Costuming for Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras Y'all! It is of course Shrove Tuesday - so the big 'Pancake Feed' and Mardi Gras Party are happening at the church this evening. We all have our 'talents - haha' picked for the goofy talent show and our costumes at the ready - I'll post some action shots tomorrow...

The Man will go as a guitar playing hayseed - complete with straw hat and overalls. The Man-Cub (who will soon give up his Mowgli name and choose another I-name) will go as a chimney sweep - all dressed in black with a sooty face...

...and I could of course go into the costuming business full time and have a job that I loved - I will go as 'Mother Goose' - that's really because my 'talent' is to lead the crowd singing a goofy version of Mother Goose rhymes that winds up being 'thrown out the window' - it's still a secret around here - but I'll try and get some video for tomorrow as well...

...since my costume was so much more 'elaborate' than those of the boys - I had to go thrifting to find the pieces and parts that I didn't have at home - and of course I didn't want to spend much money...

...my first purchase was a pair of vinyl lace up boots - there was another pair there that laced up further but they were $4.99 and I didn't want to pay that much for boots that I would probably only wear once - these were $1.99...

...then I needed a 'granny skirt' - I found this one for .99 - a real bargain as it's original department store price tag of $238.00 was still on it (amazing what some people will pay isn't it)...

...and then since I didn't have time to knit a shawl - which I really should have done - I found a red skirt - when I got it home I split it open and cut off the elastic and serged around the edge - it makes a nice lightweight shawl...

...then I needed that black lace up thingy that Mother Goose is wearing over her shirt around her waist - I don't know exactly what it's called and of course I couldn't find exactly that - but I did find this bustier and I just did the lace up thingy with some yarn...

...and there was a bonus when I went to check out all these clothes were on half price - sweet - so I spent less than $3 ...

...I also needed a nightcap - so I cut a circle out of some white sheeting that I had in my fabric stash - then stitched some lace around the edge - also from stash - and then about 3 inches inside the circle I zigzaged over some elastic (from stash) so my night cap cost me nothing...


...and y'all know that Mother Goose has grey hair - and I don't - right??? Well not grey enough anyway - so I had to make her some grey locks...

First I wrapped grey yarn (what else) around a folded piece of cardboard from the recycle bin - the fold provides a little slot to work the needle under the yarn...

I wrapped the yarn around about 15 times for some short locks and then went over and under each wrap of the yarn...

...when I got to the bottom I went over and under on the way back up...

...then pulled it all up tight...

...and slid the 'lock' off the cardboard - I only did the 'stay stitching' on one side as I wanted loose curls but I think you could do it on both sides and have tighter locks that would stay tightly wound - like for a dolls hair...

...then I stitched the lock to the underside of the nightcap...

Here's a little preview - when I need to get glasses - I'm seriously going to get these little sit-on-the-end-of-your-nose kind...