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Sep 14, 2012

MPB Halloween Sew-Along -- Save the Date!



Readers, exciting news!

Many of us will be sewing for Halloween -- costumes for ourselves, for our spouses, and/or for our kids.  

This year, however, we'll have the opportunity to prepare for the most fun holiday of the year together.  Beginning Wednesday, October 10th, I will be leading the first-ever MPB Halloween Sew-Along!
Of course, we'll be sewing many different patterns, but that's OK.  We're going to help each other through the rough spots as well as provide support and inspiration. We'll finish with a virtual Halloween parade and even vote for our favorites!

The MPB Halloween Sew-Along will run from October 10 to October 31We'll focus initially on the challenges of creating my costume (more about that below), but we'll also address any difficulties you might be experiencing creating yours.  We'll also have guest posters discussing their projects!  (Let me know if you'd like to be one.)

As in the past, I'll be creating a Flickr group for participants to join -- more about that in the days ahead.  Right now, you have roughly three weeks to choose your costume pattern and assemble the necessary fabric, notions, etc.  Fun!

I'm pretty sure what I'll be sewing, just to give you a heads up.  Cathy has been bugging me for months to make her a harem girl outfit (based on McCalls 9559, see pic), so I've decided to turn mine into a tribute to forgotten film starlet Adele Jergens (that's Adele up top, as well as below, with horn). 





And guess who Michael is going to be!



Adele Jergens's heyday was the 1940s, but for some reason her big break never came.  She could act, she could dance, and she was beautiful.  But she had the misfortune of working at cheapie Columbia Studios during the reign of Rita Hayworth, who got the plum musical roles, and then, at age 26 in Ladies of the Chorus (1948), was given the thankless job of playing Marilyn Monroe's mother.   The nerve!



Adele also appeared in the technicolor musical that inspired my Halloween costume project, A Thousand and One Nights (1945), as well as such unforgettable films as Girls in Prison (1956), and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951).

 



In the Rita Hayworth musical Down to Earth (1947), Adele actually gets a chance to sing -- well, lip sync, to a voice I'd swear is Kay Starr -- and dance, but she's the one who gets shoved aside when actual goddess Terpsichore (Hayworth -- you have to see the movie) shows up during the rehearsals for the big Broadway show.  Poor Adele!

Rita (just left of blonde Adele) on the verge of stealing the spotlight

But let's back to Halloween costumes and what's in store.

I do hope you'll join us for this very special sew-along.  Even if you don't have Halloween plans, this is your chance to create something fun -- perhaps a cosplay creation, a costume for your local Renaissance Festival, even an over-the-top outfit for a romantic evening (we won't ask for photos).

I can't wait to get started!


Adele Jergens (who shows up at 7:02) dances in Down to Earth, only to get upstaged by Rita Hayworth.  Watch as Adele calls Rita a "cheap, chiseling. little hip swinger!" and threatens to knock her teeth out.

32 comments:

  1. You make the Internet way more fun..I love you! (in a non-creepy way, of course)

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  2. This is a brilliant idea - I hope you get a lot of people joining in and a grand parade on Halloween xx

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  3. This is exciting, and perfect timing for me! (I'm making a wedding guest dress for Oct 7, so come Oct 10 I'll be ready for the next project). And wouldn't you know it....my mom made me that exact Cleopatra costume (the child version) when I was about 9 years old. I'll see if I can find a photo!

    Now I just have to decide what to make...

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  4. oh how fun! I have a few costumes that have been ordered...so I'll play along! By the way...Hobby Lobby has their McCall's patterns on sale for .99 through tomorrow....9/15!

    Can't wait to see your creation Peter!

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  5. I can't wait to see what you come up with. I'm sewing for my kids, as usual, and this year we're going with an Alice in Wonderland theme, with my 12 year-old as the Queen of Hearts, my 5 year-old as Alice and my 3 year-old son as the White Rabbit. If I have time, I may whip myself up a Mad Hatter-type of costume. But that's if I have time, and I'm not sure I will.

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  6. And you said you didn't like Halloween! Glad to see you've changed your mind, Halloween is awesome.
    The sew along sounds like fun, I would join if I had the courage to become a member of internet land, but I'm not on any website at all.

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  7. No wonder she was cranky, having an ice cream cone thrust onto her forehead and her picture taken ;-)

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    Replies
    1. OMG, that's EXACTLY what it looks like!

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    2. You have NO idea how much melting butter pecan is running down my nape. Shit, now much longer is this shoot gonna last?

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  8. Sign me up! Halloween costumes for my kids are some of my favorite things that I sew all year!
    Claudine (couturearts.wordpress.com)

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  9. I already know what I'm making this year--an owl costume for Nikki. Here's my pinterest board for planning purposes. It started with SIL sent me the picture of the baby owl costume and asked for one....

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  10. Columbia wasted too much talent; Jinx Falkenburg and of course, Ann Savage. Adele Jergens is certainly on the list.

