Sunday, October 28, 2007

Nearly There

Long time readers (all 3 of you) might remember that this is the time of year when we have 4 family birthdays, Halloween, and soccer season all in the span of about 7 weeks. I'm still madly redecorating/refurbishing, but we've also gotten through 3 birthdays, so yeah us!

Some years I have several Halloween costumes to make, others none. This year I was tasked with making a wolf costume. It's pretty standard - faux fur jumpsuit, hood with ears. But times have changed. Schools around here no longer allow children to wear masks for the Halloween parade. This presented a conundrum, as we'd located a fine (commercial) wolf mask with ears. But if the hood had no ears, how would this work out for the school parade?


(Obviously, he's not wearing the jumpsuit here. He's a little geared up because his big brother just got back from Cub Scout camp, so I was happy with getting any picture at all. Also, he picked out the fur - the fur that matched the mask looked "too cartoony" according to the Wolf Boy.)

The solution - retractable ears! Yes, it's a craze that no doubt will sweep the nation. When sewing the hood I attached the ears to only the front portion of the hood. When sewing the front of the hood to the back I left the seam open by the ears, and also left an opening in the lining for the ears. I whipstitched the lining to the outside at the openings.


And here are the ears in the up position.

My husband is not grasping the genius of this solution, so I'm hoping that some of you will, and might be able to use it to solve your own future mask/ear issues.

I'm very, very excited because I'm headed for Houston on Tuesday for the IQA show. If you're there and you recognize me I'd love to meet you! The only quilt related wearable I've manged to finish is a Magic Card Case (as featured in Quilting Arts, the Winter 2006 edition).


It's very fun.


Well, I need to go reupholster a couch (not to worry - it's a mid-century design that can be done with a staple gun) . If I don't post again before Tuesday I hope everyone has a happy Halloween!

1 comment:

Caron said...

Retractable ears is a genius solution!