May 27, 2005, Newsletter Issue #23: Costume Tips from Costume.Lifetips.com

Tip of the Week

You will get to the costume party in time dressed as this grandfather clock. The brown moire fabric has a wood-effect pattern, which is perfect for the clock case. If you have a sewing machine at home, you can use it to sew the side seams together instead of sewing them by hand. To complete the costume, glue toy mice to the tunic and the costume hat and find other related costume accessories online.

SUPPLIES:
Tracing paper
A pencil
Scissors
Straight pins
ruler
Black fabric pen
12 square inches of white fabric
3 ½ yards of 36-inch wide brown moiré fabric
all-purpose glue
pinking shears
1 yard of gold cord
black, brown and gold card stock
colored pencil
a brass paper fastener
masking tape
needle and thread
toy mice
a 24 inch length of brown ribbon

INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Trace a clock pattern form one of your wall clocks. Cut out the circle. Do not cut out the hands. Pin the pattern onto the square of white fabric, and cut out he clock shape. Use a fabric pen to copy the Roman numerals onto the clock face. Leave it to dry.
2) To make the tunic, you will first need to make a full-size paper pattern. Now use pinking shears to cut out two tunic pieces from the moiré fabric.
3) Glue the clock face to the front of one of the tunic pieces 4 inches below the neck edge. Glue or sew gold cord around the edge of the clock face.
4) Cut out the tracings of the clock hands. Position them on the black card stock, and trace around the shapes with a colored pencil. Cut out the hands. Use scissor points to make a hole at the dots on the hands and through the center of the clock face.
5) Push a brass paper fastener through the holes on the hand and then through the clock face. Open out the prongs on the underside of the clock and flatten them against the fabric. Stick some masking tape over the prongs to hold them in place.
6) Pin the two tunic pieces right sides together. Stitch them together along the sid seams, using running stitches.
7) Use pinking shears to cut a slit about 4 inches long from the center of the neck edge of the back tunic piece. Cut the ribbon in half, and sew one end of each length to each side of the slit. You’ll tie the ribbon in a bow when you wear the costume. Turn the tunic right side out.
8) To make the grandfather clock hat, trace and cut out a square piece or an oval piece from the brown card stock. Glue the card stock onto the fabric. Trim away the fabric from around the edges of the brown card stock.
9) Now lay the small molding pattern on gold card stock, and trace around it. Cut out the shape, and lay it back on the card stock. Trace around the shape, and cut out a second molding. Glue one of the moldings to the brown moiré clock top. Cut a strip of brown card stock 24 inches long by 1 inch wide. Glue the ends together. Then glue the clock top to the front of the strip.
10) Glue the second small gold molding to the tunic just below the clock. Lay your uniquely designed pattern on gold card stock and cut out the shape by tracing around it. Cut out the shape and glue it to the bottom of the tunic. To finish, glue toy mice tot eh hat and the tunic itself.

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