I can't believe I actually finished it! Granted, I didn't put on an official clasp or button on the back to enclose my Little Chick into the garment, but none the less, it was finished well in advance of the Big Day-or Big Night as the case may be. And while I have been so excited about my accomplishments, Little Chick of course was only ho-hum. Even after procuring the appropriate "millinery wire" for the outstanding halo, she wasn't as impressed as I thought she'd be, but we are talking about a 7 year old so I've forgiven her for the time being. Thankfully by the looks of her face, she seemed ok with the angel-ness of the costume so I'm happy. See for yourself:
While I confessed about the closure, I suppose I must confess about the wings. The wonderfully old and great pattern talked about in my earlier post, also had directions for hand-made wings. Not the feather type but good, old fashioned metallic paper and interfacing. And while they were cut out and on their way to being fabulous, I petered out and opted for real feather wings-all the more angel-like if you ask me.
This whole sewing machine project got me really going later into the month of October and after having been invited to a Halloween party where dressing up was an option, I decided to tackle a costume for myself and my Better Half. No easy task to say the least because we aren't exactly the Ken and Barbie types with bodies to back that statement up. I hemmed and hawed for quite some time only to be thwarted after several ideas from the Better Half. Until that is I stumbled on the perfect costume. Here's the scoop:
Littlest Chick and I happened to be in the fabric store picking up the last bit of ribbon needed for Little Chick's halo. And while standing in a dreaded line to get it cut, I saw this streak of light flash down from the Heavens, (well, not really but it sounds good, no?) only to fall on THE costume for my Better Half! It stood on a dress form, in all it's bright, orange glory. A bright blue tie finished it off and I knew right then and there, that was the one for him! Fred Flintstone would never look so good! I immediately asked if there were directions to making the costume and was promptly given a fuzzy copy of the said details. I set off to find the fabric. I was at a FABRIC store mind you so I thought how hard could it really be? It called for a couple yards of orange fur (Yes, that's right, fur.) and after having no luck in locating the locale of the required fur, I went back to the cutting table only to be told "We don't carry orange fur." Huh? You're a fabric store and you're advertising this costume with the directions yet you don't carry the fur? I wanted to say a few choice words but held things together since my Littlest Chick was sitting right there, as were several other dignified ladies. I clearly didn't fall into that category as I marched off with my costume directions, heading in the direction of the next FABRIC store.
To the first fabric store's credit, second fabric store didn't have orange fur either, so I remained calm and picked out this fake orange suede type material. (What the hell is one going to make with fake, orange suede anyway, I asked myself....) If I thought the line at the first fabric store was long and laborious, I was number 34 in a line that was only at number 6. I was in for a long wait, time to decide how much of this new fabric to get. Wouldn't you know, I left my directions in the car....so I punted once I reached the cutting table-THREE yards please. (I knew immediately I had over done it.) $45 later and I knew this Fred Flintstone costume better be the best one out there because at that price, my Better Half needs to be happy.
Once home, since Better Half was slaving away at making the bacon needed to purchase all this fine fabric, I had to punt once again and used one of his sweat shirts to measure out where exactly I needed to cut-with those Cadillac of all scissors, my Ginghers. Turns out, I shaved a little too much fat off the sides so to speak, so I had to re-attach some fabric. But really, the costume looks great and with the black triangles I colored on with a black sharpie, along with the teal-ish blue swatch of fabric added as a tie, Better Half was a huge hit as Fred. And Wilma you ask? Well, you know the direction that had to go. It was a real Calamity....even if I used a 400 thread count flat sheet, it was a rough piece of work in the best sort of terms, all of which is in my next post. Come back soon, ya hear?
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