Monday 28 September 2015

Carnival of the Animals: Part II - The Cheetah

Mean mum that I am, I vetoed my son's suggestion of a fake fur animal onesie to wear to the theatre tonight. But, for opening night of the Carnival of the Animals he was allowed to choose any animal for his clothes. He chose the cheetah.


 The original plan was for a pair of cheetah jeans. I'd hoped they'd be subtle enough to double for everyday wear. Scouring the interwebs I found endless cheetah print fabrics that were silks or chiffons but nothing that would be hard wearing enough for boys pants.


At The Fabric Store I found a great light grey / dark grey denim and bought some, but he declared it was very obviously jaguar, not cheetah - and then gave me a lecture on the difference. OK, stash the jaguar print and get back to searching for proper cheetah fabric.

I found this cotton sateen at Spotlight and thought if he could wear bold cheetah print then why not cheetah print with a slight sheen!


The pants are the Art Museum Trousers by Oliver + S. I threw in black topstitching everywhere I could to try and make them look more like jeans and less like Hugh Hefner's pyjama pants.

I didn't think to focus on them for a photo, but you can just see on the edge of the picture above that I put little pyramid rivets at the base of the slant pockets.


The welt pockets were initially almost invisible and so I stitched around them to give them some definition. This takes a little bit of thought to prevent yourself accidentally stitching the pocket closed. The stitching needs to be done in two sections: the top horizontal line first with maybe one stitch taken into the vertical line. Tie those threads off, then start again with the pocket lifted upwards and out of the way. Now you can topstitch the sides and the bottom of the welt.

The pattern suggests just one belt loop at the back slightly offset from the centre. There is enough of the belt loop tube to create two, so I always do.

The only other modification was to line the trousers:


It would be possible to sew the lining to the waistband facing, but I didn't think of that. I basted the lining to the trousers before attaching the waistband, then finished the waistband facing with some left over bias binding that was just the right rust colour.


On a city street the pants look pretty loud and out there, but up a tree they almost do look camouflaged!

They're a straight size 7 and this is one pants pattern that definitely does not need length added, they are very generous in the leg length.


Don't ask me about the modelling. He was working it! :)


The top is the Parachute Polo again which I'd made here as part of my practice run for this outfit. Same size, same extra sleeve length.

I thought I'd done a great job turning the collar and rolling it so that the upper collar was slightly over the under collar, but then when I topstitched it it all seemed to want to curl back up. The perfect collar really does need two separate pattern pieces for the under and upper collars but I would hardly be bothered with that for a kid's polo.


Like I said, don't ask, I just don't know! :)

I really like this polo as the placket can be mostly hidden which is a nice point of difference to my own polo experiment. I'm happy to say that both the trousers and the shirt have been worn on their own and are really not that hard to bear when mixed with other everyday clothes.


His mask was from the local party shop and I used fabric glue to cover it. Nice and easy!

Ready for some cheetah action?


I'm a bit of a culture snob when it comes to attending the theatre. It's definitely a nice dress or shirt with a collar type of place. I think my little cheetah is sufficiently well dressed and plenty animal enough!


Of course the cheetah had to chase the zebra a bit, but luckily just for hugs, not to eat her...


And then it all got a bit confusing as the cheetah was still giving the camera Blue Steel while the zebra started roaring too

We're off to the theatre in a few hours and tomorrow I'll share what I wore.... See you then

15 comments:

  1. Gosh, the parks aren't safe with all these wild animals roaming about. Love that photo of cheetah-boy draped over the tree branch! Definitely much cooler than Hugh Hefner's PJs, and besides, I bet he doesn't have the matching mask. I'm really looking forward to see what your costume is. Let's see - you have a zebra and a cheetah, so I'm thinking something African, like a giraffe or a lion(ess). Or is that too obvious? Hmm, guess I'll just have to wait. Enjoy the show!

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    1. :) For a fairly reserved kid he can work a camera, and it cracks me up every time. He is NOT a performer in any other way.
      I mentioned the tree photo and he instantly knew which tree we had to go find. the fact that there is a top notch playground with a flying fox made the photo shoot an easy sell.
      My animal is actually a fairly easy guess if you factor in my love of brown and drab! :)

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  2. great outfit! Much bettter than a onesie (although that would be fun too -- have you seen Jalie 3244? One pattern for the whole family, lol! If it weren't for the staggering amount of fabric it would take, I would make Christmas pjs for us all as a gag gift one year)

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    1. Oh Mel I have seen a full family outfitted in that onesie pyjama pattern. I showed it to my husband (who was horrified) cause it really is hilarious. I wish I could remember who did it now...
      After the performance, I can report that almost every kid who was dressed as an animal was wearing a fake fur onesie. We definitely stood out! :)

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  3. Oh my gosh, he is fantastic. Fierce! I love that he can tell the difference between leopard and cheetah prints, lecture you about it, and then prance around in cheetah pants. Hugh Hefner wishes he was half this cool, there's no competition! I was grinning ear to ear reading this post! And as always, your sewing is awesome and your finishings so nice.

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    1. Isn't he a scream! I'm glad you enjoyed the blog post. If you had to ask him his idol he'd be hard pressed between David Attenborough, Michael Jackson or Brian Cox. That's all cool with me. You know we just had a conversation about the difference between a Naturalist and a Naturist. I love talking to this kid and he is such a sponge!

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  4. I'm guessing you're going as the game-keeper :)

    Your boy is just too much--such a fab model!

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    1. Oooh that would have been a great idea. A nice khaki safari suit and pith helmet would have been fun to make!
      He is a fun model isn't he?

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  5. This is great. It's making my heart a bit melty thinking back to a time several years ago when Jude wanted a cheetah print blanket, which I sewed for him in velveteen. In these photos, I think I'm seeing a bit of your husband in your son? You went all out for your kids and that is really sweet!

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    1. How sweet of you to make him his blanket. There's an area near where we live where one could (I stress could) buy those minkee blankets with the cheetah or dolphin on them. Man are they ugly! I think I'd have to make a quilt or a blanket to avoid having one of those in the house! :)
      I always see my brother more, especially since it's my brother who's the performer in the family. But since P is looking pretty handsome we'll take your comment as a lovely compliment for Flipper!

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  6. Oh my, he sure knows how to work the camera - the photos are wonderful! I love the balance between costume and couture that you've achieved:)

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    1. Thanks Angela. I was trying to get that costume/couture balance right so I really appreciate your lovely comment!

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  8. My eyes are a bit funny from staring at all that cheetah print! You did an amazing job.

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    1. Oh Katy, you should have seen me going cross eyed sewing the welt pockets!

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