Sew What Do You Think?
If you know me, you might know I’m an indulgent creative who dabbles in the occasional sewing project and costume design. I also have a long history of dying my hair bright colors (currently it’s more on the “salmon” side of blood orange). Apparently, my daughter inherited said traits because when it came to a dress-up contest with a theme of Superheroes vs Villains, she conscripted my husband and I to build her costume for her.
Since I figured she’d want to be female, therefore ruling out Deadpool, I consulted my friend to compile a list of recognizable female superheroes. Of course there was Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, and Cat Woman. Would anyone recognize Raven from Teen Titans? I didn’t think I could pull off makeup for Gamora and figured Black Widow would be too bland. Mantis maybe? That is the problem with Marvel female superheroes. Either the costumes are too complex or not complex enough.
My ideas were met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. My daughter then shrugged and said, “I could be a villain.” After a quick “Okay Google, show me a list of female villains”, she made her choice.
I informed my husband of the girl’s choice, and he burst into laughter and cheered her on. Pictures from Suicide Squad dominated the image search results for Harley Quinn, so my husband decided to play the movie so that our daughter would know what character she’d be representing. By the time the movie finished, my daughter was set on that version of Harley Quinn for a costume.
Next day, we were off to the fabric store to pick up a jacket pattern and material. I did the shorts pattern freehand, mostly because I wasn’t willing to shell out an extra $12. We stopped by the party store to pick up an inflatable mallet, and my husband used his mad duct-tape and Sharpie skills to decorate it. Finally, I bought fabric paint and a white T-shirt.
I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with the result, considering we pulled it together in a week.
Even I hand-painted the lettering on the T-shirt to match the movie’s design.
Under the jacket, she’s got some black straps that match Harley’s holsters, but most of the time, you can’t see them. I did get the color scheme backwards, but I don’t think anyone but me (and those I told) know it. Her skin is slightly tan, so the lightest foundation at the dollar store did the trick to unnaturally pale her up. And since I’d already bleached the bottom of her hair, coloring it was no issue. She won first place in the costume contest and got high-fives all around (plus a bucket of candy and glow sticks).
I probably won’t be putting as much effort into the other themes (Hawaiian day? Red, White, and Blue day? I might do Under the Sea day…), but it was fun to help her totally rock the competition.
If you could be a superhero or a villain, which would you choose? Which character would you dress up as? Why are all the female superhero costumes either skin-tight or skimpy?
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