Film Petit #5: Moonrise Kingdom

Suzy Bishop. Oh to be Suzy Bishop for a day. She's misunderstood. She's fearless. She's a collector. She goes berzerk. She has one of the best blue steels ever.

Sam: What happened to your hand?

Suzy: I got hit in the mirror.

Sam: Really? How did that happen?

Suzy: I lost my temper at myself.

Suzy is played by Kara Hayward in Wes Anderson's most recent offering, Moonrise Kingdom. You forget when you are watching this film that these are just two kids acting in a movie. Like any Anderson film, you enter their world completely and remember the pain and rebellion and excitement of childhood love.

Suzy and Sam Shakusky both live on the island of New Penzance and meet very briefly when Sam- a khaki scout- sees Suzy in a church pageant. They begin writing to each other and hatch a plan to both run away from their dysfunctional home situations to be together.

Sam: I love you, but you don't know what you're talking about.

Suzy: I love you too.

They have a long day of freedom on the island together. Relying on Sam's scouting skills and Suzy's adventurous imagination, they carve out their own little kingdom in a secluded cove on the island. But the next morning they are found by the well-intentioned but mostly incompetent adults in their lives. Being together after that becomes a bit trickier. I can't really give away any more of the plot here... but if you haven't seen it, you need to. Very soon.

Suzy: Was he a good dog?

Sam: Who's to say? But he didn't deserve to die.

This little dress was made out of thrifted women's blouse and mostly made up by me. I started with a basic a-line pattern shape and then added long sleeves and a self-drafted collar. That part was actually easier than I thought it would be, but I should have tacked down the collar in the back. I used the front of the shirt for the back piece so that I could use the blouse buttons for closure. Really simple, I just had to add one more button at the top, a unique vintage beauty that a blogging friend gave me. (Thanks Destri!)

 The dress has a white lining, and verges on too short, but I figure Elsie is still at the age where that is totally adorable (19 months.) And it's true to Suzy the smoldering rebel, of course. (Although I will say that when she is Suzy's age, Elsie MAY NOT wear skirts that short!)

I was lucky to kind these perfect knee socks at GapKids. But the smallest size was a 4, so I had to chop the entire foot off and sew up the bottom for a good fit. I love them. She's going to wear them with everything in the spring.

Sam: Why do you always use binoculars?

Suzy: It helps me see things closer. Even if they're not very far away. I pretend it's my magic power.

Sam: That sound like poetry. Poems don't always have to rhyme you know. They're just supposed to be creative. 

There is a scene in the movie when Sam and Suzy are camping together where he makes her pair of earrings out of iridescent green beetles and fish hooks. But her ears aren't pierced, so she lets him do it with the earrings. Hardcore love stupidity. I attempted to make a hair accessory inspired by the earrings, but, a) She has never worn anything in her hair and wouldn't keep it on, b) it turned out ginormous, and c) I shoulda put it on elastic for a headband. Also, it's really huge.

Those. Knees.

This was such a fun Film Petit for all of us. Yes, we have officially done more Wes Anderson films than not, so maybe we should just call it Wes Petit. Just kidding. Half. But if you have never seen a single one of his films, you should see this one. (Also, January's FP is definitely not Wes. It's a favorite from your childhood. I know that about you.)

Now go see Kristin's amaaaaaaazing work. She did both a Suzy look and a Sam look and she nailed it. Dead. 

And our guest this month is the super talented Robin, who also nailed it. She made a look inspired by Bill Murray's hilarious character Walt Bishop, AND a dress inspired by the khaki scout tents. So creative. Thanks for playing along with us this month Robin!

If you are new to Film Petit, the basic idea is that Kristin and I and a different guest each month all sew and post outfits for our kids from a movie we love. Not a kid movie, just a great movie we love with lots of creative inspiration. You can see all my previous FP posts here. 

And as always, we'd love to see your movie-inspired kid clothes in the Film Petit Flickr group.

Laura Bishop: Poor Suzy. Why is everything so hard for you?

Suzy: We're in love. We just want to be together. What's wrong with that?

Film Petit: Zoolander

2001. Freshman year of college for me, and the peak of that period in our rich American cinematic history when funny things that should have been only as long as an SNL sketch got made into full length features. It was the the hey-day of my generation's stupid comedy. Jim Carrey was starting to do horror movies and trying to win awards, meanwhile Will Ferrell was in everything I called funny.

My roommate and I (hi Kira!!) probably watched Zoolander twice a week that year, at least as background noise to homework. And yeah, it was on VHS. (Damn, I'm old. I don't even know who the new Will Ferrell is right now, and I don't care.)

If you weren't a college freshman in this ridiculous time and you didn't have a fine appreciation for the types of movies I'm talking about, then proceed with caution. This isn't one of those FP's where we stand convicted that everyone's life would be made richer by viewing the movie we are paying homage to. If you see it for the first time now, you may think it's the dumbest thing you've ever seen. Or you may love it. But there are no guarantees. So let's proceed with the one-liners. 

