This is a project that has been in the works for over three years and it looks like it may just come to completion for the annual “Free Comic Book Day” on Saturday, May 1^st.  Months of research and testing has gone into the right combination of silicone, dye, graphite, and mold release to get to where we are today.  The actual one-piece spandex bodysuit was constructed in 2007 complete with gloves and covered shoes.  While Todd was responsible for printing the pattern on the fabric, I did the sewing per his instructions.  He created molds by laser cutting Plexiglas sheets for all the webbing he needed.  When this costume is complete it will probably only be worn for two events, but with all the work that went into it, one has to remember that it is not necessarily about the end result, but what we learned along the way.

Gluing was tedious as each web corner needed to be pulled out and tacked while the bodysuit was being worn.  Later the entire web was glued with the suit over a duct tape body double.

All the shots here are of the unfinished project.  Stay tuned for pictures of the completed costume sometime in May.

Special thanks to David Stipes (www.davidstipes.com) for helping to document this process.

 Hats can really add to the completeness of a costume.  I have made outfits for frontiersmen, renaissance,  and pirates.  None of which would have looked finished without a hat. In some cases, I was only required to make hat when the rest of the costume could be pieced together from thrift store items or forgotten old clothes.

For example, in both of my son Shaun’s student films, he did not have the budget for a complete wardrobe so in order to set the theme, I made hats. In the Chupacabra movie (see Family page), Shaun needed a pith helmet for the main character to wear in a jungle scene.  Trying to find one was not easy (although later we learned our next-door-neighbor who was a mail carrier had one), so I formed one over an inflated balloon out of paper maché, white glue and cloth strips. Khaki fabric was cut and sewn to fit the molded pieces.  I spent a lot of time watching and rewinding scenes from The Mummy in order to get the look that Shaun wanted.

The next film, Atlantis 2032, needed Russian hats for several of the players.  After making a slew of coon skin caps for Shaun’s Boy Scout troop, this was a less challenging project. The pattern was basically the same as the coonskins only I needed to add “dog flaps” to the sides and an emblem to the front to distinguish it as a Russian hat.

Up close and personal these hats did not have that professional look, but on film they passed.  For any costuming in the future, I’ll have to up my game for the new high definition film.

These clowns are pretty creepy, so I could see how they would work in a haunted attraction. Although I have been known to make a clown costume, it was never as scary as a killer clown.       

The closest I have come to a spooky costume was when I made Frank the Rabbit from the Donnie Darko movie (another cult classic) for AZspidey’s friend, Ron.

Of course the part I was sewing was the fluffy bunny body, which if worn separately from the mask, couldn’t scare a bunch of carrots (Hey, I live in a world around animators; of course carrots can be afraid. They can even scream!).  The mask was purchased online, but was not painted.  AZspidey completed the final touches on it for that special ‘don’t even think you’re gonna to make it home’ look.

How could Ron see (or pee) you may ask?  Let’s just say somehow he found a way!  See you in an another universe, Frank!

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to make a pirate costume for a friend, David, who had always wanted one.  Although I was responsible for the majority of the clothing, it was a very time consuming project.  Therefore, I thought it would be more fun to have David work on some of his own props.

As soon as The Halloween Express stores (www.halloweenexpress.com) were open we decided to scope out the various pirate pistols and swords. The sword was from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean line of costume accessories.  It is about 32 inches long and has a really nice heavy plastic sheath.  Unfortunately, I don’t think it is still available for sale anywhere.  Hopefully it will make a return when the new movie is finished.

David bought a couple of pistols and quickly disassembled them to sand any imperfections in the molds.  After putting them back together, modeling putty (I think JB Weld might work better) was applied to fill cracks and holes that shouldn’t be there. With various latex paint mixtures and David’s talented eye for modeling replicas, he had some really nice looking prop pistols.

The sword, on the other hand, was a little more involved as it had a sheath cover that needed sewing.  That was left up to me.  I will cover the makin’ of the scabbard in the next post.

Last year for Halloween, I was working on the Joker from The Dark Knight for Todd while his friend, Ron, set up camp on my living room floor to create his Batman costume out of vinyl and Foamies. Other than supplying materials that Ron didn’t have, I had very little to do with the creation of his costume. 

With Todd adding pieces to his joker on a monthly basis (we started this project in April), I hardly had time to do anything else. Ron found a Batman cape pattern on the internet, bought some velvet at the remnant shop and looked around for another seamstress to do the job for him. This is when my world started to get complicated.

