it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy as…
Napoleon Dynamite, GOSH!
Napoleon Dynamite came out in 2004 and its mythical creature-obsessed title character and his funny speech patterns captured the imagination of America for a few years there (haha). really – i’d never met a kid like Napoleon…but a HS teacher friend of mine from a smaller town said yes, she’s taught kids just like him – they really exist. this movie is just a fun tale of social awkwardness, fitting in or not at all, getting standing ovations for crazy dances…and it’s a joy. it feels like real kids somewhere doing random stuff rather than “fake high school” like you normally see in movies. it celebrates being different and awkward and i love it.
so the movie tells the story of a group of high schoolers and a few adults, and in true film petit fashion, we’ve largely split them up across the three blogs. i initially chose just Deb, but once i started sewing her outfit, i realized it wasn’t quite enough to “sell” the look. so i decided to sew Uncle Rico too, and recreate the super awkward yet hilarious “Glamour Shots by Deb” scene!
Deb, played by Tina Majorino, is a shy girl with a very strong sense of style and ambition – she’s always dressed in the height of 80s/90s fashion, she sells homemade handicrafts for college money, makes her own puffy sleeves for the school dance, runs a glamour shots studio out of her bedroom…she’s basically every sewing blogger’s former self. 😉
Just imagine you’re weightless. You’re in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by tiny seahorses.
so Em is Deb. i designed the shawl collar shirt with french sleeves which i sewed out of a thrifted pillowcase (major score!), and made her leggings out of peachy interlock knit using my Go To Leggings pattern. i realized you very rarely see Deb’s legs in the movie so i just had to guess her pant selection…but i remember my little sister wore tons of leggings all through the ’90s, so i figured that was a good bet.
the shirt was pretty funny to sew in that awful polyester, and the hot pink fanny pack was a must. i just kind of made it up on the fly, and it goes around her waist with thick elastic. and of course she rocks the side pony and multiple bracelets. here she is ensuring that her photo backdrop is perfectly set.
and who is it set for…? why, uncle rico of course!
Rico (played by Jon Gries) is the crazy uncle that comes to stay with Napoleon and his brother, Kip, while their grandma recovers from a sand dune accident. he tries all sorts of “get rich quick” schemes during his stay, and decides that he needs an official photo to put on his official name badge. he goes to Deb.
i knew this outfit would be soooo fun to sew for O, and he was totally cracking me up with his mustache (which he loved, and totally cried when i wiped it off) and chambray outfit and big ol’ brown shirt underneath and daddy’s watch (again). i mean come on!
the vest was self-designed starting with the flashback skinny tee as a basic pattern block. i was proud of figuring out how to put a fully lined vest together cleanly with no bindings, and definitely see making more of these for this little guy. the shirt underneath is blank slate patterns’ perfect polo, with the collar extended 1/2″ to add to Rico’s “stuck in the 70s” look. my mom saw a photo of the polo and thought i bought it, which is a testament to Melissa’s design!
his pants are the parsley pants i blogged here, and in his full chambray and brown outfit, he coulda been state champ.
the kids loved pretending to have a photoshoot with my Holga (which they thought was digital, as you can see above) and then Rico even turned the photoshoot around on Deb!
okay! now that our photoshoot-within-a-photoshoot is over, you MUST go check out what my partners sewed!
our guest Delia from Delia Creates went way above and beyond, sewing TWO versions of Napoleon, one Pedro Sanchez, and a different Uncle Rico too! AAAAAND she took photos at actual filming locations! AAAAAAAAAAND she designed and photographed our food plate titles at the top of this post! she’s a rockstar. visit her blog and bring chapstick, ‘cuz her lips hurt real bad! thanks so much for joining us, Delia!
my partner Jessica from a little gray picked some hilarious inspiration when she chose to sew Rex Kwon Do dojo duds for her little guy, and make her little GAL a Napoleon shirt and shorts! friggin SWEET. go check it out!
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here are the guidelines for film petit:
- every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love.
- please add any of your movie-inspired kid sewing to the film petit flickr group. if you sew along with our film petit choices, we’d love to see that too!
- this is a pretty relaxed series, really the only rule is to make outfits for kids based on films you love. if you have any questions, please let either of us know.
- film petit archives: the life aquatic with steve zissou, amélie, fantastic mr. fox, psycho, moonrise kingdom, ferris bueller’s day off, the big lebowski, back to the future
P.S. This post contains affiliate links which means i receive a small commission if you click through to Amazon or Go To Patterns, and I received the Perfect Polo from my lovely sponsor Blank Slate Patterns for free.
P.P.S. EAT THE FOOD!
skirt as top 
Oh my god!! I cannot stop laughing! I just scoured all 3 of you and I’m now about work a lot more ND quotes into my everyday life. Fantastic.
Yay thanks! 😀
lmfao!!! i cant stop laughing! this is perfectly spot on!!! LOVE!!!
Oh. Dear. Goodness.
Rolling. On. The. FLOOR!
Stop it. Stop it right now. What? I am freaking out about how good Deb is. She even has the same expressions going on. You are so right about Deb being a future blogger. ha. Love it! Thanks for allowing me and my dorky self to do FP with you guys. You guys are friggin awesome!
hehehe thanks Delia – I think you have a future in film production, myself. 😉
That mustache!!!!!!
