Costuming for Nerds, Part 4
Apr. 11th, 2016 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilFor Emma's first Halloween, we thought it would be fun to have a fairy tale theme. We found a little pointed princess hat and paired it with one of her frilly dresses, made a very simple knight costume for Luke, and put together wizard and fairy costumes for Mark and me with a just a few accessories from the costume store.
Sorry for the blurriness; our camera was being uncooperative at the time. But you get the idea. Those wings were awfully fun; I wish I still had them. Luke has long since torn them to pieces. I think I also had some kind of scepter, though you can't see it in the picture. And that long gray wig has proven highly useful for Mark for a number of costuming purposes. What I really wanted to talk about, though, is the dress I used. That white dress is older than I am. My grandmother made it for my mother, along with matching dresses for all of her (at the time) unmarried daughters. It's still in pretty good shape, considering its age. I just wore it to church yesterday.
I love it. For shallow reasons, as it's long and flowing and has a kind of Jane Austen-ish Empire waist design, and it serves nicely as a component for so many different types of costumes. (It matches well with my cloak, too. :) And for deeper reasons.
My grandmother was an extraordinary woman. She had a powerful presence, a fitting counterpart for my grandfather's soft-spoken temperament. They raised eight children together. She taught piano lessons to pretty much the entire neighborhood. She could do cross-stitches so flawlessly, even the backs were perfect. And, as the dress indicates, her sewing skills were considerable as well.
She died nearly two years ago. I never got to visit her as often as I wished; it was just too expensive to fly across the country all the time. It was especially hard after my grandfather died in 2011; her health declined rapidly after that. When we were out there for my sister's wedding in 2012, we were nervous about going to visit her with our kids, afraid that Luke might have a violent meltdown or something. But he sat right down next to her, calm and peaceful, and there was no trouble at all. It's one of my last memories of her.
As it happened, we were already planning a road trip to Utah in August of 2014 when she passed away in July. I missed the funeral, but I had the chance to go my grandparents' house before it was sold. There were a lot of memories there. All the children and grandchildren were able to claim some keepsakes, including dozens and dozens of cross stitch projects. We have a few hanging on our walls now. Still, it was only when I started going through pictures of our Halloween 2005 costumes that I realized my favorite keepsake was the one I can wear. I suppose if I keep wearing it, eventually it'll become too worn out for use. I could tuck it safely away in a box. I think I'd rather wear it.
When I was very pregnant with Ryan. Love that high waist. And I really love my grandma.
Sorry for the blurriness; our camera was being uncooperative at the time. But you get the idea. Those wings were awfully fun; I wish I still had them. Luke has long since torn them to pieces. I think I also had some kind of scepter, though you can't see it in the picture. And that long gray wig has proven highly useful for Mark for a number of costuming purposes. What I really wanted to talk about, though, is the dress I used. That white dress is older than I am. My grandmother made it for my mother, along with matching dresses for all of her (at the time) unmarried daughters. It's still in pretty good shape, considering its age. I just wore it to church yesterday.
I love it. For shallow reasons, as it's long and flowing and has a kind of Jane Austen-ish Empire waist design, and it serves nicely as a component for so many different types of costumes. (It matches well with my cloak, too. :) And for deeper reasons.
My grandmother was an extraordinary woman. She had a powerful presence, a fitting counterpart for my grandfather's soft-spoken temperament. They raised eight children together. She taught piano lessons to pretty much the entire neighborhood. She could do cross-stitches so flawlessly, even the backs were perfect. And, as the dress indicates, her sewing skills were considerable as well.
She died nearly two years ago. I never got to visit her as often as I wished; it was just too expensive to fly across the country all the time. It was especially hard after my grandfather died in 2011; her health declined rapidly after that. When we were out there for my sister's wedding in 2012, we were nervous about going to visit her with our kids, afraid that Luke might have a violent meltdown or something. But he sat right down next to her, calm and peaceful, and there was no trouble at all. It's one of my last memories of her.
As it happened, we were already planning a road trip to Utah in August of 2014 when she passed away in July. I missed the funeral, but I had the chance to go my grandparents' house before it was sold. There were a lot of memories there. All the children and grandchildren were able to claim some keepsakes, including dozens and dozens of cross stitch projects. We have a few hanging on our walls now. Still, it was only when I started going through pictures of our Halloween 2005 costumes that I realized my favorite keepsake was the one I can wear. I suppose if I keep wearing it, eventually it'll become too worn out for use. I could tuck it safely away in a box. I think I'd rather wear it.
When I was very pregnant with Ryan. Love that high waist. And I really love my grandma.
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