SuperMom in Halloween Hell

I love my sons. Dearly, truly and deeply. I'd do just about anything for them. And here is your proof.
DS has been agitating to go as Anakin Skywalker. However, this year, Star Wars is passé, and you can't find a costume anywhere. Add to that, the pattern companies have also taken the Star Wars costumes for kids out of their catalogs. So what's a SuperMom to do? Draft baby, draft!

For the brown robe, I used some kids' bathrobe pattern or another. Honestly, it was so little work it's not even worth doing a review. It's a raglan sleeve robe with a hood. I made it from cotton flannel that I picked up Tuesday of this week. The shirt underneath is self-drafted, made from muslin with a belt made from the flannel. I started cutting the patterns out yesterday at noon and was done by 4. I came home with it (and I even had time to go grocery shopping) by 6. DS the younger was thrilled. He had confided to DH at the bus stop that he didn't think I'd be able to get his costume done in time, and he was sad. Oh ye of little faith! I did keep repeating to myself, "This is costume, not couture." I took lots of shortcuts, but I think it turned out pretty well! Here's another picture of him in it...
Speaking of DH, he got laid off last week. I blame the republicans.

Happy Halloween!

Now I Know What's Next Up

A bathrobe for DS the Eldest. It's part of his Halloween costume. He wants to go as DH before he's had his coffee. His costume will be a bathrobe, a Dunkin Donuts mug (empty) and a zombie mask. DH is miffed. Meanwhile, I need to make DS a new robe, since his old one is getting awfully small. And this way he'll have a cozy robe for winter. I went out today and bought some fleece (gahhhhh!) at JoAnn. Hopefully it will be done by tomorrow night.

Happy sewing!

Hell Week Begins...

The title of this post doesn't refer to Halloween, though the sound track to this week could very well be "Night on Bald Mountain". I have an incredibly jam packed week coming up! I am singing in "Shofar" at Harvard University's Sanders Theater. It's a beautiful piece that was written by Robert Stern, a local composer. You can read about it here, along with information about the group with which I'm singing. I'm not a regular member of Coro Allegro. The conductor, David Hodgkins, invited me to be a "ringer" (their phrase, not mine) for this performance, and I am so glad he did. The group is great. But the rehearsal schedule this week is C-R-A-Z-Y! Check out what my evenings and weekend look like:

Tonight (Sunday) - rehearsal from 6-9
Monday - rehearsal from 6:30-10, but we will probably get out early b/c the orchestra will need some rehearsal time
Tuesday - Halloween, and I teach my sewing class
Wednesday - Rehearsal from 7-10:30, and that will be a full bore right up until 10:31 gig
Thursday - Rehearsal for my church choir, and since Christmas is coming, I have to show
Friday - a night off!!!!
Saturday - Rehearsal from 9 AM to 1:30
Sunday - performance at 3, call at 1.

Monday of next week I sleep late!

I also have a window seat and a curtain to make for a client. I don't have to deliver those until the week before Thanksgiving, but I want to get started on them tomorrow. Oh yes, and I have a voice lesson.

But I did manage to get a little sewing done for myself. I sewed the Burda 8028 sweater, and I reviewed it at The Sewing Divas. I also made DS the younger's Halloween costume. This actually has a cute story. He wanted to be Robin Hood. There are no Robin Hood-style patterns in the pattern books. So I procrastinated. On Friday afternoon, at 1:00, I realized that I had to have said Robin Hood costume ready for a 5:30 party that night. Oops. I guess I should get myself to JoAnn, right? So I ran to JoAnn, got a yard of green felt, free-handed a jerkin with little cap sleeves, and sewed it up. I cut it too close to his measurements, so I had to put a little panel in the center front so he could slip it on. I'll add laces to the neckline before Tuesday, but he was fine with it as it was. Oh, and Robin Hood (at least the Errol Flynn version, which he has seen a bit of in our Bugs Bunny video collection) has that jaunty little hat. To make that, I pinned three triangles of fabric on his head (he was a very nervous nellie, but I reassured him that I knew what I was doing!), took it up to my sewing room, ran it through the Juki, turned up the brim, sewed on a feather, and voila! I give you, Sir Robin of Loxley:



My elder son made his own costume. He is going as a cereal killer. His idea, not mine or my husband's. He stapled a bunch of cereal boxes to a t-shirt, stuck plastic knives in them, and spattered Kensington Gore all over the lot. Let me say for the record, he gets this from his father's side of the family.

I'll be making a top for the concert, but I may be going radio silent for a while. If I don't post before then, Happy Halloween!