Besides being a lazy bum over four weeks and slacking off on your cardio exercise, decide that after those lazy four weeks, which span the holiday season (that you spent with your family eating yum-yums), you will put on your extremely form-fitting Halloween costume.
SPOILER ALERT: It will be disappointing.
In all seriousness, in reading the sewing blogs out there that talk about The Year in Review, or "What I Learned," I realized that I never blogged about my Halloween costume, which happens to be one of the things I'm most proud of in terms of my sewing accomplishments.
I used McCall's 6911 to make the bolero and bustle. The long black skirt I made using Simplicity 5006 and blogged about previously. The black corset was purchased at Charlotte Russe years ago for a different Halloween costume.
The bolero is snug, especially in the arms. (If I make it again, I'll probably size up in that area.) I didn't include the fancy frog closure that the pattern asks for, but I can safety-pin the bottom of it closed if I need to. The brocade mixes well with the braided trim, and certainly makes no mistake that this is a costume and not a "real" garment.
I am, however, proud of the symmetrical print matching throughout.
The bustle makes me smile every time I look at it. Making it involved a few firsts - honestly, I've never made a costume, something that I didn't care if the inside was finished because I knew it was for short-term use. I had never worked with stiff netting before, either.
In order to get the bustle to well, bustle, you have to underline the brocade with two layers of really stiff netting. Reading articles online taught me that you always hand-sew underlinings, but I was pleased to read that the pattern included this instruction. Go McCall's!!
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| Bustle back, covered with two layers of stiff netting |
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| slippery and colorful rayon thread is easy to remove after you sew seams and construct the garment |
The bustle has some room for customization, in terms of where you want to create the bulges of fabric. I just followed the instructions and am happy with how it turned out.
Holiday Schizophrenia
means nothing more than realizing that on New Year's Day you want to stand beside your Christmas Tree and take a picture of yourself in your Halloween costume. Then you notice Thanksgiving napkins on the dining table at the other side of the room.
Happy New Hallogivemas Year!!!
