the blue blog archives: shark parts

The pillow is the last thing left for me to make for S's shark costume. It will sit inside the costume on top of S's head to keep the top of the costume, the shark nose, nice and pointy and keep the mouth opening right in front of S's face so he can see. I've been resizing this pattern as I go, since the only version of the now out-of-print pattern that I could get online was the adult size. It's been tricky getting everything in the right spot. With the original sizing, the fin would have been coming out of his butt! To get it all right, I've resewn the body about four times, each time bringing things up and in. We've finally got it to where it'll work with the mouth in front of his face, the fin on his back, and the sleeves near his arms, but it all depends on that pillow keeping the nose up. No pressure.

For now, the costumes await their final touches and trimmings: a batwing here, a shark mouth there, and a whole lot of tulle. Tomorrow, they come to life!

posted by alison at 12:45 pm | in halloween 2008

Comments

You are awesome. When my mom got to three kids, that's when she stopped with the homemade costumes.

Posted by: Adrienne at October 30, 2008 1:53 PM

Wow! Three costumes & with 3 children to tend to! I'm really impressed. I finished the shark costume yesterday although I had a moment of panic when I realized that I had somehow lost the pattern pieces to the eyes & had to improvise. The shark costume I made is different - it has a fin & tail on the back of the jumpsuit & the hood comes to a sort of point (the snout). The hood is in 4 pieces - 2 for the back & the 2 front pieces. The eyes are sewn & stuffed & sewn into the seams between the front pieces & the back pieces & the teeth (also lost thoe pattern pieces) are sewn to the forehead part of the front of the hood. It seems to me that the patterns for the costumes I've made have been way less well done than other items & it's really annoying. For example, the opening to the hood is squared off (where the side of the front pieces meet the forehead portion of the front pieces) & you are supposed to just tuen it under & sew a quarter inch hem. That is clearly impossible to do without some kind of mitering but the pattern didn't allow for that or have any instrudtions as to how to handle that problem. Fortunately the fleece that I used was flexible enough that I was able to jerryrig a hem but I'm not pleased with how it looks. The other thing that was weird is that the pattern called for stuffing the tail with polyfill but nothing for the (largish) fin which would have just flopped over without the double layer of super stiff interfacing I used & who ever heard of a shark with a floppy fin?

Posted by: Donna at October 30, 2008 2:14 PM

Wow! I'm so impressed with you! All three look great - I can't wait to see the finished trick or treaters!

Posted by: Lindseyrose at October 30, 2008 4:26 PM

These costumes look terrific! I can't even manage to make my own costume this year. I can't imagine how you are getting it all done!

Posted by: Seanna Lea at October 30, 2008 4:29 PM

We can't wait to see!

Posted by: Cathy-Cate at October 30, 2008 5:39 PM

I get it!

B for Bat
S for Shark!

Posted by: Sandee at October 31, 2008 12:26 PM

Isn't that funny how that worked out, Sandee?! I just noticed that myself the other day. :)

Posted by: ALISON at October 31, 2008 12:42 PM