Know who you are hiring

The seamstress was recommended by a friend, which is a good thing. Ron hired her to make his cape, but did not ask enough questions, which was a bad thing. Ron did ask her to call him if she needed him for fittings, which was smart.  But, she never called him and after $75.00 and several weeks later, she presented him with a cape you could wrap an elephant in.  Guess who got to re-size his cape? No it wasn’t her!  It was me (by now I felt sorry for him)! Yeah, technically, she should have fixed it for him which is good customer service, but she now wanted $15.00 more per hour to fix the mistakes.  The error Ron made in the first place was to try and use an untested pattern, but if the seamstress was on her game she would have realized that the pattern was just HUGE before she ever cut out the fabric. She also didn’t piece the panels together correctly, but this woman was hoping Ron wouldn’t notice (She actually admitted that! I really wished we had saved the pictures of her work).  She also threw in some four foot bonus dowel rods to hold the cape out.  Unfortunately, if Ron ever wanted to put his arms down, he would probably have tripped himself or someone else. It didn’t seem as if this lady knew how to sew velvet either.  Okay, so the moral of the story is, make sure your pattern will work, ask lots of questions like how long will this take?  Will you fix it without an added cost if it is not right (providing she is the one who made the mistake)? Have you ever sewn this kind of fabric (in this case velvet)? Can I see some of your work?  And then to make it all legal, GET EVERYTHING YOU AGREED ON IN WRITING!!!! DATED AND SIGNED BY BOTH OF YOU!

Not bad, if I do say so myself

I barely had time to finish Todd’s costume (that will be a separate blog) and Ron’s bat-cape before Halloween, so here it is.  Ron was grateful and I was glad I could help him, but let’s not do this again this year, guys!

This might seem like a simple question, thread is thread, right? At least that is what a friend just asked me today.  Hey! What does he know anyway?  He specializes in visual effects!  I, on the other hand, should know something because, not only did I once work at Jo Ann’s Fabric and Crafts, but I have been sewing for a good part of my life.

Okay, just to be thorough with my son’s second question (and not to just pull this answer from my all-knowing “mind”), I thought I would take a little research trip over to the fabric store. OMG!!! Did I not pay any attention to the thread while I worked at Jo Ann’s or did the thread industry expand while I was gone?  I think the problem here is that fabric stores around me seem to be closing en mass and I am left to barely find what I need at Wal-Mart (not much selection there and it sounds like a good excuse for being ignorant). At any rate, what I found was a veritable wonderland of cottony colors and shiny, strong threads that would make a silkworm drool.

There were Dual Duty, Specialty and Decorative threads.  Spools of thread came in all purpose, fine, heavy, metallic, clear, button and craft, hand quilting, machine quilting, extra strong, silk, top stitching, elastic, fusible, jeans (heavy), jeans (regular), serger, and upholstery. Whew! I also saw variegated (different colors on one spool) with “cute” names like piñata, teddy bear, gumballs, sunny day, and bowl of cherries. And of course, for the quintessential thread collector, neon colored  and “glow in the dark” threads are a must.

Now back to the original question, for which the answer, I am now going to pull out of my butt…er…I mean my mind.  It depends on what fabric you are using, what you are making, and how much you are going to wash/wear it. For most of your general sewing, you will use an all purpose Dual Duty thread. You will most likely never use a specialty thread unless you just want to. Mostly what you will use will be polyester covered polyester or cotton (even to sew on buttons). Thread, like fabric (made of woven threads), does wear out from general use and frequent cleaning with hot water and detergents.

And finally, I’d like to give you a tip about buying the correct color thread for your fabric.  Always bring a swatch of the cloth with you.  When you find a spool that looks close to the color, unwind the thread strand and lay it across your fabric.  You will get a more accurate color match if you do this as opposed to just putting the spool up to the material.

Where to start? Part III   How do you know when to hand stitch something versus sewing with a sewing machine?  Upcoming post!

Okay, so I thought about this all day yesterday (even as I was mowing the lawn). What would be a good title for this category?  I wanted this to be like a daily journal where I could exercise my creative writing skills and basically be about nothing in particular.  The thought that I latched onto for most of the day was to call the category “Kitty Litter.” Sounds strange, I know, but when you live in a household with 8-9 cats, thoughts of kitty litter never quite leave your mind (or your feet, the bed… or anywhere else).  Anyway, my reasoning was a little skewed, but it was so perfect that this is where I could deposit all of the “crap” that didn’t quite fit into Kitchen Costuming.  The rest of the day was spent on trying to come up with a cute acronym for CRAP. As my mind worked overtime with things like “Cookster’s Ranting Against Passivity” or “Central Repository About Props,” I gave myself a massive headache (of course, that could have been from the huge dust bowl I funneled into the air mowing the lawn earlier). At one point, I considered doing a blog like the new “Daily Wag” on Martha Stewart’s website written by her two French Bulldogs.  I have lots of cats that would love to get in on the action and let their voices be heard.  But then I remembered how opinionated they all were.  I can see them fighting over who gets to write for the day, and I would get bumped to subscriber of this blog.  CRAP would now stand for “Cats Rule Amongst People” and the only content would be cats in tiny Harley Davidson garb or pirate costumes.

I decided the category should be called Blog Shorts.