Halloween 2017

Wow, it's November now.

I haven't blogged since the eclipse back in August, even though things have happened that I should've written about since then, and here I sit, wondering whether to try to condense two and a half months' worth of happenings into a few sentences or work on my long game by writing a lot or what.

Once again, I helped Vernon girls with their costumes, and once again, they created their own imaginative characters: the Carrot Queen and Royal Rabbit. 

With the exception of Bea's tutu and the rest of the accessories, everything about the costumes is fleecy, warm, and weather-appropriate for the last day of October in Middle TN. And aside from the costume value, both girls should get some everyday wear from the soft snuggly pullovers that helped bring their characters to life.

Aside from Halloween, Bea had a big day today celebrating her 50th day of kindergarten with  50's Day.

When you're five years old, is there anything better than wearing a fun costume to school for the day and then changing into another fun costume to go trick or treating? 

Mom and I worked on the skirt together over the weekend, and both of us were concerned that the waist would be too small, but everything fit perfectly, and Bea was the perfect little bobby-socks'er.

                                          

When I made Lucia's skirt for her 50th day of kindergarten, it swallowed her whole. She'll still be wearing it when she's in 6th grade. 

Aunting and Arting

A few weeks ago, Sis called and said Beatrice needed my help with her Halloween costume. She'd decided to go as "Sparkle Queen" and needed a fancy dress and cape to make it happen.

Luckily for me, "Sparkle Queen" is a product of her own imagination. There was no pressure to replicate a cartoon costume or copyrighted design, because those rarely look the way they are intended, and I used all the luck I had coming to me a few years ago when Lucia wanted to go as Princess Leia, and I nailed that sucker. To. The. Wall. 

This year both girls broke free of established characters and the typical witch-cat-zombie-Disneything, coming up with unique ideas for a couple of sincerely cool Halloween costumes.

Lucia hatched her idea for "Peacock Princess" back in the summer. I don't know the whole story, but apparently Sis ordered a peacock print tunic online and didn't like it, but before she could return it, Lucia fell in love and decided that with the addition of some peacock feathers and a headpiece, it would be a perfect Halloween costume.

Beatrice was more fluid and abstract in her idea for "Sparkle Queen." 

She and I had several phone conversations about her expectations for the costume I would create, and they boiled down to:

Sparkly.

Rainbow-colors.

Twirly.

There needs to be a cape.

Since Hancock Fabrics went out of business back in the summer - I'm still crying about that - I've been in somewhat of a sewing slump and was hard-pressed to find what I envisioned for her costume. The internet came through, though, and an etsy seller set me up with some most awesome fabric - better than anything I could've found at Hancock's.

No, it wasn't cheap, but when your client is only three feet tall, $15/yard goes a long way when the fabric is 56 inches wide.

The "sparkle" is more of a shimmer, but it's bright, colorful, and flashy, and when I started sewing this stuff, I fell in love.

Unlike some knits, the fabric held its shape between the cutting and the sewing. There was no weird, unexpected stretching, and while I stay-stitched the seam-lines of every piece to make sure they came together the way they should, I now realize I could have skipped that step. 

With our without, Beatrice had a beautiful costume to wear for Halloween, and "Sparkle Queen" is a real thing now.

In other "aunting" news, nephew Jack became a teenager on October 27th, and husband Jack suggested I paint him a birthday card instead of purchasing one, since I've been all into doing art lately. 

I played around with a pencil sketch first, then translated it into a watercolor for his card. I actually like the pencil sketch better than the painting, but he loved the card almost as much as the cash stashed inside it and has already asked his parents to have it framed for him, which warms my heart in all kinds of ways and gives me a reason to not hate all teenagers for being unappreciative jerks.

Pammy Sews

Sometimes we all get so caught up in the things we have to do that we forget about the things we love to do.

I recently got a refresher on this rule of life after Sis called and told me that Lucia had her heart set on being Princess Leia for Halloween and asked if I'd be open to making her costume.

Lucia's vision for her Halloween look.

My old Singer has been in the closet since the last time Jack and I needed Halloween costumes, but I dragged it out, blew off the dust, and got real about the task at hand.

