I haven't blogged in a month, because October is my costume month. Every year I think I won't do anything that year. Maybe I'll just buy costumes. But every year I end up going a bit over the top creating costumes. This year, I learned a bit about myself.
I don't know why, and I don't think this is wise, but is appears that in the last couple of years I have decided that I am above using store-bought patterns for making clothes. Granted, I feel like I know what I am doing, in general. I have made a lot of things over the years, and feel rather competant. But just because I watch Project Runway doesn't mean I can create things they way they do. And just because the patterns are expensive doesn't mean they aren't important.
And this is what I learned the hard way a week ago.
See, I decided that I would make my kids into Woody and Jesse, the cowfolk from the Toy Story movies. I mean, they are wearing jeans and cowboy boots, so how hard can this be? Woody needs a vest and a yellow shirt.
So I took a vest that fit Tyler, and used it to create the pattern for my vest. I started sewing the usual way - sew the outside together, sew the lining together, then sew the outside to the lining and turn inside out. But then I got to this spot and stopped in my tracks.
To understand the problem, let me use an example. Everyone has sewn a pillowcase and turned it right side out afterward, yeah? Okay, picture that now. You've got the edges sewn, and you're about to turn it out through the opening you left. And then you put a staple in the middle. Can you turn it back out? No? Yeah, neither could I. Eventually I had to go to WalMart and open up a vest pattern, take a picture of the instructions on how to turn it out, and go home and finish it. But that was another day.
Also, notice the shirt? Yeah, this is what I have entitled the "DARN shirt". You would think this costume is easy, but nobody makes shirts that are bright yellow with those thin red stripes, oddly enough. I showed what I had to Christopher, and he said that while Tyler made a good cowboy, he didn't look like Woody. I have spent a lot of time looking at a lot of options, but still haven't even found fabric that looks right. I think I'm just going to dye a white shirt yellow and draw red lines on it. Sigh.
Anyway, that was my first mistake on that Saturday. When the vest frustrated me, I turned my attention to a side project. See, Kaitlyn outgrew her Tinkerbell costume, and was quite sad about it. She LOVES dress up. So I figured that since I already had the fabric for it, I would just make her a new one. You know, since I had the sewing machine out and all.
I went to the store and looked at a pattern I liked, but decided not to buy it. I can just do it myself! I really liked the assymetrical look of the yellow fairy. So off I went.
I made the leaf skirt, and loved it! I already had the yellow tutu. So far, so good. Now I just needed a top and a belt.
Let's list the problems, shall we? First of all, what I thought was plenty of extra room evaporated. She will grow out of this top by Christmas. Which I guess makes it a good skin-tight leotard, but still. Then the belt, which was a glue gun mess I actually threw away. See, the leotard thing is flat, and then the tutu flares out, so the belt wouldn't lay flat at all! She looks better without it.
So after all that frustration, I decided I needed to do something fun. I remembered that we had a bike in the basement we bought years ago for Tyler to grow into. It was going to be a Christmas present someday. And I thought - why do we give bikes at Christmas, anyway? My kids don't understand Christmas. And they can't ride bikes at Christmas. So I dug it out, pumped up the tires, and attached the training wheels.
Tyler prefers his big wheel, but Kaitlyn is in LOVE with this bike. She has asked to ride it multiple times every single day since.
But just when I was smiling at the fact that I did something right that day, Kaitlyn stops riding for a moment.
"Mom?" she says. "Can I have a helmet?" She launched into a story that I think involved some Dragon Tales character having a helmet to ride a bike, so she wanted one too.
Yup. I'm the brilliant mom who didn't think of the helmet sitting in the garage on her own.
Sigh.
The good news is that Kaitlyn adores the Tinkerbell costume. She wiggles into it and dances around like a crazy girl. Without the tutu she's about as naked as the orginal Tink was, but that really doesn't matter to her. So I guess the imperfections shouldn't matter to me either.
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