The Blue Cat

This year for Halloween my three-year-old daughter wanted to be a blue cat. I had been asking her for several months about what she wanted to be and she never wavered. I kept thinking she would change her mind about this costume but she never did. So by October first I had to do something about it. After searching on line for blue cat costumes and coming up empty, I decided to make one.

This past year I taught myself how to sew. It is a new concept to me, but something I have always wanted to learn. I learned to hand stitch as a kid but we never had a machine in the house. Sewing was not something my mother did, and my Nanny was too old to teach me. So that was that.  I had a broken machine sitting in my garage for some time and finally got it repaired, and found a friend to teach me a quick lesson. For months now I have been hemming pants and curtains and I felt ready to try my hand at the Blue Cat Costume.

I took Mia to the fabric store and let her choose the blue hues, and little by little... mistake by mistake, I got the thing put together. I bought pre-made cat ears and made  blue "slip covers" for them. Then traced one of her dresses and made my own pattern. Sewed on a furry tummy and furry sleeves and made a tail out of cardboard tubes and slip covered with fabric. She asked for bells on the end of the tail. Cute. The hardest part was figuring out the zipper. Apparently my machine is so old that nobody in the Orlando vicinity sells parts (I needed a zipper foot attachment). But I got it figured out with what I had, and bonded it with some fabric glue. Worked great.

I can't say the costume would stand the test of time if she wanted to play dress up... but Mia has some funny ideas about things. And apparently she only wanted to wear the costume for Halloween. I couldn't even get her to try it on for fittings before the big night. Had to bribe her once or twice. I am not a great seamstress, I definitely sew things the hard way. I am learning. And I feel really proud about teaching myself this skill. I find it to be really useful. However hard I worked on the costume, Mia resisted my use of the sewing machine. "I don't like that noise. Turn off that machine" she'd yell from the next room. Well too bad. It's for your costume. I don't care if the machine is from 1960 and sounds like a lawn mower. It works.

The funniest thing about this costume was my forgetfulness of taking a decent photo of her all dressed up. We went to a friend's house for Trick or Treat and in the midst of all the hustle bustle, we got 2 good photos of her, but neither was of the full costume. Duh! Anyhow, she looked adorable.