Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Costumes

Before I could worry about the big kamping weekend I had other priorities. Last year when I stayed with my son's girls I was asked to make cheer leading costumes. Maya was the one who wanted a cheer leading outfit. She is the oldest, so I knew the little sisters would need them, too. I bought the pattern right away. The girls and I checked out patterns on line first. It was hard to make them understand that they could choose any color and were not limited to the illustrations.


I was initially going to make them all different colors. But, as time was passing so quickly and I was confined to the kampground and not able to shop for fabric I decided to make them all the same and use the girls initials. I can shop on line, but fabric shopping is a tactile event for me. I really need to touch it to make up my mind.


I made Maya's first, since she is the one who asked for it. I made the 'M' by printing the size I wanted on the computer and then using fusible webbing. While ironing it on, the 'M' picked up with the iron and wrapped around my finger ............. ouch! Have you ever been burned with hot glue? If so, you will know how it felt.

I started to run short of fabric and had to make the little bloomers (yes, Yvonne, I know you told me they are called spanks!!!) for the little sisters in white. This is Zara's and is probably the best made one. It went perfectly, since I had the other two to make all my mistakes on.

'J' is for Jada. Jada is the middle girl and misses absolutely nothing. I did say that I made all my learning mistakes on the first two............... I mentioned how I made the letters. When you draw an 'm' and then flip it over to put it on the fabric, there is no problem. 'M' reads the same forwards as it does backwards. 'J' doesn't. 'Z' doesn't. I put the 'J' on and thought that it looked a bit off. I was under a deadline to get them done. I couldn't quite place what was wrong and even thought about asking he who was watching TV, but didn't. Instead I continued to construct the vest and didn't figure it out until I was about to top stitch the facings ............. I had just enough fabric, so making another top was out of the question.
I carefully picked out the applique stitching and pulled the dyslexic 'J' off. It left residue from the fusing and it would not come off. I even tried Mr. Clean's magic eraser. Just so you know, it doesn't work on that. Determined to finish my appointed task, I scavenged the scraps of fabric and found a piece big enough to fuse the new 'J' on and cover my mistake. I told my son to tell Jada that hers was different because she lost her first tooth. Hey, she is still young enough to buy it!!



It is all worthwhile. I got this picture this morning. It was worth every minute, every burn, every ounce of aggravation I felt when the phone interrupted my efforts. Don't you agree?



13 comments:

ellen abbott said...

Oh yes, absolutely. How proud you must be. Of them, not the sewing (though I greatly admire the sewing!).

SkippyMom said...

You know - everyone just needs to stop having incredibly adorable grandbabies or SHARE with ME! Dang they are precious.

You did a great job on the outfits, I bet the girls were the belles at the ball at Halloween.

Brian Miller said...

yay! you did an incredible job with those...they are awesome...nice group of kiddos too. smiles.

Teresa said...

awesome! i so envy people who are talented with the sewing machine. you did a beautiful job and the girls look adorable.

houndstooth said...

Oh, how cute are they?! They must have been just thrilled when they got them. I'll bet it was a fight to get them to take the costumes off, too! I remember being in kindergarten or first grade and getting ready to sing in the Christmas concert. I wanted a beautiful floor length dress to wear, and darned if Grandma didn't come through for me! I probably wore that dress until it fell apart.

Whitney Lee said...

Fantastic! I am continually impressed by (and envious of) your craftiness.

They look wonderful. Even better, they can keep using them for dress up.

Pat said...

Those costumes look adorable and your grandkids are sure lucky to have such a talented Grandma!

Your grandkids are cuties!

mamahasspoken said...

The look wonderful! Great job on the sewing and great job being a great grandmother!

Sandi McBride said...

WELL, I can't see a mistake one, they look great and how wonderful that they have you to do all the sewing! Hope you teach them how, if not you then who?
Great work!!!
Sandi

The Good Cook said...

Gorgeous! What a talent you are!

Robb said...

Very very very cute!

Thank you for the smile!

Karen said...

Great pic - and good work with the "J" thing. You really can "fly by the seat of your pants" when you need to!

Jaime said...

great looking costumes! i wish i was that handy... but i am absolute crap when it comes to anything more complicated than sewing on a button. :)