I have double pink eye. So, I don’t get to spend too much time with the chickens. I do not like handling them when any of us are ill. We try to keep our interactions to a minimum on sick days. I realize that it is rare that illnesses cross between humans and animals but we like to err on the cautious side. My daughter was off from school and we needed a project to keep us away from the chickens.
Late in September, my kids decided that they wanted to be Angry Birds for Halloween. The evening that they told me, I hopped on-line and ordered the red bird costume for my four year old daughter and the yellow bird costume for my eight year old son. They were scheduled to ship from Toys R Us on October third. Well, October third came and went. We waited. Yesterday, I received an email that they cancelled the order. The costumes were never coming. After the kids went to sleep, I quickly popped on line and scoured the internet searching for two children’s Angry Bird costumes. They were available, for over $80! I then decided that maybe I could sew them myself. My kids had their hearts set on these costumes. With my talents, they would either end up being the talk of their classrooms in a good way or in a “My mom made this ridiculous costume and I’m wearing it because she made me”.
I learned to sew a drawstring handbag in the fourth grade at 4-H with Mrs. Freu’s guidance. It took 6 agonizing months! I never did sew much after that. Now and then, I would sew a straightforward quilt, a baby blanket, a bag for the beach. Today, I decided that I would take a trip to the fabric store with my daughter. We would make those Angry Bird Costumes even without a pattern.
I guesstimated the amounts of fabric and grabbed felt squares for the faces off of the shelves based on the photo I had in my IPhone. We came home and quickly got to work. I laid my daughter on the fabric and sketched the basic shapes. I pinned, I sewed, I cut for 3 hours. My daughter helped me along the way. Her favorite part was being my model and stuffing.
Finally, they were complete. They didn’t turn out too badly if I do say so myself. If I know my kids, they will put these on after my son gets home from school and go show the chickens. They share everything with the chickens; report cards, new toys, stories from the day and now their Halloween costumes. I wonder what the girls will think?
Photo Credit: Tilly’s Nest
7 thoughts on “A Sewing Project”
Those are amazing!! I love them.
Too cute!! I think you did a stellar job and your kids are going to love them.
Wow! I'm impressed. I took a sewing class last week and all I can make is a pillow case…
I'm glad your school lets your kids wear Halloween costumes to school. My kid's school wouldn't celebrate Halloween but would have a dress up day for the kids around halloween, where they had to dress like someone out of a book and bring the book with them… its was really boring, the kids hated it and it served no purpose because the kids still loved to dress for halloween at home…
Those are adorable…you did a great job!!!
Thank you everyone for your sweet thoughts. I love that Cape Cod is still "old fashioned" in so many ways. Halloween on Cape Cod feels like it did when I was a kid 30 years ago.
HA! if nothing else those 'angry' birds are funny!
they made me laugh… how fun.
Your non-skilled sewing looks pretty good to me.
Thanks Corn in my Coffe-Pot! As long as the costumes can make it through a few hours including a couple of parties and trick or treating. I will be happy.