and we’re back with more ’80s movie goodness for you today! it’s every 30-something’s introduction to the perils of time travel – 1985′s Back to the Future!

written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, BTTF is the story of Marty McFly, played by a teenage Michael J. Fox, who is accidentally sent back in time to 1955 in his friend Doc Brown’s souped up DeLorean. he must find a way back home while also ensuring his parents (also teens at the time) get together. if he fails in his mission, they will never get married and have him, and he will cease to exist…! and then his mom decides she thinks he’s cute and wants to go to prom with him! also, biff! ohhhhh dear. it’s a super fun movie and a must-watch for an entire generation.

so as far as i’m concerned, there are three true “main characters” in BTTF: Marty, Doc, and The DeLorean.

i decided to go more conceptual than i have in film petits past…yep, I totally sewed an outfit inspired by a time traveling car.

i actually put an insane amount of thought into trying to bring the vague idea i had in my mind to an outfit that would make sense to everyone, so let’s see if you’re with me, starting with the hair.

i actually just wanted to point out that i totally spiked up my 2 year old’s hair with pomade so he looked more 80s. okay moving on.

DeLorean jacket! i knew i wanted to make a jacket, i wanted it to look a bit ’80s, a bit driving jacket-esque, and be lightweight and in DeLorean gray. i thought i’d add more detail to it, but the sewing got tricky and so i added detail elsewhere. oh oh! funny side note i remembered while writing this post – when we were choosing a grout color for our bathroom tile, one of the options was actually called “DeLorean Gray.”

we chose it.

if he lifts his arms, it’s even got gull-wing doors!

i used Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee as a base for the jacket, adding room to the neckline, armholes, and chopping off many inches to accommodate the rib knit band at the bottom and the length of the zipper. this is my first time sewing a separating zipper, and the first time sewing taffeta (!) which was the best color gray they had at JoAnn to give me the look I wanted (despite being really impractical for a 2 year old).

the final jacket reminds me of Jess’s Drive-inspired jacket, the creation that sparked this whole film petit idea in the first place, so i thought that was cool too!

under the jacket is another Flashback Skinny Tee in 3T, which I freezer paper stenciled to look like the OUTATIME license plate on the car! i had a heckuva time figuring out what to put on a shirt, but as soon as I watched the movie again and saw that plate, i pretty much ran to my sewing room to make it. i added stripes to look like the California plate at the top, and i get a feeling he’ll wear this one a lot.

on the bottom, another Rae pattern! this one is the fab new Parsley Pants pattern (I was a tester). i dyed a pair of my husband’s old khakis ORANGE to look like flame trails the DeLorean leaves behind as it rockets into the past in the parking lot of JCPenny (it was my husband’s idea to do that!). then with a stroke of late night inspiration, i drew tire treads onto the knee patches to nail home the car idea a little more.

oh and his neon green-tread shoes represent plutonium fuel. hehe.

now, you didn’t think i’d make a delorean outfit without a flux capacitor, did you?!

of course not. you would never.

and there you have it! my little guy says it’s time to go visit our two fellow time travelers and see some amazing and wonderful things.

off he goes! won’t you follow him?

first, i can’t believe that we lured the Queen of All Sewing Bloggers, Dana of MADE, into joining us for film petit! Jess and I were so excited to have her sew with us, and we  realized she’s just as much of a procrastinator as we are (score!). Dana made a super awesome Mary McFly outfit for her son Owen, AND a bonus ’50s girl outfit for her little Clara – both are perfection. GO CHECK IT OUT! thanks for playing, Dana!!

aaaaaand my partner-in-crime Jess sewed Doc Brown’s white jumpsuit for her daughter Elsie. yes, daughter. it’s freakin’ hilarious, Jess always gets the silliness just right. GO SEE, GO SEE!

