07 January 2015

35 by 35: A Bog Coat and Eustace Tilley




13, Bog Coat.

For Purim, my husband dressed as a Newspaper.
I made him a bog coat of tulle. Patterns don’t get much more basic than a bog coat. The tulle, to my surprise, behaved nicely.
Is it a good project for a beginner? The pattern is great. Tulle is hard to hold in place, but it hides mistakes nicely.

14, Eustace Tilley.
I went as a New Yorker. Loops decided to be the Princess of Lemons again.
I wasn't planning to make Persimmon a costume – time was at a premium. Too bad, I said, because it would be too perfect if the child of a newspaper and a New Yorker went as The New Yorker. But I simply do not have time to make her a Eustace Tilley costume.
And then it occurred to me that we could even put the pacifier on a string instead of a monocle – and suddenly it was just too too perfect and I had to make it.

Image forthcoming if I ever get the camera to behave.

Color – maroon for the coat, turquoise for the vest, white for the collar: all cotton or polycotton scraps left over from former projects. As much as I loathe artifice in dress, I sewed them all together and it was a one-piece garment.
Pattern – I slapped a pair of her pajamas on the dining room table and traced them. I am chuffed that it looks and functions like a garment, though it pulls in the wrong places when the occupant wiggles.
I did not plan the construction at all – just worked blindly. 'Oh, I need a collar this shape – I guess I'll cut here and see if that works. Oh, it didn't, so what if I cut here?' I topstitched everything to save time and occasionally resorted to ladder-stitching (what you use to close up a stuffed animal after it's been stuffed, since you can't get to the wrong side anymore) because, not having the mind of an engineer, I see ladder-stitching as the answer to all problems.
Is it a good project for a beginner? No. I should really learn to drape and draft. But a baby costume is a great project for a beginner, because no one, least of all the intended victim, will ever notice the craftsmanship.

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