Derek Zoolander is played by Ben Stiller as a "really really ridiculously good-looking" male model at the peak of his career. These ain't no Slashies. He's expecting to win his fourth male model of the year award, but he's upset by rookie model Hansel, played by Owen Wilson, so hot right now. After that and the devastation of losing his three male model roommates in a tragic gasoline fight accident, he decides to retire from modeling. Until designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell) finally wants to hire Derek to be the face of his new "homeless fashion" collection. But it's all a plot to brainwash Derek to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia (the claymation dude) because he's outlawed child labor. "My name is little Cleetus!"

Oh, and there's a Derek/ Hansel walk-off, judged by David Bowie. "Listen to your friend Billy Zane."

The scene I reference in the graveyard is actually the funeral for Derek's three gas-fighting, Wham-listening, orange-mocha-frappucino-enjoying friends. Derek is giving the Eugoogoly, when he is upstaged by Hansel's entourage entering. So hott right now. He's wearing this ridiculous shirt and I just knew I had to make one for Elsie. 

I used the Bimma Sweater pattern by Lou Bee Clothing. I loved it! This is such a cute and original style. You can it with a big cowl attached, a hood, or a smaller shawl collar. I used the shawl option in a size 3 for this, but I can't wait to try the other styles too. I found this weird fuzzy yarn at Joann and just hand stitched it sloppily onto the shirt. I love the way it just hangs haphazardly on the sides. Elsie was mostly jumping off gravestones, but she occasionally found time to work her Hansel shades for the camera too. 

Which reminds me, am I a horrible person for taking my kids to the graveyard for pictures? And is it weird that they enjoyed this setting far more than any other photo shoot ever? They were running around hunting ghosts the whole time. Oy. 

Although he's not a big part of the funeral scene, I really wanted to include Jerry Stiller's character Maury Ballstein. He owns Derek's modeling agency, Ball's Models and is working in cahoots with Mugatu. And he's got a prostate the size of a honeydew apparently, but I didn't use that for Hendrix's acting notes.

Maury is always wearing some sort of crazy tracksuit, even if it's a gold one to a big awards ceremony. Alas, Joann had no gold velour! Not even an ugly paisley print. But I was set on velour. 

So with brown and teal velour, it turned into something off the set of Freaks and Geeks, but the styling is all Maury. By the way, velour is not the most fun I've ever had on my sewing machine. Use a lot of pins, iron on a low setting, and turn your presser foot pressure down really low. Those are just some tips, because I know Hendrix is gonna be bringing velour back on the sewing blogger scene. He loves this outfit. He said he couldn't wait to wear it to school to show his friends. 

"It's a casserole Sheila! IT'LL KEEP!"

The pants are size 6 Oliver & S Art Museum trousers. Did Liesl ever envision them in velour with piping down the sides? I don't know, but they really are a great basic pant shape for this kind of stuff. Of course I left off all pockets. Welts in velour? Ouch. 

The shirt is size 6-7 raglan tee from the book Sewing for Boys, with added front kangaroo pocket, waist and sleeve bands,  and "collar." I put that in quotes because it ended up being a disaster that could barely fit over Hendrix's head. I was sewing late at night and didn't want to figure out how to do the placket this top needed. So I just stuck the collar right on the neckline. I'll take it off later and just put a ribbed neckband on so he can  actually wear it often. Let this be a lesson: some of what we do here on Film Petit is poorly sewn and just for effect. Or maybe I should day some of what I do on Film Petit.  

My favorite thing is that early 80's knit piping on the shoulders. Knit piping is hard to find, but I actually got this stuff when I visited Kristin in Portland this summer. 

It's been a while since the last Film Petit, and I forgot how crazy fun it is! Thanks to Kristin for kicking my ass back into gear. Her kids reenacted the walk-off scene between Derek and Hansel and they are working it. Hilarious. Ambi-turning and everything.

And this time we had SO much fun working with Rae as our guest! Of course, everything she does is stellar, so seeing her take the idea of FP and run with it was such an honor. Her son Elliot knocked it out of the park with award show Hansel. THAT COAT!!! Check it out here.


Now that we are back in the habit, we have a couple more Film Petit plans in the work. To see all my older FP posts, go here, and see all of Kristin's here.

Thanks for being such great Film Petit fans! You guys make it so fun for us when you get excited about these posts :)

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. 

Film Petit: Fantastic Mr. Fox

"If what I think is happening here is happening... it better not be." -Mrs. Fox

It's Film Petit day!!! Yes, we came back to another Wes Anderson film. We just couldn't stay away that long. But Fantastic Mr. Fox is the only animated film Wes has done and the only one that even Hendrix is a huge fan of. He was very excited about this month's look.

