Thursday, October 22, 2015

Not Actually Procrastinating


Talk to me, you guys. I miss you.

Costume-sewing is work. Especially costumes that are intended to stay relevant long after Halloween Night. 

My kids are going easy on me this year, though. 

One of them (guess who?) wants to be Bunny. 

Not "a bunny", but Bunny, her Stuffed Animal BFF.

And her Stuffed Animal BFF, she declares, "has to be a carrot".

(Of course she does.)

Fine, but non-humans have to wait at the back of the line, I tell her, until the human children are adequately costumed. 

Sometimes when I look at my life, I shake my head. It's a marvelous life, but there's something of the ridiculous about it, if you not only make your children's lovies, but costume them to dress as their lovies, and then costume their lovies as well.

Is this normal, I want to ask, 

and then I pause, 

because the fact that I'm actually asking is telling in itself.

The Bunny outfit, though, was the easiest costume I've ever made - drafted and cut and sewn in a day.

That never happens.

Case in point: the Other Child's costume:

Layers within layers, and embroidery and stretchy interfacing and welt-style windows and double princess seams and corset-style lacing.

This is Day#5? #6? and I'm still at it - stitching away, and basting, and fitting. Knit, even a stable knit like this dark green fabric, behaves very differently in person than in paper draft, and four layers of it succumb to gravity in ways you wouldn't believe.

It is a fun sew, though. Tailoring always is, because I make myself take the time to enjoy the process, instead of rushing it just to get it finished "on the outside".

What about the Third Child? 

We bought her costume. Because she's at the age when regular clothes = costume.

"I need a leather bag, though, Mom," she tells me. "And a quiver. And a cloak."

(Of course you do.)

And on it goes.

We'll take some real costume shots when everything is finally finished. Today you get the dungeon versions.

I have to say that this has been an uncharacteristically relaxed pre-Halloween season. 

Hm.

Maybe I need to crank up my procrastinating.


16 comments:

  1. Child #3 going as Katniss? I suppose there might be other archer characters out there now but that's the only one I can think of (except Merida who doesn't wear normal clothes, of course.)

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    1. Yes, she is, although she prefers the more generic term "hunter". What's funny was that just three years ago, when she had an archery-themed party and I asked her, "you don't want a Katniss Everdeen party?", she'd said, "who?"

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  2. I LOVE that one child wants to be her bunny and then wants her bunny to be a carrot!!! That set of costumes will look so sweet together. I can't wait to see that carrot costume...
    I really enjoy your blog. One of my daughters loves the tailored embroidered fabric dresses, and I love seeing how productive you are in so many different directions. Thank you so much for taking the time to blog about your activities! (I have found it difficult to keep it up.)
    P.S. I really enjoyed reading about the minecraft party! "The apple just appears, Mom."

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    1. Thanks, Ruth! I secretly hope she doesn't stop her Bunnyisms too soon. They grow up so fast. Making the carrot costume is my reward for finishing The Tailored Dress costume!

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  3. Best blog post I've read in a long time! So glad I don't have any kids to costume, although I'm considering making costumes for my furbabies. The measuring and fittings are not going to go well since they love to nibble on my measuring tape.

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    1. Marshi: go for it! Costume your furbabies! Join the costume-making madness, and have a lovely Halloween!

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  4. Kate is brilliant! That is an awesome costume. My Lily wants to be a bunny, too. Specifically, a pink bunny with a white tummy and white inside the ears. I am afraid my version will not look as brilliant as yours, but hopefully she will like it!

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  5. Love the fact that she's going to be her bunny. I remember when my 35 year old son wanted to be a white bunny (about age 6?). Given our location in NE Ohio, I talked him into brown. His little brother was forced into wearing the same brown bunny a few years later, after he threw up on the ninja turtle costume I had made him that year. Both boys were supposed to be TMNT.

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    1. Cathi: Oh, I love how all the bunny-costume stories are coming out! And yes, I have to say that living in the upper midwest does take away the discomfort from a thick, fluffy costume. Although we often face the opposite disadvantage - the threat of hypothermia, even in layers of fleece. Which reminds me: the Bunny-costumed child has also asked for a pink cloak. I hope she doesn't realize her carrot-costumed Bunny needs a cloak, too.

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  6. I love your Halloween stories ! My kids told me they did not need help this year with their costumes. That is, until this morning just before leaving for school, when they realized there was ONLY ONE WEEK, mom ! Can you sew my costume tonight, please ?
    I'm actually happy :-)

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  7. I think it's so fantastic that Kate wants to be Bunny, and that Bunny is to be dressed as a carrot. Wow, does that speak to the creativity of your children, or what? :) My husband and I absolutely love coming up with costumes whenever we can. The first time we dressed up together was when we were dating, and we dressed up a stuffed hampster (a plush toy, not an actual hampster) as a squirrel to complement my husband's tree costume (I was his dryad). Every year after that, we tried to come up with a costume for that stuffed hamster: one year he was King Kong (my husband was the Empire State Building and I went as Ann Darrow, one year he was a Regency gentleman when we were Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice, and the year we dressed as characters from the Chronicles of Narnia, the hamster got to be Mr. Beaver.

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  8. The animal costume days are long past us; now I'm altering a leather jacket for one, and rebuilding a couple of Polo shirts for the other. Which I still consider costume work.
    A bunny with a cloak. To match, or contrast? As they say, pix or it didn't happen!

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  9. *giggles* I'm surprised that after 2 1/2 years you haven't collapsed into giving Bunny his own blog tag!

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  10. I love reading these posts, with a taste of what real life is like for you. Luckely two are using excisting costumes this year, so I only need to sew one new this year.

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  11. Your children must think you are a wizard, and they are right! All they need do is imagine, and voila!

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  12. Love the pictures so far! Can't wait to see Bunny and Carrot... That's gonna be a keeper picture for sure.

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