As popular as "Star Wars" has always been, the costume patterns were discontinued years ago, and searches of eBay and Amazon left me frustrated and confused about the kind of people who spend sixty dollars for a used sewing pattern of "undisclosed" condition from thirty-plus years ago.

Other internet searches were more positive and provided all the direction I needed for creating my own pattern based on Lucia's measurements.

This is the back-view with the classic draped "hoodlet."

In the end, the force was with me - I don't know if it was arithmetic, intuition, or luck - and Lucia ended up with a fabulous Princess Leia costume, which, according to plan, had ample space underneath for warm layers of clothing.

"Help me, Obi Wan!"

Sis knocked the side buns out of the park by forming them around socks.

Beatrice was store-bought Minnie Mouse, and abject guilt already has me working on a real outfit for her, especially considering the kitten skirt.

I'd no sooner packed up and shipped out Leia's gown before I was tasked with creating Lu a look for "50's Day: A Celebration of Fifty Days of Kindergarten."

The out-of-print pattern I needed was available for less than suggested price on Amazon Marketplace from a dealer of used sewing stuff and arrived less than 48 hours after my order. A trip to the fabric store for felt and notions later, and we were in business.

Instead of the classic poodle motif, we opted for a cat theme in Lucia's favorite color scheme.

The skirt swallowed her whole, but she still looked adorable and will be rocking this skirt for 50's Day until at least 4th or 5th grade. I finished it at 4 a.m. Wednesday morning and fell asleep staring at it with a smile on my face.

Sis and I were so lucky growing up. Our Ma-Ma Harris loved to sew and constantly outfitted us with beautiful clothing I didn't appreciate at the time. We had matching outfits, not-matching outfits, dresses, and separates made with love and quality. When I wanted a lady-blazer for my seventh-grade 4-H Public Speaking competition, Ma-Ma Harris made me one.

In sewing for Lucia the last couple of weeks, she's been with me, reminding me to take my time. To clip the curves and press the seams with a hot iron. She wouldn't be happy with the zipper on the kitten skirt, but I couldn't find the right foot to use on my machine, and I will definitely do a much better job next time.

I've organized my notions and purchased some cute fabric to make an outfit for Beatrice. It's her turn. And there's enough left-over felt to make her a skirt to match Lucia's, and I've learned how to use math to make a circle skirt without a pattern. It involves pi.

I can't wait to start cutting.

Stay tuned.

A Baby House Visit

Fall is chugging right along, and since the last blog post, Jack and Pam at the Lake have become the proud owners of not one, but two, lovely pumpkins, so we're all set to celebrate Halloween in style. We haven't carved them yet, but both Jack and I are brainstorming some design ideas and will be pulling out our odd assortment of carving tools sometime in the next day or two. Stay tuned for photos in the next few days. You never know what we're going to come up with --

So... I'd been missing the little girls - and the big girls, too - and last week seemed the perfect time to trip myself over to the Baby House for a big, old dose of happy. Lucia was tickled to see me and glad to have me as a playmate, but poor Beatrice was in no mood for such nonsense. Her daddy was out of town at a week-long conference, and she was on the verge of sad already. Then, when Papa said, "Bye," to everybody and took off to come home to the farm shortly after my arrival, she hit the wall. Sweet baby loves her men-folk and misses them when they aren't around.

She's enough like Pammy, though, that a good nap can cure a bad disposition, and by the end of the day, she was smiling, showing me her puzzles, and mugging for the camera just a little bit.

Lucia and I made a pizza for everyone for dinner. Well... actually Jack did the hard part - he made the dough from scratch and sent it with me from home. Lucia and I put the pizza together. She grated the cheese like a champ with a real grown-up grater and did an excellent job dispersing the pepperonis onto the top of the pie. As far as she was concerned, making it was more fun than eating it, as she's recently decided that pizza isn't one of her favorite things, and no amount of including her in the process was able to change her mind. Beatrice, on the other hand, thought it was fantastic, and I scored that as a point in the win column.

Mom and Sis both loved it, too, as it was food they did not have to prepare after spending a long day with little children.

I didn't over-do it on the pictures this visit - I was too busy - but what good ones I did take are at this link:

Baby House 10/25/2013