Made to Measure
- lindsayhay2
- Mar 4, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 19
Recently I had the pleasure of sewing a custom-made costume for our friends’ daughter, the lovely Lihi. By the end of last year, she had already decided she wanted to be Angel from Lilo & Stitch for Purim, and I decided to take on the task. I received her measurements and set to creating the pattern, cutting out the pieces, and fitting them together to make the character come to life. In the process, I realized a few things:
a.) I tend to sculpt costumes, working from a much larger piece than I need and then whittling the fabric away until it's the size I want. If I had any interest in power tools, perhaps I'd look into becoming a topiary specialist.
I think there must be a name for the specific anxiety that comes with cutting into a new piece of fabric. Sometimes it really can't be undone. Sheryl Crow says,"The first cut is the deepest," but I say,"The first cut is the hardest."
b.) I should probably invest in a rubbery glove/oven mitt contraption for my left hand while machine sewing. (Maybe a gauntlet?) It got too close while I was feeding the fabric through the machine, but alas, the sew must go on.
c.) Pink is nice. Fur is nice. I'm still a little bit allergic to the latter.
We visited Keren and Shachar, and as soon as we walked through their door, Lihi stood in front of me, looking longingly at the bag which held her Angel outfit. After presenting the bag to her, she ran excitedly to her bedroom to try on the costume. She emerged after a few minutes with her bunny, Peter, hopping in tow.
I had intentionally made the onesie a bit oversized after reading a fellow seamstress's blog (see link below). She made a character onesie for her daughter and had the idea that a baggier look translated a bit better for the costume (and she was right!). However, the way I cut the sleeves was a smidge off (smidge = 1/3 meter, roughly), but somehow it added to the cuteness of the oversized comfy onesie look. Lihi helicoptered into the room with her very long sleeves and had a captive audience thereafter. :-)
Thanks to Lihi for modeling her new Purim outfit and to her parents, Shachar and Keren! <3
I watched this YouTube video from @FleeceFun on repeat to get the ears and antennae sewn in correctly. I measured and cut my own hat pattern this time, but it seems like she offers a lot of cool patterns on her site:
I found two YouTube videos from the prolific and upbeat @SewAnastasia, which offered great guidance on inserting elastic into clothing and on adding in sleeves to a garment:
This blog from @Nowthatspeachy was very helpful in the making of the Angel costume! Firstly, she has a can-do approach to crafting, and secondly, the outfit she made here was Jake from Adventure Time, which is always a draw for me:
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