***

here are the guidelines for film petit:

• every month or so, Jess and i (plus a guest blogger) sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. our next guest will be Delia from Delia Creates!
• please add your movie-inspired kid sewing to the film petit flickr group. there’s some really amazing stuff in there – we love it when you play along!
• 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.  you can see all of Jessica’s film petit posts right here.

if my husband remembers to get something at the store that i forgot to put on the list?  i tell him “he’s a good man, and thorough.”  someone’s carrying a drink and a kid bumps into them?  ”there’s a beverage here, man!”  something gets spilled on/damaged?  it “really tied the room together.”  and just at random times… “8 year olds, dude.”

am i wrong?

am i wrong?

anyway, before i fall down the rabbit hole of movie quotes (in the parlance of our times – GAH), i suppose i should talk about the movie plot.

ummmmm wellllll it’s kind of hard to explain.  let me give it my best shot.  1998′s The Big Lebowski was directed by the Coen Brothers.  it tells the story of the mellow and lazy Jeffrey Lebowski (aka “The Dude,” or “Duder,” or “El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing”) perfectly played by Jeff Bridges.  The Dude is mistaken for a rich man also named Jeffrey Lebowski, and is suddenly drawn into a crazy kidnapping caper, when all he really wants to do is drink white russians and bowl with his buddies.  it’s a pretty weird but beloved movie, and one i’ve seen about a million times.

typically we all pick different movie characters for film petit, but we felt that we should each make tiny Dudes this month to sort of swamp the internet with them – a mini Lebowskifest!  mine is “pre-opening credit Dude,” the two scene intro that sets the stage for the rest of the movie.  the Dude goes to the grocery store to grab some half and half for his white russian…

but comes home only to find himself getting dunked in his own toilet and his rug micturated upon by a couple hooligans attempting to shake him down for money he clearly doesn’t have.

i sewed for O again, figuring the smaller the Dude was, the funnier it would be.  and actually it was pretty hilarious – this is the MOST recognized character during one of my film petit photoshoots.  people at the more-crowded-than-i-expected-it-to-be-at-that-hour grocery store were giggling and saying “haha, is that The Dude?”  left and right.  i started out a little self-conscious about it, but then ran with it.  i think O liked the attention.

his bathrobe is made of wide wale corduroy from JoAnn, and the pattern is the Just Like Dad Flannel Robe from Sewing for Boys.  i made it in a 2-3T for the length but chopped 3″ off the sleeves (and they’re still roll up-worthy!) so he’ll definitely wear it a while.  the shorts are the Oliver + S Sketchbook Shorts made out of daddy’s old ones.

the undershirt, which i didn’t get a great photo of, is Made by Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee, made out of daddy’s old t-shirt, short sleeved, with a v-neck!

i’m actually pretty excited about the non-overlapping v-neck and might share a mini tutorial for it a little later; i’ve always wanted to know how to do that and it wasn’t hard once i figured it out.

my little Dude got the munchies at the store and picked out a couple snacks.  figured that was probably pretty true to character (the Dude likes to “smoke Js”).

while my little dude is snacking on chili cheese fritos and abiding, you can head over to see the other little lebowski urban achievers that my partners sewed up!

our guest this month, Sabra from sew a straight line, sewed both “bowling alley Dude” AND a mini walter sobchak!  both are absolute perfection.  she even gets us a toe – you don’t want to know how, but there are ways.  thanks so much for joining us, Sabra!

and my partner Jessica, not to be outdone, sewed “playoff/funeral Dude” with some awesome details, AND took photos at a very special locale!  go check it out!

proud we are of all of them!

