Film Petit #8: Back to the Future

Wait, stop. Press play:


 


Ok now you are ready for this, on your mental skateboard.

Like many people my age, I watched this movie a lot as a kid. I remember once when I was four years old, I was watching my two preteen brothers have a mostly friendly wrestle in the living room. This was not an unusual sight in my house, but for some reason I decided to feign indignation at these shenanigans. I marched right up to them and pointed one finger out in front of me, leaning my whole body into it like a blossoming little George McFly. "Hey you! Get your damn hands off of him!" I don't think I knew which brother should get their damn hands off of which, but I knew I was keeping the peace and standing up for justice and possibly saving people in photographs from being erased. Of course a discussion followed, and my mom wanted to know where I heard that word. When she heard my answer, I wasn't really in trouble any more. Then I told her she was my density.

 Ok, maybe the density part was a stretch, but I remember being a pretty cool four year old, so it's entirely possible. The rest of that story is completely true and one of my earliest memories. It seems likely that this movie taught me how to measure a movie's worth for the rest of my life. The gold standard.

So this is my little Doc Brown. I wanted to do Doc all along, but at first I was thinking of Hendrix. Obviously, Elsie is much more Docish. It shoulda been the obvious choice. 

Crazy hair, naturally, but check out the crazy eye:

Is an all-white summer jumpsuit that zips up the front the most practical Film Petit clothing I've ever made? No, probably the least. But it cracks me up, so I'll still find occasion to make her wear it. I started with the new Oliver & S Pinwheel tunic and then extended the top straight down into shorts instead of the a-line shape of the pattern. I installed the zipper in front, trimmed the neck and sleeves in bias from orange Lizzy House Jewels, and then sewed some thin elastic into the waist. I made the whole thing from an old men's button up in the closet and the rest of the supplies I had on hand, so at least my impracticality didn't cost anything.

The 88 is embroidered on the front pocket in black perle cotton from Sewn. Of course, this is the exact speed required for a DeLorean to time travel. (Everybody knows that.)

The radiation symbol was painted on the back with a freezer paper stencil. Without it, this would just be a pretty cute little romper. The fit needed a tad more length in the body, but that would be easy to fix and make her one out of pretty fabric. I love the ease of the zipper in front. 

I took these pictures in the middle of the square in our neighborhood in Cincinnati. There is no clock tower, but it's kinda got the quaint small town thing going on, and the 20th Century Theater in the background is very retro. I could totally picture an Enchantment Under the Sea dance being held there. 

My favorite scene in Back to the Future is at the dance when Marty gets on stage and starts playing metal for the high school kids in 1955, and they all just stare at him like he has three heads. I may have fallen slightly in love with Michael J. Fox.

"I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it."

Now go see Kristin's very creative interpretation of the DeLorean! I love that she picked the time machine as a character. It looks very BTTF, but not like a kid dressed as a car. Well, just go see.

And we have had so much fun working with Dana from Made on this one! She brought her usual clean and stylish skills to Film Petit and her little Owen is the perfect Marty McFly. Thanks Dana!!

If you are new to Film Petit, here's how it works:

• Roughly once a month, Kristin and I will post FP on the same day, along with one special guest. We all choose a movie together and sew clothing for our kids inspired by the characters or something else in that movie. They are not kids movies, they are just movies we love to love. 
• We usually don't tell the movie until the post goes up, but we love for people to sew along and make stuff from their favorites too. You can post your photos in the flickr group.
• You can see all my past Film Petit posts right here, and Kristin's here. 
• Next time we are being joined by Delia! We love Delia!
• We have the most fun ever.