Simples!

So, some time last year, probably around Halloween, my little brother asked me to make him a meerkat costume. Obviously, being the Greatest Big Sister Ever, I agreed. I wanted a bit of a challenge, and it seemed like something I could actually achieve without getting completely frustrated and giving up. This is that time at which I should point out that my baby brother is 21 years old, in his third year of university where he's studying Agri-Business, and is a 6'5'' 210lb rugby player... Jo-Ann fabrics conveniently had fleece at half-off, so 5 yards of tie-dye khaki coloured fleece later I ended up with this...

It took me a long time to actually figure out how to engineer something so large. I originally thought I would combine tutorials for a hoodie and harem pants, and just tack on a tail somehow. But I realised I wanted it to have as few seams as possible so there are fewer parts to destroy. Then I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity. It occurred to me that I have footsie pyjamas in my closet that I could use as a pattern, only making it considerably wider and dropping the crotch to somewhere knee-height. I free-handed the sleeves, hood and tail, using a hoodie I own to figure out what kind of shapes I needed. Not for the tail, obviously. Sadly I don't have a tail...

I'm really proud of myself for the sleeves. This is the first time I've added sleeves to a garment since my final GCSE piece when I was 16, and that went... poorly. This time I might have cracked it. Both sleeves are pretty much identical, and I didn't have to unpick a single stitch. The tail is also set in like a sleeve. The best bit though is the back. To achieve authentic meerkatty colours, I spray painted the fleece. And myself. I tried to use my fabric paints, but the colours I have were just too... girly. So I raided the basement and found super-duper industrial strength black spray paint that my viking uses for painting model rockets. 

Sadly it was only after packing it up and mailing it to my bro in the UK that I realised just how poop these pictures are. However, it was shipped with explicit instructions that action shots were required... I'll update if he ever comes up with the goods. It's just so much fun to run around in, I will definitely be making myself a dinosaur costume in this way. And one for Bear, too, so that we can terrorise the library and snack on books together. Now I just need Jo-Anns to have some suitably awesome coupons so I can make it without bankrupting myself...

Simples...