***

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. our next guest will be Dana from MADE!
• 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

this was so so fun, you guys (do i say that every time? i might). Jess, Shannon, and I each picked one of the three main characters in 1986′s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, directed by John Hughes. though the movie came out when i was pretty little, i’ve seen it quite a few times, especially in high school since my husband is a major fan. it’s about three high school kids, Ferris (ringleader), Sloane (girlfriend), and Cameron (best friend) who skip school and end up having an epic time in downtown Chicago, narrowly escaping discovery by their weirdo principal and family at every turn.

i sewed a mini version of Ferris’ best friend, Cameron Frye (played by Alan Ruck). he’s a nervous, goofy guy that’s really great at impersonating adults on a phone call. Ferris ropes him in due to the fact that Cameron’s dad has a red Ferrari that Ferris uses to dupe the school into releasing Sloane. he is the most reluctant with the most to lose in the escapade, but he joins in.

Cameron has a couple different looks, and i got a big kick out of shrinking it down for two-year-old O. i realized that this is probably the least “costume-y” outfit i’ve made him yet for film petit, and i’m sure he’ll wear these clothes a ton.

aside from the cream knit on the jersey, tiny bit of plaid, and the suspender supplies, the fabric here is all upcycled from my husband’s donate pile!

for the chinos, i used the basic pocket pants pattern from Growing up Sew Liberated in 2T. i narrowed the leg and eliminated the cuffs, adding a faux fly and a slightly wider waistband with patch pockets in the back. the pockets have plaid lining to invoke the tam that Cameron wears in the movie.

the red wings hockey jersey is the vintage v-neck from blank slate patterns in jersey knit sewn in 18 months; i added color blocked cream bands and freezer paper stenciled a red wings logo on there.

the gray t-shirt is my fave – it’s so simple but has such an interesting style to it – i never would’ve thought to put that design on a kid’s tee but it’s really cool. pattern is Rae’s flashback skinny tee in 3T with short sleeves and another freezer paper stencil. i applied the fabric paint lightly for a more vintage-y look. i found both freezer paper stencil outlines via google image search and cut them by hand.

i made the suspenders using this tutorial, which was awesome. i liked that it had adjustable vest buckles, makes them feel authentic.

shake it up baby now! hockey Cameron…

and casual suspender Cameron…

can you tell O had a blast modeling? i had hoped to get photos at an art gallery but also didn’t want to take him to the actual art gallery. suddenly i had the idea to go to Powell’s where they have a rotating art exhibit in the Pearl Room. black and white art, plenty of room for photos, not too crowded, nothing breakable, free of charge. perfect.

now, while little Cameron climbs back into bed to sleep off his crazy afternoon, head over to check out what his buddies are up to!

our fabulous guest this month and big ’80s movie buff, Shannon from luvinthemommyhood, sewed Sloane! white fringe coat, you guys. WHITE FRINGE COAT. her daughter is the perfect mini-Sloane, truly.

and my partner Jess, oh you know her, she’s just over there sewing leopard print vests for her 3 year old – she did Ferris and her little guy also got WAY into the role. totally adorable. check it out!

danke shoen!

***

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. our next guest will be Sabra from Sew a Straight Line!
• 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

it was only a matter of time before we were lured in by the amazing costumes in the visually stunning moonrise kingdom, which came out earlier in 2012. this movie is a story of Sam the khaki scout and Suzy the rebellious bookworm, two kids that each feel alone on opposite sides of the wooded Island of New Penzance until they meet each other by chance. they begin corresponding, then they plan a daring runaway meet up and outdoor adventure, which culminates in a wedding! here are a few shots from the movie to set the scene i was inspired by:

while Suzy’s collared dress is an iconic garment in the movie, her coat in this scene really blew me away too. i love the rosy-raspberry colors set against the greenery of the island and Sam’s khaki scout uniform, as well as the unique design. i knew if i made a coat like that for Em, she’d likely get a lot of use out it as a winter coat, so i went for it! and I knew Sam’s uniform details would be fun to tackle in their own right.

my “Sam,” you may notice, is not O! it’s my nephew S, who is just 10 days younger than Em. these two see each other nearly every day and act almost like brother and sister, they’re so comfortable around each other. they’re pretty cute to watch.

