Never Again!

I finished Blaine's Halloween Costume Monday evening. I did it while Bryson was napping so I had to get it done. He is going to be a cowboy. It was an easy to sew/no sew pattern, meaning I could have glued it together instead of sewing. But since the request from Blaine was to have a costume that he could wear more than once, I thought gluing it would be silly. His reasoning behind wearing it again is...he plays a boy version of "dress up" in his Halloween costumes after the season is over. I guess that is okay...better than sitting in front of the TV, right? One day I even came out and he had dressed Bryson up as Spider Man and he was the Hulk. These are previous years costumes that weren't exactly cheap, seeing how they came with muscles and all.

So I get the pattern for $.99. (I don't think I have posted about this, but if I have, I am sorry to repeat myself.) The fabric was a chocolate brown faux suede for $5.99 a yard with 40% off. I only needed two yards for Blaine, but decided that since Bryson has new cowboy boots and a hat too, why not get one more yard and make him one too? Because if Blaine is doing it he will want to. So I get three yards, the pattern, thread and velcro (which I had to buy a whole package of for 2 little dinky pieces) and spent right at $31.00. I was so proud of myself. So, I make Blaine's vest and chaps Monday night and go to try it on him and the vest is to small.

Well, there is Bryson's vest.

Then I proceed to put the chaps on Blaine. What did I get?

"Thank you mom! I love it!" NO.

"These are the coolest things ever!" NO.

"I can't wait until Halloween!" NO again.

Instead of Blaine being grateful for my super savvy ability to not spend much money, or my ability at making his costume with very little sewing ability and for sure no pattern reading ability (it really is a different language, I think) I get a very disappointed look.

"Well, I was really hoping for real chaps and vest."

"Blaine, what do you mean a 'real one'"?

"You know. Leather ones, Mom."

"Blaine, I know you want to reuse your Halloween costume and all, but I am not about to buy you real leather chaps and vest. This is a "costume". And besides, you got a real cowboy hat and boots to go with it so this is as real as it gets."

Boy did I bust his bubble. So I set my alarm for 5am on Tuesday morning to get up and make another vest. One that fits him. It only took a few minutes. I think I had to stitch maybe a total of 6 inches. I did have to redo the pattern, making it bigger because I made it as big as it was t he first time. I get him up for school and tell him I redid it. He jumps out of bed to try it on.

"Well, I was kinda hoping for a cow print vest. Like the one in the picture. And do you think you can take those tie things off of the chaps? I don't really like that part. Maybe you can just sew it up."

"You know what Blaine? Why don't you give out the candy and me and Stephen will take Bryson trick-or-treating. Then maybe when you grow up, you can be a cowboy and get your own costume!"

And the worst part is, the pattern must have rounded up what I needed as far as fabric goes. Since I don't sew (quilting is different) I rounded up to make sure I had enough. Now I have enough to make a cowboy vest and chaps for everyone I know. Normally I would be excited about leftover fabric, but I can't quilt this. Unless maybe I make someone a faux suede quilt. HMMM.....I may have to think about that.

I had looked at several places for boots and a hat, but had no luck. When we went to Gatlinburg over fall break I saw a sign that said, "Buy 1 get 2 free!" Well, I couldn't pass that up so I went in. The boots were $60.00. Hold on! I can justify this!! I wasn't sure what size Blaine would wear so I got him two pair. The smaller pair fits so he can grow into the second pair! Bryson got the third pair so it equaled $20.00 each. Then if I sell them in Kids Market I will make money off of them! Woo hoo! And they have stars on the side that light up when they wear them! Safety first!

So whether Blaine thinks I did good this year, I think I did good this year. But NEVER AGAIN!!

Sara