Well That Didn't Take Too Long!

I got a call from my Maine grandchildren last night. They were calling to place their orders for the Halloween costumes.  Ellis, age 8 wanted to be the Black Panther, which is a new character in the Avengers series.  I didn't know what he looked like, but the internet is wonderful.  I pulled up a good picture of the character that looked easy enough to make the costume.  It took a whole night just to cut it out.  I think the cutting is always the hardest thing to do.  I sewed it this morning and was surprised at how easy my plan worked, except for those darn muscles.  The shoulder and arm muscles are the hardest.  I made them too long, then too short, then still not long enough, and finally, I hope they are going to be okay.  They still look a little too short.  I will have to wait to see after he tries it on. 

Portia was another story.  What you get from a 4-year old can be quite surprising.  You will see when you take a peek at her costumes.  I made a pumpkin for her last year and she really loved it.  Her mom said she wore it all the time until she could no longer squeeze into it.  Well, she loved it so much that she requested a pumpkin again this year.  No amount of coaxing from her mom and me would work.  She was determined to be a pumpkin again this year, but, it is quite different from last year's.  She requested that the pumpkin be yellow, instead of orange.  The eyes were to be orange, but absolutely no mouth or nose.  I tried to convince her that a pumpkin should have a mouth, but she wasn't buying it.  Since I knitted a hat last year that had a stem on it, she needs one this year, too, but like the rest of the costume, it is different.  She wants the hat to be yellow like the pumpkin, but the stem has to be pink.  This is where it really gets interesting, on the back of the pumpkin, there is to be a clock.  Don't ask me what that one is about, but she insisted that I put a clock on the back.

So, here is the Black Panther. Things look a little out of proportion with no body in them, but I think when it is on, it will look more normal.  I made a one piece body suit like the animal pattern that I use to make my costumes out of. I made the vest and belt out of vinyl, white felt for the strip and the stars, and some other shiny red material. The ears and boots are also vinyl.  The arms look really skinny here because there are wrist bands around the elbows. I purchased them and some batting gloves and volleyball knee pads.  I hot glue gunned the stars on to cover the logos on the purchased items. The character also had bands around his wrists, but the batting gloves already had a band, so I didn't have to make them.  I hope this will fit.  Ellis is getting pretty tall, so that shouldn't be a problem.

With a little imagination, I hope you can see a pumpkin in this costume. It is what she asked for, so I hope it will fit. I bought a black shirt and some black leggings to go under her costume.

I hope the numbers will stay on.  I had to use stick on letters.  They seem pretty good right now, but with a little rubbing, I am afraid they will come off.  They are too tiny to use glue to put them on, so if they fall off, I guess we will have to use a black marker and just draw the numbers on. For a little while the numbers should work.

As for the hat that goes with Portia's, I will work on it on the ride up to Maine.  We are going up this weekend and I always like to have some knitting to work on.  I will blog a picture of it when she is wearing it.  I will be taking my sewing machine along, just in case I have to change the sizing on anything, or do some other tweaking of the costumes.