This will be my baby's first Halloween, and I wanted his costume to be unique. There are a handful of traditional baby Halloween costumes - a peapod, various animals, a pumpkin...they've all been done before. My baby was not going to end up like the others, no matter how much my mother lobbied for an adorable costume. When an idea finally came to me, I was giddy with excitement. It was perfect. My baby was going to be...
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a.k.a. MRSA.
Right now, you're either thinking I'm crazy, or wondering what the heck MRSA is. MRSA is a type of staph infection, only it's resistant to the traditional antibiotics used for treatment. It can be hospital-acquired or community-acquired (each results in a different kind of infection) and it is potentially deadly, as I nearly found out in August of 2006. Since then, I've had it two more times. I am fascinated by this "superbug" and have studied it extensively. It only made sense that I should turn my child into something that has had such a profound impact on my life. I would make his costume myself, modeling it after the stuffed animal representation of the bacterium. Yes, they make stuffed animal bacteria. They're awesome.
All I'd need to do is get a pattern for a baby bunting outfit and hat, make a few modifications, and design a cape. Should be easy, right? Technically, I had never made an outfit before. I'm not the craftiest chick, but I've created a few things in the past: quilts, no-sew fleece blankets, quillows, and scarves. I can use my sewing machine. How hard could it be to make a baby outfit? Turns out, very.
I came home with my yard of tan fleece, some black for the cape, and a couple of large googley eyes. I opened up the envelope containing the pattern. I cut out the paper shapes, traced them onto the back side of the fleece, and cut the fabric out. The pieces looked pretty good and I gave myself a mental pat on the back for succeeding thus far. Next, I opened the instructions. They were completely foreign; I'd never used a pattern before. I pinned one side of the hat to the center band and grinned excitedly - everything matched up and sewing it would be easy. My happiness was short-lived. I realized that I had pinned it with the wrong side of the fleece facing outward. I pulled the pins out and started over, calling it a night when I had finished.
Tonight, I picked it up and immediately got to work stitching the two pieces together. It looked amazing. I added the other side and the whole thing looked like a little hat. I couldn't have been more excited. I was doing it! And then came the hat band around the bottom...I couldn't figure out the instructions, and I had no idea what "stitch in the ditch" meant. Stuck, I moved on to the bunting outfit. I didn't get far though - I realized I forgot to reverse the pattern when I cut the right sides of everything. I had two left-side front panels and two left sleeve panels, front and back. Awesome. I thought I might have enough leftover fleece to cut them correctly later, so I figured I'd work at the one side I could actually do. I hemmed the mitten and the sleeve and sewed the two together. It looked alright. Then I looked at the instructions and realized I needed a zipper, snap tape, some kind of hemming tape, and much more sewing skill than I had ever acquired. I surveyed my progress, counted the days until Halloween, and then wadded it all up and stuffed it back into the Jo-Ann's bag. Original, I am. A seamstress, I am not. But at least I can honestly say I tried.
FAIL.
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