is (as usual) proving to be the most difficult task.

__________________________

BONUS UNRELATED ITEMS: I am pleased to announce that some of the patterns in my shop have been chosen for today’s Mad Men Monday feature over at Budget Retro. Also gasp-worthy is the mention that my shop received last week from Dress A Day. Gasp! Gasp, I tell you!

Posted on

mostly about Halloween

**Twitter** – For those who like to broadcast their lives but can’t be bothered writing a blog or using Facebook.
— @MrDrewseph

Yeah, um, oops. I am told by the author that the above tweet isn’t directed at me, but it sure does fit. And I say this: My life just isn’t iiiiinteresting right now.

Bill Randall, date unknown
Bill Randall, date unknown

I have my annual Halloween Sewing Madness, of course, but my own costume is waiting for a pattern sale to begin. I know, I don’t usually use a pattern at Halloween, but I’m generally Frankensteining an existing piece. This time it’s all from scratch, and the bodice I have in mind involves a technique new to me. It’s best to let the professionals give me some assistance. The costume I’ve been assigned to create for a friend may or may not be secret, but I’m not going to be the one to inadvertently drop spoilers. I can say this much: It’s a knit fabric, and my machine’s built-in overstitch feature is giving me a hell of a time. Adjusting the tension anywhere between 0 and 9 just gives me different levels of Bad. The zig-zag stitch is behaving similarly. Loads of saggy thread piled up on either side of the fabric, and the manual is of no help at all. Grrr.

I can tell you this much about my costume: The party theme this year is The Future (illustrated above by Bill Randall), and my budget is approximately $0, which is a far, far cry from past years. Thus far, I have done rather well constructing the costume (in my head, at least) with scraps left over from an uncompleted handbag project, a remnant purchased for $1.50 from the thrift store, and a yard of upholstery vinyl that I picked up at Big Lots for $5. Also, a few dollars spent on trimmy bits at Dollar Tree. Vintage shoes (mules) were procured, and they might wind up being the most expensive part of the costume… or they may get replaced by shoes that won’t fling off if I wear tights. And am drinking. Two things that I wish to do.

The party is being held on Halloween night, which means that I won’t be home for the evening kiddies. Which, in turn, means that I won’t bother decorating. It’s a Saturday this year, so I imagine the wee ones may start trickling by in the afternoon, and I’ll have candy on hand just in case, but the wee ones are usually put off by my décor anyway, so this will save everyone the stress.

And now, back to packing up items to be shipped off to the Devil Doll concert benefiting Dick Dime. More info can be found at HeartSizedCrush.