    Elsewhere, Beatrice Lane (Cathy's mother), suffered the same misbegotten treatment during her career - shameful!

    Why didn't Columbia diversify? These other actresses could have easily gone toe-to-toe against talent at Paramount, RKO, Fox, and MGM in any number of genres.

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  11. great fun! i have gotten courage from your blog and plan to make my nieces and nephew their Halloween treat bags !

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  12. I love Halloween, last year I was Mrs Lovett from Sweeny Todd and had a lot of fun making bloomers, I can't decide what to be this year, if I make up my mind in time I'll join the sew-a-long.

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  13. I used a Simplicity costume pattern some years ago for a genie/harem girl costume (although my larger-around-the-tummy brother in law wore it too once!). If you're on facebook, there's a picture of me in it at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=410388430831&set=a.31679810831.55158.635625831&type=3&theater ... The Simplicity pattern is often reprinted under different numbers, but it has a Santa, a magician, a genie, a tutu and maybe some other variations. I have it in kids' and adult sizes as it's SO useful!
    I used a nylon chiffon striped with silver sequins for the pants and the vest, and luckily happened to find matching shoes at Kmart. THe top I already owned, but a guy wouldn't need to wear a top under the vest, I suppose. The hat was purchased, but decorated by me.

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  14. I don't have a costume planned per se, but am planning a very Halloweeny version of the Colette Macaron dress, with gorgeous witchy fabric. So if that counts, I'm in on the sewalong. I also just received my sparkly spider fascinator in the mail (Love that eBay!), but I don't think I can wait until Halloween to wear that.

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  15. Ooh that was Edward Everett Horton as 7013. And those pants Adele Jorgens is wearing are fabulous! Since Halloween isn't big in Melbourne I won't be in the sew-along, but I will watch eagerly to see how Cathy's costume turns out.

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  16. as usual, brilliant scheme, and Cathy's costume will be the absolute best...desperately searching for human/canine possibilities...

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  17. Oh I'm so excited! Can I play too even though I'm new? I've either got this Victorian/steampunk thing or a vintage gown to "dress up in my mink" with, complete with tiara, of course...and then there's the doggies! Hmmm. So many choices. Do I need to sign up?

    Hugs

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    1. That bit with the number is me, Catherine. Midlagedfangirl@aol.com

      Bugs me that is reduced my fun loving, eccentric self to just a number!, <>

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    2. Catherine, I'll be creating a Flickr group shortly; that's the best way to join. But let me know if you'd like to do a guest post about your project.

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  18. Oh I love this idea. I am definitely in.

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  19. I will join in! Must make two costumes for tiny Kiwis...
    (grandchildren in NZ)

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  20. Does it count if I'm making a Han Solo costume this year? My children want a Star Wars theme and I am seemingly a sucker for those demanding little screetchy things on occasion.

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  21. I don't know if I said this already, BUT I'M TOTALLY IN!! I need to make a larger sized Assassin's Creed costume for my son, so I should post a how-to on that.

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  22. Sounds like a lot of fun, but I don't make costumes, I buy them. My two kids will never wear them again and for me it is cheaper to buy them. I do make any accessories or add embellishments if necessary. I hot glued a bunch of plastic black spiders on my daughter's web dress. I have use a Halloween pattern of a 17th century dress to make a dress and top for my daughter which she loved. Updated with great fabrics.

    Can't wait to see what everyone makes. It is exciting this time of the year.


    Josette

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  23. I'm making a My Little Pony costume for my four-year-old. Apparently Twilight Sparkle (the character she requested) is popular among adult "cos-players." Googling "Twilight Sparkle costume" yielded some results I did not expect.

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  24. I think I want in! I decided, this morning, as my toddler watched the Wizard of Oz for the eightieth time, that the Cowardly Lion is the perfect costume for him. But how to make a toddler costume that evokes Bert Lahr and not Anne Geddes? Because that's a really important distinction!

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  25. My Necchi Supernova Julia is back from "Sewingmachinesteve" where she was completely refurbished and running like she is new. Sad that Steve couldn't refurbish me!

    The harem theme is very exciting. You may be thinking '40s but I'm thinking '60s and Barbara Eden. Clique yes, but it's better then saying Emirates Airlines (uniform).

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  26. How fun! I have a witch costume that needs serious work - the empire waist is much too high, so I'm going to make a new bodice for it, which is almost as much work making a whole costume as it includes the fussy bits - neckline with facings, bodice-sleeve seams, and waist seam (with gathers for the skirt). What exactly do we do to participate in the sew-along???

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  27. I'm totally joining up with the Halloween sewalong. Yay!

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  28. Curses! I normally do costumes every year, for me and my lovely OH, and we have a big VAmpire party...but not this year. Poo! Can I cheat and stick a pic in of us in our fab 'masked Vampire Ball' cossies from last year? Huh? Pretty please? [My daughter gets married next week, so this year's sewing has been all about that...]

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