S is also a much easier model than O. for one thing, a 4.5 year old leaves hats and glasses on much better than a 2 year old! for another, he and Em are the same size. and finally, he’s a ham and they have a lot of fun together!

okay let’s talk about the outfits. for Sam’s, my goal was to invoke the khaki scout uniform as much as i could. S seemed to really love dressing up in it – he said “i look like a scouter!” and got really into playing the role.

i sewed the oliver + s sketchbook shirt and shorts in a 2T for him, adding piped flap pockets, piped epaulets, and custom patches/buttons galore to the top. the buttons on the left side are covered with linen, then i drew symbols on there for Sam’s achievements. the shirt and shorts are kona cotton, sweet pea i believe.

the shorts have modified pockets with piped fold over flap that buttons down. i also added faux flap pockets to the back and fold up cuffs. i made a “coonskin cap” out of faux fur starting with the Oliver + S bucket hat pattern, and made a scarf out of yellow kona that closes with a little extra faux fur.

Sam has a couple “secret” buttons – one is a prior film petit reference, and one is a christmas tree pin as an homage to Sam’s mother’s brooch. tis the season after all!

for Suzy, i made a cozy rosy frankencoat!

i started with the sunday brunch jacket in 4T, then a-lined the top bodice and lengthened it. i shortened the sleeves and added the 4T sketchbook collar to the top. the coat is fully lined with a super soft timeless treasures houndstooth flannel, which i basted to an old flannel baby blanket of Em’s as interlining – it’s like she’s wearing two layers of blanket when she wears this coat! i put flannel in some side seam pockets, too. the outer fabric is some kind of polyester, i think. it was super cheap but pretty perfect. i drafted a capelet pattern and just hand-tacked it under the collar.

i got her beret at H&M (adult size) and their socks at the Gap. her “sunday school shoes” are from etsy, a great find by Robin.

and what’s a Suzy outfit without personalized binoculars? they’re her secret power!

Sam says “marry me!”

and Suzy says “I do!”

(well actually in real life she yelled “nooooooo!” and ran away…probably better not to want to marry your cousin anyway, right?)

Sam and Suzy, hand in hand. such a great little duo.

now head on over to Nested in Stitches, where our guest Robin sewed two outfits – one inspired by Bill Murray’s character so you know THAT’S gonna be great, and another inspired by the scoutmaster’s tent! pretty awesome and creative – go go!

and be sure to visit A Little Gray, where Jess sewed the instantly iconic Suzy dress…and she NAILED it! her little gal is too cute for words. i just wanna squeeze her!

thanks for joining us for another film petit!

***

here are the guidelines for film petit:

• every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) will sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. our next guest will be shannon from luvinthemommyhood!
• please feel free to 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

it’s film petit time! it’s also October, the spooky month of Halloween. this month, my partner Jessica, our guest Jessica, and i were in the mood to sew something a little creepier than our normal fare. today we present to you outfits inspired by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. we each picked a Hitchcock movie that inspired us, and i chose 1960′s Psycho.

as with all of our film petit choices so far, Hitchcock films hold special meaning for me. my husband and i met in high school, and one of the first things i learned about him was that he is a major movie buff. our school offered Film as an “English” class senior year, and he was one of two students that the teacher actually created a Film 2 class for because he was so into it! his semester-long Film 2 project was an in-depth analysis of the films of Alfred Hitchcock. i went ahead and piggy backed on that when i took Film as a senior the next year, while he was off at college taking “music in film and television” class. movie buff? more like movie fanatic.

so many things make Hitchcock movies great. they’re spooky as heck but not typically gory. the plots have twists and turns, they can scare the pants off you but make you laugh too, and a lot of the creepiness is created through music and camera angles and what you don’t see. the soundtrack of Psycho is one of the greatest soundtracks of all time, and the shower scene is probably one of the most recognizable (and freakiest) scenes in film history (never seen it? well here you go). trust me, it never gets easier to watch! i got all jumpy just putting together this collage!

