Halloween costume! (I know, it’s about damn time…)

Last year was the first year since childhood that my younger sister Miranda and I dressed in identical Halloween costumes. I have to admit that we looked pretty awesome playing twin Madonna Like A Virgin characters at the West Hollywood Halloween Parade.

Halloween 2008

But this year, we decided to amp it up a little bit. I still can’t remember who had the idea or why we would have ever thought of it, but months ago, we decided that we would be a Push Me Pull You–the two-headed llama from the 1967 film Dr. Dolittle. And so my mind began to wander…

Come October, I had a few ideas about how to make the costume, but they all just seemed unrealistic. The only real clothing item I had ever made was my first shirt project for sewing class. But, for whatever reason, I felt confident.

The confidence was what got me through. I confidently decided that the first thing that I needed was fabric. So my lovely friends Scott, Laura, and I trekked down to the Fashion District to seek out the best possible llama fur (and to have a little photo shoot). You can see some more pictures of the excursion on Laura’s blog. We found the Land of Faux Fur…

…then I became the proud owner of three yards of “llama fur.” I should note now that this stuff sheds like crazy! I still find llama fur all over my room!

After pulling the three yards out multiple times over the next couple of weeks, staring at it, folding it, and then putting it bag in its trash bag, I finally came up with a semi-plan. I roughly (and somewhat confidently) used this basic shirt pattern from BurdaStyle to make the top sans sleeves. I used a basic pajama bottom pattern to make the shorts. The head was the hard part. I started with two of my dad’s old baseball caps. I covered them with cotton stuffing and used masking tape to shape the hats into a more llama-head-y look (this was by no means an exact science). Then, with a lot of pinning, hot gluing, confidence, and sewing, I shaped the fur around the hat molds. This took a very long time, but it finally worked out! Miranda created the ears out of fur and cardboard and eyes out of felt scraps. I then attached the head to the shirt with a small strip of fabric (also not an easy task, but great for during the night so we could throw the head back like a hood). What resulted was none other than the two most beautiful llama costumes…(yes, I realize they look slightly like decedents of the Rat King from the Nutcracker, but just think llama and then you’ll see it)…=)…

Halloween 2009

We unfortunately didn’t take many pictures on Halloween night, so I had Ting Ting try on the costume recently so that I could get some better pics. Really, she’s the cutest llama ever.

And then in some crazy photographer moment, I was like Yah, blow-dry your hair in the mirror! I do love this image though. Looks like some trippy dream.

Whew. Long post for a long project. In short, I love my llama costumes. It was pretty great that one of us had to walk backwards while we were attached. I don’t know if anyone else has ever been a Push Me Pull You and I don’t know if anyone else ever will. But I loved this costume. I loved that it made me be creative and made me create and I couldn’t be happier with how it came out.

And to end on a different note, I didn’t want to wear the llama suit to work on Halloween so I opted for a tamer costume instead. Meet Mr. C.

I love Halloween.

Currently listening to everything Zee Avi.

sewing inspiration

I have been sewing up a storm lately. I promise that I will post some of my latest projects sometime soon. For now, here are a few of the things that have been inspiring me lately…

LA-based fashion designer Jasmin Shokrian

Fujimori’s Treehouses

Maira Kalman

"His first thought on getting out of bed—if he had any thought at all–was to get back in again."

Autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire sketches cityscapes by memory

My little sister. She ran a marathon last weekend and I am very proud of her.