What a side pony! So good to see one of my most favorite hair styles executed with such perfection. Well done. Well done. I want to know what O was saying while you were drawing on his mustache! Totally cracked me up!
You are reigning queen of the side pony, so this is a high compliment!! O wasn’t quite sure what I was doing initially, but once he saw it he said he looked like Chick Hicks and thought it was really awesome. So funny.
GOSH! You did amazing! I wish I had your skills.
Hahahaha that’s awesome!!!! 🙂 PS Deb’s gonna be back in the Veronica Mars Movie.
SWEET!
OH my God! I was wondering who was going to do Deb and you nailed it, right down to the three buttons on her shirt. And Uncle Rico… OH Uncle Rico! Where the heck did you get the watch?! You’re killin’ me! You ladies are ridiculously fab.
It’s my husband’s watch! He just got it at Fred Meyer (grocery store) a few years ago. O loves wearing it. 🙂
Your deb is amazing! I laugh cause my husband swears that I dressed like her when I was young and I did wear a side pony 🙂
I never thought about Deb being a future blogger – but you are so right! Love this – this Uncle Rico is precious.
That kind of dawned on me as I was thinking about Deb. They should do a Napoleon reunion, hehe. Thanks again for your help in sending me the pattern!!
ahh! so great! Deb is surprisingly hilarious and wonderful on Em. Seeing all the Napoleon shots makes me feel so nostalgic because it came out pretty close to when I met Tim, and bonding over both liking the movie, plus all the references we used in conversation back then, is something that really stands out in my mind still. I remember thinking “if he gets Napoleon, then he’ll get me” lol.
Oh that’s neat! You guys should watch it again. 🙂
HAA! i think em was made to wear a side pony!! she’s an awesome mini-Deb! did i ever tell you i went to high school with jon heder (aka napolean dynamite)? you know, not to brag or anything…
I think you did tell me that once! So you can send him links to our posts, right? Hahaha.
I agree with Gail… yes, she did in fact go to high school with Jon Heder.
…no actually, I agree that Em is Deb incarnate. Man, I can’t wait to meet that girl!
I can’t wait for you to meet her too!! EEEEEEK!
Oh my! Love this!!! So fun!!! You did a great job!!
Hey you can comment now! SWEET!
I don’t have a comment worthy of what I have just seen. That is all.
Awesome….just awesome! I’m now going to make myself a dang quesadilla 😉
Perfect. 🙂
Holy Moly girl. hehehehe. I love this movie and you guys totally captured the awesomeness and 80’s-ness of it. Cracking up SO hard!!
Yay, thanks Jess!
Love this! So glad the fanny pack made it in and your Rico is adorable. Nailed it! That is impressive to figure out the vest, I had to get help from my sister to conceal it all in there with the lining the first time I attempted it. That is impressive!
It’s taken me a while, with quite a few “no, I can’t turn that rightside out now” blocks. Surprisingly easy though. I should do a tutorial.
Oh My Goodness!! Best photoshoot EVER!!! I really loved this movie, have seen it dozens of times, so what a treat to see it talked about on your blog AND to see the tiny models emulating scenes from the movie. Too cool. 🙂
Yay, thank you! Such a short scene, too, I’m glad a true fan can appreciate. 😀
Em is SO Deb… If I find a Caboodle any time in the near future, I’m sending it to her.
I have a confession to make – I watched about five minutes of Napoleon Dynamite a couple years ago and wanted to poke my eyes out! I couldn’t stand it! People assure me that it’s much better the second time around but I couldn’t even make it through the first time!
I do love these little outfirts though. The fanny pack! The little man vest! (I think that is my favorite). And of course who doesn’t love a side pony tail!!
Haha that’s cool, that’s cool. Thanks girl. 🙂
Deb and Uncle Rico are two of my most favorite characters ever! I can’t beleive how perfectly you did this month! Deb/Em’s top?!!? Ohmahgosh! Love it so much!
Thanks Sabri!
You’ve done it again!! GOSH, I love it! I love waking up to film petite posts, and especially this one. You nailed it!
Thank you thank you!! We put a lot of work into these, so thanks!!! 🙂
I love the picture of him looking at his watch! NDynamite for my family and friends was such a perfect familiar slice of growing up. The moon boots, thrift shop shopping, creature drawing, so much of it funny and familiar 🙂
You guys KILLED it!
So cute Kristin. I’m off to check out the other girls’ posts! I’ve gotta get that movie out again. so funny:)
Oh you guys are the best. Every time I see a film petit I have the same reaction. Oh. No. It’s amazing. YES! I love the header. Tots. You guys always remind me of the best movies.
I’ve nominated for the Sweet Blogger Award http://montanadesigns.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/sweet-blogger-award-nomination/.
Congratulations – you have created one of the coolest things I have ever seen! Did you really just create Deb & Uncle Rico costumes and play out scenes in your living room using your kids? Love, love, love!
Ahahahah!! Your Deb and Uncle Rico are kind of perfect.
So awesome. Uncle Rico is killlllling me.
This is probably one of my favorite scenes from the movie.
Well done. Well done.