it was actually my husband’s idea to recreate that iconic scene at the bates motel, showing a mini norman bates transformed into “mother” and then back to clean up the mess she made. the original plan was to have O model the looks, but he refused to wear the wig so I switched my model to Em and retooled a bit.

for mother’s nightgown, i sewed a made by rae pierrot tunic with shirred neckline and sleeves, in 18-24 months extended to 3T. that would’ve fit O just fine but was much too short on Em, so i added a 6″ ruffle and vintage lace trim inherited from my grandma to make it long enough for her to wear as a nightgown. the yarn wig is based on this tutorial from this mama makes stuff (hers is for rapunzel, but i made it the same way).

the felt knife i made up on my own, quilting together three layers of gray felt with metallic silver thread, then wrapping brown felt around it for a handle. i had to starch the heck out of it so it wasn’t too floppy and i’d probably use better reinforcement next time…not that i plan to make too many felt knives in the future!

of course Em has never seen any part of the movie, but when i asked her to act like a “mean old lady” and handed her the felt knife, i was shocked to see her get SO into character!

she called the knife a “sword” and had a grand old time recreating the shower scene.

we all go a little mad sometimes.  haven’t you?

this one’s downright GLEEFUL. not sure whether to worry about her or sign her up for acting classes.

for the norman bates outfit, she’s just wearing store-bought jeans and a button down shirt, plus O’s fantastic mr. fox jacket (pattern is the basic blazer by blank slate patterns). it actually looked so good on her i might need to make her a blazer of her own!

here are a few more of the creepy “mother” scenes from Psycho…an attack on the staircase, her spot in bed, and the final reveal, plus one of our favorite lines.

little mrs. bates has grown tired from her murderous rampage.

while she waits for new victims to arrive at the motel, you should head over to check out what the jessicas made – they both sewed outfits from The Birds but had very different takes on it! their photos are also in color, if you’re currently feeling color-deprived.

our guest jessica from running with scissors sewed an outfit for her son, another four year old that got WAAAAY into his role fleeing from flocks of crows! check out her post right here…if you dare! her photos are a crack up.

my partner jessica over at a little gray made a tiny tippi hedren suit, and it’s SO great – her little gal is far too sweet to be scary, but her outfit is totally spot on!

***

here are the guidelines for film petit:

• every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) will sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. our next guest will be robin from nested in stitches!
• please feel free to add any 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

i’ve got the sweet, the brave, and the downright creepy.

*if you’d like to pin any of these images, please click through to the original sources so they get proper credit – thank you!*

the sweet:

our very own film petit guest Cherie from you & mie made this adorable Mei-Chan costume from My Neighboro Totoro for the Season 4 Project Run & Play movie week sew along.  isn’t it just perfect?!  if you’re a Miyazaki fan and you’ve never seen Cherie’s Totoro costume from last year, go check that out too.  you’re in for a treat.

there’s also a cute little Ponyo in the group!

the brave:

the Hunger Games books and movies are a colossal hit, and i love that a couple talented ladies made mini Katniss Everdeens.  tara from true, pure, lovely made a blue “reaping dress” by extending a figgy’s ayashe blouse (look how excited her little gal is to volunteer as tribute!  totally cracks me up).

meanwhile, love assembled made a fantastic hunting outfit complete with bow and arrow and game bag!  check out her post; she made a costume for little sister prim, too!

the downright creepy:

i’ll leave you with this.  the girls from the shining by flickr user glow planet.  yipes.  just…yipes.

that should set the tone nicely for our Halloween edition of film petit, i think!  if you’ve made (or are making) any movie-inspired costumes for your kids this Halloween, please add them to the flickr group!  we’d love to see it continue to grow!  and check out jess’s favorites right here!

check back soon, we’re planning to scare the daylights out of you (not really…we’re aiming for a little creepy but totally want to make you giggle too.  nothing TOO scary, guys.  we’re sewing bloggers for pete’s sake!  how scary can we be?*).

