sarah in nyc

This year my kids decided to go as the three kids in the cartoon series “ Bob’s Burgers”. My youngest is going as Louise Belcher, the youngest child in the family. I was drafted into making the costume. I made the bunny hat last night. I used the hood of my older son’s sweatshirt as more or less the pattern. The cotton lycra jersey was in my stash. I’m really proud of the bunny ears. I used cardboard from a granola bar carton to give the ears shape. I didn’t own any chartreuse knit fabric so I paid a visit to Kabbala Man and bought the rayon jersey. I used an existing T- shirt of my son’s to draft the dress. He’s pleased with the result. I think my son may keep the beard although I will be drafted to put his hair in pigtails. While I was in the garment district one of the stores on 8th Avenue was selling  big spools of gold metallic thread and other notions in industrial sized rolls. They charged me $6 per cone ( and $5 for the opened blue cone). I have paid as much as $...

Last Friday afternoon our phone and internet service died.  I am also probably the last adult in Manhattan who does not own a cell phone. Being disconnected was an odd experience. Despite, or perhaps because of  being disconnected I did a great deal of work. My boys went to New York Comicon.   My older son dressed up as Dr. Zoidberg from Futureama. Typically, my older son is minimalist in his approach to costumes. The coat is mine. The boxing gloves are his. he did purchase both the nose- glove and the red swim cap. I sewed yarn to the glove to make it wearable as a nose.   My younger son took a more complex approach. His costume was a joint effort. My younger son decided to dress like King of all Cosmos, a character on a Japanese video game.   I made the jacket, the sash and the collar. My son engineered and painted the headpiece.   His lovely work proves that his claim that he is not good with his hands  is not...

The High Holiday season means that work weeks are compressed.   There is a whole lot more cooking to be done, and everything else needs to be squeezed into two fewer days. Sometimes this makes me feel overwhelmed. Other times I get filled with energy and work really well.   My youngest wants to attend New York Comicon dressed like this character King of All Cosmos . My son is planning to make the neck tube on his own, but he asked me to make him the jacket and sash.   He goes to school just south of the garment district. we decided to meet on the corner of 39th and 8th Avenue and fabric shop.   My son hates shopping. Even choosing between two pairs of pants on line gets him quickly overwhelmed.   I got there early and realized that the whole experience would be easier if I swatched just a few fabric choices and  let my son choose.    In the few minutes I had I quickly looked through the stock at three stores but had th...

My student emailed me before her lesson. Purim ( the Jewish equivalent of Mardi Gras ) is next week. She wanted to dress up as Little Red Riding hood . Could I help her make a cape? Making costumes is a blast, so of course I said yes. And putting on my sewing instructor hat, I figured that some new skills could be taught here as well. My student had attempted to go fabric shopping in the neighborhood, but alas the fabric store was closed. I had some red light weight polar fleece in my stash, all that was left from the mountain of remnants I had purchased from Malden Mills six or seven years ago. I don't exaggerate THAT much when I call it a mountain of polar fleece. I think I paid $25 for the fleece and another $25 to ship it. It arrived by mail in a massive plastic bag that was taller than my youngest son. Some of the fleece ended up as coats. Some I sold at cost to some of my sewing pals. Most of it ended up being used, as is ,as blankets. My student drew a quick sketc...