Photo by: Scott Butner
One year ago I pinned an image of the cutest Halloween costume ever; Rainbow Brite and Twink. Little was almost 6 months old and I knew, even though I hadn’t dressed up for Halloween since 2000, in 2012 I was going to be Rainbow Brite and Little was going to be my sprite, Twink.
I guess I should have known, but something that wasn’t mentioned in the original Twink Tutorial by pinksuedeshoe was how much the fuzzy fabric sheds. When the lady at JoAnn’s was cutting the fuzzy fabric for Twink it was a mess. She grabbed her cleaning cloth and said something like “if you vacuum the edges as you cut that should help with the mess.” I vacuumed the edges as I cut, and got quite a bit of fuzz.
I thought I had the shedding under control, but after sewing the pieces together, which needed to be pinned like crazy, I still looked like someone had given a polyester Persian cat a haircut on my lap. Before I sewed the fuzzy fabric to the fleece lining, I madly shook the pieces outside. Then I washed and washed and rinsed and rinsed them in an attempt to get rid of the shedding fibers but they were still shedding everywhere. Tiny shiny threads glistened all over me and my floor. I’ve got about 3/4 of a yard left that I’ve quarantined in a plastic bag in the garage. I’m contemplating throwing it in the trash. Which says a lot. I usually keep every tiny last scrap of fabric that I can.
I got the lining sewn to the fuzzy fabric. I was so tired of the mess I decided I wouldn’t stuff the costume with fiber fill. It looked poofy enough. I skipped ahead to the elastic around the bottom section. I broke two needles. Oh my gosh! The pattern directed me to turn and stitch. In addition to going over the seams, It was too much fabric for my machine to handle! I ended up not worrying about turning the edge under. The fuzzy stuff was a knit, so it wouldn’t unravel, and the fleece lining would be fine too. I didn’t stitch over the seams either. Finally I got it done. I felt like a champion who had made it across the finish line.
Instead of using the hook and loop closure the pattern called for I used my KAM pliers. Using my KAM pliers is easy and fun! I am going to use them every time I get the chance. Like for Twink’s belt, bam! KAMsnapped it.
Little didn’t care for the hood, but she did end up wearing it a few times. Mostly when she was outside and it was cold.
With the kid’s costumes finished I could start mine. I thought I was going to have to sew a blue dress and even went so far as to find a pattern in my stash that would work. Then I remembered the bright blue bride’s maid dress hanging in my closet. I hadn’t worn it since my best friend’s wedding in 2001. It was perfect to turn into a Rainbow Brite dress. I started by sewing a satin blanket binding to the bottom of the skirt. Then I measured up from the bottom of the skirt and sewed a long running stitch where I wanted the waist to be. I gathered the skirt in and sewed it to a wide red ribbon. I kind of messed this part up. I had measured how wide the skirt should be, but since I was sewing the morning before the preschool party where my son expected Rainbow Brite and Twink to show up, I was in a hurry and satin is slippery. As I was sewing the red ribbon to the bodice I had to make tucks to take into account my sloppiness. I kept telling myself “it’s a Halloween costume. If you wait until it’s perfect, you’ll never finish.” Plus, I’d never gotten to a point where I could wear it that afternoon.
While I was hurrying to zig zag around the cut edge for the arm warmers I sewed through my finger. Something I have never done before. It went right through the callous part by the edge of my nail on my pointer finger. Hopefully I have learned that I should not be sewing this close to a deadline!
I attached star patches to the blue shoes that I wore with the dress the dress the first time. And sewed another to a blue ribbon for my pony tail.
I thought about adding more detail to the dress. I had extra fabric in the form of a wrap. I thought about making it into sleeves and cuffs, but the dress ended up looking so cute the way it was I stopped. I was afraid if I kept going I’d make it look too cluttered with all the details and it wouldn’t be so cute then. Plus, I was out of time.
I had fun being Rainbow Brite. I wonder if I can convince Little to be Twink again next year…