*SUPER DUPER SCARY!  OOOOOOOOOO!

fantastic mr. fox, based on a book by roald dahl, is about human (fox) nature, love, and family.  mr. fox has promised his wife he will never steal from farmers again, but he simply can’t help himself…he decides to secretly do one last big job before he retires forever.  he will steal from Boggis, Bunce and Bean – the meanest farmers in the land!  the movie is done in stop-motion animation and is one that our whole family never tires of watching.  my partners jessica and cherie both sum up the movie better than i do, so check them out if you haven’t already…i’ve got lots of sewing to talk about today!

since i have the oldest girl of the three sewing this month, i got to sew mrs. fox! and because of that, i also sewed mr. fox! i think it is only the second time i’ve ever sewed for both kids and photographed them together, can you believe it? i was worried the photoshoot would be a disaster, but they both played along! yay!

here are some movie stills showing my inspiration for both outfits.

as soon as i looked closely at her dress, i knew the oliver + s school photo dress would be the PERFECT pattern for it. for mr. fox, i sewed the melly sews basic blazer along with oliver + s sailboat pants. there’s a hidden surprise in his jacket…keep reading!

they both got fox masks, totally overboard on my part but worth it. i made them out of felt and just sketched them out while looking at a photo from the movie.  i layered the felt together and topstitched, sandwiching elastic in between.

okay let’s talk more about their actual sewn costumes. ladies first, shall we?

Em was so excited to be “mrs. fantastic mr. fox” and seemed to love this photoshoot more than any other! i used michael miller cotton couture in mango as the base of her dress. knowing there was no way i’d find the perfect apple print to match the movie, i stamped it myself!

i carved a wine cork with an x-acto knife to make the apple (a heart with a flat bottom), then a pencil eraser cut into a teardrop shape to do a green leaf, then a pencil tip to add a stem.  i really love creating my own fabric, as time-consuming as it is.  it’s totally theraputic and satisfying.

the pocket of the dress was perfect for her paintbrushes!  mrs. fox is an avid painter.

she also has a tail (made out of minky and felt and pinned onto her dress).

for O, i sewed a mr. fox jacket and pants in a burnt orange thin whale corduroy (all fabrics are from fabric depot).

rather than welt pockets in the basic blazer pattern, i used jessica’s tutorial to add flap pockets. i used leather buttons and lengthened the 18-24 month size sailboat pants to 2T for a full-length pant.  his shirt is store bought.

i decided to make mr. fox AFTER he lost his tail. a felt bandaid masks his injury.

the jacket also has a special surprise! mr. bean has a secret cider cellar full of apples he created himself. they look like this:

so the lining of O’s jacket naturally looks like this:

i painted the suns and dots onto kona poppy with metallic gold fabric paint! don’t you love a hidden surprise? i sure do!

while these costumes were so much work, they were so fun to make too!  here’s the part where my little foxes say goodbye, but there’s LOADS more foxsperation for you to see!

head on over to a little gray to find out what a fox is doing in a grocery store, and to learn the rules of whack bat!

and skedaddle over to check out the adorable outfit our fantastic guest, you & mie, put together for her little gal. it’s truly inspired!!! it was also cherie’s idea (nevermind, it was jessica’s) for all of the kids to wear masks/fox ears – so fun to coordinate that little detail! thanks so much for playing along this month, cherie!!

we hope you’re enjoying film petit, because we’re sure having lots of fun!

