Costumes and so on

Warning: Bad, bad pictures. Sorry!

Eliza's Raggedy Ann—there are pantaloons, too, and she was going to buy a pair of red and white striped tights. And I made a wig:

The pattern called for three skeins of bulky yarn, at roughly $6 a skein (ouch!); I bought a pound package of unidentified-fiber mill ends at A.C. Moore for $6.60-something, and have enough left to make several hats. (Or, god forbid, another wig.) The base is difficult lycra stretch stuff, of which I had to buy half a yard online to get the little bit I needed, since Hancock had none.

Digression: We really, really could use a decent fabric store up here. We have Hancock, a local chain of two—both of which are highly inconvenient for me—the Viking dealer who sells mostly bridal stuff, a quilt shop or two, and Waechter's, which has lovely fabric, but $20 a yard and up is just slightly out of my range right now (and probably forever). And there's an independent store in Black Mountain, but their selection is mostly cottons. I miss being able to drive to Mary Jo's in Gastonia whenever I wanted to! I could still go, but the drive (and the gas) is such that if I'm not spending at least a hundred dollars, it simply isn't worth it.

At the risk of sounding old and whiny, when I was growing up there was fabric everywhere, or so it seemed: Belk's and Penney's sold fabric. K-Mart sold fabric. There was this really cool place in North Charleston called Mr. Ward's (that was before Montgomery Ward went out of business; I wonder if he was attempting to fool you into believing he had some tenuous connection?), and he had all sorts of odd things, cheap but still good quality. Mostly. I still have things I bought there, and have inherited things that Mom bought there.

But, after all, it's not as if I don't have any fabric, is it?

I sent it down as is; Karolyn was going to trim the bangs. I'm hoping to see pictures one of these days.

Riley's bat hood, and his wings—

The elastic attaches at wrists and ankles, thighs and upper arms; the wings themselves are made from some sort of cheap shiny fabric I got at Hancock for 75% off, backed with black taffeta so they rustle. I thought they were pretty neat, but he didn't—he was expecting a "real" Batman suit. (In the interest of peacekeeping, Karolyn bought him a stormtrooper costume.) We've decided that, since he is fixated on 'real' cartoon characters, they will buy his costume next year, and I'll send him a box of gingersnaps or chocolate eyeballs or something so he won't feel left out. These can go in the dressup box.

And here are the auxiliary (sp? it looks funny with either one l or two) clothing items:

Riley's flannel Batman pants. I have been threatening to buy some more of this and make John a pair. He just gives me that look.

And Eliza's goth skirt, with skulls, pink rackrack and black lace (and if you look closely, you can see one tier of lace that doesn't match the others; I ran out. I should have begun from the bottom instead of going back and forth.). I bought the fabric from Fabric.com, on sale for $6 a yard or so; in any case, it was on sale. I have enough left to make a bag or something. The matching lace came from Kathy's Lace and Elastic Outlet; I think I paid 50 cents a yard. And the other piece (the wider one in the middle) was the last of a few yards I bought some years (like, ten or fifteen, probably) ago and have been using for doll clothes and whatnot. I still have about a foot left.

And there was the pumpkin costume for Bella . . .

I have actual pictures of Emma in her costume, since she went to a family party at her grandfather's.

Perry the Platypus, in the flesh! (or something)

Hmmm . . . Perry's legs are a trifle long. I have her measurements; can't I read a tape measure? Apparently  not.

This one involved an old (60s vintage) leather fedora John dug out of the attic; not-quite-terminally-ugly-but-close fabric given to me by John's sister (I'm sure you'll be able to do something with it!") of which I used the wrong side since it looked more skinlike (and since the right side was slick and prone to picking, and my  hands are rough from working outside); a felt tail, and the bill of one of an old cap (sacrified nobly by John, since he never wore it anyway; it was probably from the 60s, too) covered with yellow felt.

The end.

I am now officially ignoring Halloween until tomorrow, when I shall go to Ingles and see if they have any half-price chocolate pumpkins.

Comments

[Kai]

Anita, I am SOOOOOO impressed. You sew BEAUTIFULLY! I had to call Ray in here to show him because I KNEW he would also be impressed & awed! (He WAS! But he also made me scroll down so he could see kitty catching bunny again. LOL!) SHAME on Riley! I'm very put out with ungrateful children at this point. (Thanks to MY ungrateful child. Bitter old woman, am I!) And I want to thank you SO MUCH for the wonderful & unexpected card! You are a sweetheart and I love you! P.S. Tell John I said he NEEDS some of those cool Batman pjs!