Cowboys and Cowgrils

***HALLOWEEN POST EVERY DAY IN OCTOBER -- DAY FOUR***

Let's start off today's fashion show with a really grainy lint covered picture of Thing One:

Our local library used to sponsor an "American Girl Tea" every spring. It included a fashion show, where the girls could dress up as their favorite "American Girl" book character, or a character from another book. Or in this case, a real woman from American history: Annie Oakley. There she is in all her glory, after much research and painstaking fabric matching.... With her doll in a duplicate of her own wardrobe, and with a St. Bernard. Why a St. Bernard? Because when Annie Oakley performed for Queen Victoria, the queen gave her a dog. Yes, a St. Bernard. How many more times can I type St. Bernard in this one paragraph? Why, as many times as I would like to type St. Bernard, actually.   St. Bernard.

And it was pretty cheap. All homemade, I used a pattern for the jacket, but made up the skirt on my own to match a historic photo. The most expensive item in her ensemble it the Mountie hat. Look at her cute little lacy pantaloons peeking out from under the pleats!

Thank you, Thing One.

Next up we have Thing Two in a costume that has been borrowed 76 times since I first sewed it:

Cowboy Joe. Jeans and shirt we already owned. Snakeskin boots from the thrift store. Hat from my extensive collection. Homemade chaps and Holstein pattern (not a print, same brown fabric as chaps) vest. Holster and guns have been in our house forever, although I have absolutely no recollection of purchasing them. The real brass star...that came from some ancient territorial prison in Montana that my dad took the kids to one year. I was more surprised that he brought the boy back....Watch out, Joe, I think someones eying your hat....



Exhibit C is our darling Screamapillar. She suffered from some kind of childhood girlie ailment that caused her to only wear pink. All the time. Mostly.

Pink cowgirl hat and boots from thrift store (she wore those boots EVERYWHERE until she could no longer cram her little feet into them anymore). Blue denim shirt stolen from her brother (remember the 90's? everyone was wearing denim everything: skirts, shirts, jackets. I think Thing Two even had denim socks...)
I made the vest and skirt with leftover fabric from the Melanie dress. And made the rhinestone bolo tie from Thing Two's  bolo tie string and a giant glittery rhinestone brooch from my costume jewelry box.

The hair? That's Gertrude. Hair so rebellious that it has acheived sentience and exists as in independent lifeform. Screamapillar spends hours straightening it every morning. Those of you who do NOT have naturally curly hair (like myself) have my permission to loathe her.

Hope you enjoyed today's fashion show. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I don't even know yet. Maybe I'll do a craft. Or clean my kitchen. Or cook something......
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