****

here are the guidelines for film petit:

• every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) will sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. jess from running with scissors is joining us in October!
• if you’d like to play along, please feel free to add any movie-inspired sewing to the film petit flickr group. if you sew along with our film petit choices, we’d love to see that too. we’ll do a round up soon!
• if we really like your stuff, we may ask you to join us for a future film!
• 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

officially titled “Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain,” Amélie is a 2001 French film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet about a little girl that grew up within her own imagination.  she was a lonely child and a lonely adult too, until one day she is struck by the urge to become a “do gooder” and surprise others with small acts of kindness and love.  her shenanigans include stealing her father’s garden gnome and sending it around the world, guiding and describing the street scene to a blind man, and setting up two lonely hearts looking for love at her workplace.

as she does these good deeds for others, she chances upon a young man named Nino.  Nino is on his own quest to find an elusive mystery man as he reassembles discarded photo booth photos for his collection, and Amélie quickly falls in love…but she knows the way to get his attention is through the photo booth.

so she goes to a photo booth and takes photos of herself…

…and directs Nino to meet her…

…knowing that when they finally do meet, they will fall deeply in love and be together forever.

in the meantime, playing the game is just as fun…

i knew i wanted to sew Amélie herself.  as i watched the movie for the first time in years, i kept a notepad near me and sketched out my inspiration for what to sew for Em.  i noticed a few things about Amélie’s wardrobe (played by the lovely Audrey Tatou):

as i put these ideas together, i noticed that the design that emerged reminded me of the darling ranges dress (adult pattern) by megan nielsen!  i went with that inspiration.  mine is a mini version, with short sleeves and fewer buttons.

the button down front comes to a v at the neck (i drafted facings, a feat i’m geekily proud of – this pattern has eight different pieces!).  i stitched the facings down by hand for an invisible finish.  the sleeves puff slightly at the shoulder, and i made it in a red with white polka dot cotton (moda essential dot) to stick with her mostly-red color theme.  it closes with five white buttons.

the bodice attaches to a gathered skirt and has shirring in the back to add some shape while remaining very comfortable for my little gal.  i owe my newfound knowledge of facings and shirring to the washi dress, so it was fun to apply those techniques to create this pattern of my own.

Petite Amélie LOVES her red polka dotted dress, and sets out to make the world a better place…

…one traveling garden gnome at a time!  now scamper on over to probably actually to check out Gail’s gorgeous gnome dress!  i LOVE that she was inspired by the gnome.  the dress she made is amazing, you’ve got to see all the lovely details.  Amélie was impressed!

and to find out if Petite Amélie’s photo booth charms worked on Little Nino…head over to a little gray for some amazing sewing and a little bit of trickery!  Jessica had a genius collaboration idea with this one; you really don’t want to miss it!

it was SO fun planning this month’s post with both my co-host Jessica and Film Petit guest Gail - how great to have three people watch the same movie and be inspired by different parts of it!  thanks ladies, this was such a blast!

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here are the guidelines for film petit:

• every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) will sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love.
• if you’d like to play along, please feel free to add any movie-inspired sewing to the film petit flickr group.  if you sew along with our film petit choices, we’d love to see that too.  we’re close to doing a round up, so keep ‘em coming!
• if we really like your stuff, we may ask you to join us for a future film!
• 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.

PS – i took the indoor photos in the Ace Hotel lobby where there is a functioning vintage photo booth (!!), and the outdoor photos at Cool Cottons, a wonderful local fabric shop you should definitely visit if you have the chance.

PPS – Cherie from you & mie will be joining us in september!

i’m 30 now, and i’m finally over that. the sewing blog world obsesses over fabric lines and patterns and new creative ideas. i don’t blog to put out the thing that will get 100,000 hits. i blog because i’m a bit different, you’re a bit different, and we all support and inspire each other.

all of that is to say that today i’m super excited to announce a new ongoing, geeky sewing series i’m co-hosting with my buddy jessica from a little gray. she lives in ohio, i live in oregon, we’ve never met in person…but i consider her a good friend. you may recall i competed in project run & play season 3 last winter. well, jessica won season 4! we had been casual blog pals for a while before PR&P happened to either of us, but became pretty tight during her season. i had a really fun time cheering her on, sharing my mistakes to avoid, hearing about her designs as they evolved, getting photo previews, texting at 1am…

season 4 got a movie challenge, which made me insanely jealous because i LOVE movies. jessica made this drive outfit that totally blew me away. i mean, who has the cajones to sew from a new, violent, not-so-well-known movie like that, the skill to pull off a quilted, piped, satin driving jacket and oh by the way, she also whipped up some jeans?! jessica, that’s who. because she’s awesome.

once her season was over, we started chatting (texting constantly) about how it’d be fun to do something together where every so often, for our own amusement, we make outfits for our kids inspired by movies. we’re not talking about your classic “nice” movies here. we’re talking about kinda weird, indie, random movies inspiring outfits that are hilarious on little kids…and lo, a new series was born.

we’re calling it film petit and we’re just gonna launch right into it!

as soon as i saw the season 4 movie week challenge, i knew i wanted to sew ned plimpton/kingsley zissou from the life aquatic with steve zissou, directed by wes anderson. ned plimpton is a pilot, and steve zissou’s adult son (allegedly). steve tells him “i would have named you kingsley, if i’d had a say in it,” so kingsley it is. a good part of the movie is ned/kingsley and steve developing an awkward father-son relationship with each other (as they hunt down the fabled jaguar shark). i didn’t have time to sew this during the sewalong, but luckily it’s jessica’s favorite too and she was happy to indulge me now!

my husband and i also share a love of movies, including this one. when i was pregnant with Em, i bought a light blue sleeper and red infant hat for him to open at christmas. that was 2007!

now that we have a 19 month old son, i figured it would be most fitting to make him the full zissou uniform. here he is next to the real kingsley zissou, played by owen wilson.

wes anderson is famous for his careful attention to detail. i tried to get my little outfit as close as i could while making a few intentional changes (shorts instead of pants, kona cotton instead of polyester, no gun strapped to his thigh), but i did miss one major detail that’s driving me a bit crazy. i’m sure you spotted right away that their stoplights don’t match. AAAARGH!

i used the oliver + s sketchbook shirt and shorts pattern in the 12-18 month size as the base, appliqueing double stripes to the placket, sleeves, and sides of the shorts using steam-a-seam lite and topstitching them in place.  i chopped a few inches off both the sleeves and the shorts to give them a more retro look, and bound the sleeves (and used binding on the shorts hem too) for accuracy and to reduce bulk.  i added epaulets at the shoulders and a team zissou patch to the pocket.

his cap is the family sweater hat pattern from handmade home by soulemama, which i cut several inches longer than the pattern and folded it up to create a cuff. i hand-tacked it in a few places, then appliqued the felt stoplight on top. the hat is made out of an old tank top of mine (same one as strong boy).

here’s mini kingsley on a ping island rescue mission…

getting towed into port-au-patois harbor…

and relaxing with a snack at the zissou compound…

i finished hand sewing the collar the night before we left for hawaii…so worth it for the perfect setting, right?

head on over to a little gray to check out jessica’s version of how this series came to be, giggle-out-loud at her steveZ swimsuit, and admire her adorable little crayon ponyfish dress! so, so great. of course she sewed for both kids…that’s the mark of a champion right there.

***

here’s how film petit will work.

• every month or so, jessica and i will sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love.
• starting next month, we’re going to invite a rotating third blogger to join us! we’ll decide on the movie together, link to each other, and it’ll be fun to have a fresh face sewing with us every time. our friend gail from probably actually will be joining us in august!
• we started a film petit flickr group to celebrate the love of sewing inspired by movies, and have added a few of our past projects in there (i know, i sewed a dorothy outfit – i’d only been sewing a few months, gimme a break!).
• feel free to add any movie-inspired sewing you’ve done in the past, and if you decide to sew along with our film petit movies, we’d love to see that too! once we get a good number of projects in there, we’ll start doing roundups (or maybe ask you to join us for a future film!).
• this is a pretty relaxed series, really the only rule is to make handmade outfits for kids based on films you love. if you have any questions, please let either of us know!

PS – do you ever wish you could breathe underwater?