The movie is stop motion animated. That combined with Wes' attention to detail really makes it visually stunning. I love watching the DVD extras about the animation process and just how much he was involved in every single little decision. He even acted out each character's parts himself on video just for the animators to learn how each character moved and acted.

My look is a little less literal this time, but I associate it loosely with the character Ash. Ash is Mr. Fox's son. He's grumpy, he spits, he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. He never seems to be able to get his father's attention in the ways he wants to. He is probably summed up best in a conversation with his mother in which she says he is just 'different,' as they all are in the Fox family. He responds with, "I don't want to be different. I want to be an athlete."

There are so many themes and lines and quirky Wes-isms that I love about this movie. The way the characters eat like wild animals even though they live and act like people, the way they say "cuss" in place of every actual cuss word, and all the capers stealing from the most hilarious trio of antagonists.

But my favorite scene is definitely the ending. SUCH a great ending. After being under siege by the three farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean, Mr. Fox finds a sewer entry into a great big supermarket after closing, filled with everything they could ever need. So of course, Mr. Fox makes a toast, and then they just dance. They dance to Let Her Dance by Bobby Fuller, which is just perfect. Every time we watch it at home, Hendrix immediately gets up at the end and shakes it all over the place. You can see he had no problem doing that in our actual supermarket. 

I guess I should tell you a little about the clothes. The pants are Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop's new skinny jeans pattern, the very same I made for Elsie a couple weeks ago. I definitely love a good unisex pattern, and this one will get lots of use this fall. The fits is great and the pattern spares no detail, which really makes them look pro. But my favorite thing about these is the bright electric orange hue. It's fine wale corduroy from Sewn, and Hendrix pulls it off like a pro. I couldn't love these crazy pants any more. 

The shirt is the raglan pattern from the book Sewing For Boys, made with a couple up cycled tees. (And I put the seams on the inside.) I hand stitched the entire diagram from the movie that explains the rules of Whack Bat. It's a game that Wes made up just for the movie, kind of a baseball/cricket hybrid where the players hit a flaming pinecone. I realize that it's the kind of thing that no one will recognize, not even most people who have seen the movie. But you know that I like my kid wearing weird references no one gets... that's definitely the fun of Film Petit sewing.

Whack Bat Rules

"Basically, there's three grabbers, three taggers, five twig runners, and a player at Whackbat. Center tagger lights a pine cone and chucks it over the basket and the whack-batter tries to hit the cedar stick off the cross rock. Then the twig runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls hotbox. Finally, you count up however many score-downs it adds up to and divide that by nine." 

"There's a lot of attitudes going on around here... don't let me get one." -Ash

Now you absolutely HAVE TO go see Kristin's amazing Mr. and Mrs. Fox outfits. She seriously kills me. Dead.

And we had so much fun planning and previewing all month with the super-talented Cherie. Her little foxy look is just stunningly creative and beautiful, it cannot be missed. Thanks so much for sewing with us Cherie!

Film Petit #6: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Everyone loves Ferris. We've done Film Petit 6 times now, and if you are a fan, you know we don't always restrict ourselves to choosing super popular movies. But who doesn't love Ferris Bueller's Day Off? That person probably shouldn't be trusted. 

You know the story. Ferris fakes sick to get out of school, then schemes Cameron and Sloane out too. A day of shenanigans ensues while Ferris' jealous sister and doofus principal try to bust him. Is this the 80's greatest teenage trio of mischief? Undoubtedly.

My favorite scene has got to be the parade in downtown Chicago. Ferris randomly gets up on a float, lip-syncing Danka Schoen and Twist and Shout to the entire city. People even break out in spontaneous choreography in the streets, something that has pretty much been my greatest lifelong dream. (I mean, I used to think about that as a high schooler on a daily basis, way before flash mobs were cool.)

The conversation that Cameron and Sloane are having about life in the midst of all this is part of the genius that is a John Hughes movie: equal parts full-stop fun, teenage angst, and social commentary. You should probably relive the scene right now. 

This time I knew I needed to copy Ferris' outfit pretty accurately. The pants are not gloriously pleated like his, but even with the more modern fit, I think it's pretty obvious who Hendrix is emulating here, wallet chain and all. They are the Oliver & S After School Pants in size 5. It's hard to tell from the pattern cover that they make great boy pants, but I saw a few pairs other people had made for boys and decided to try it. I love them. The fit is cool, but really relaxed so that he won't grow out of them too fast. I used a bottom weight gray cotton from Joann and they have a slight stretch, making them very comfy and easy for play. Or twisting and shouting.

For the sweater vest I used Blank Slate's Cool Cardigan pattern in a modified size 5. It's a great pattern, I love how there is no guess work in how much ribbing you need to cut. I left off the sleeves, cut the V in the front a little deeper, and made the waistband tighter so it would be nice and blousey. The animal print knit is from Joann as well. It's hilarious on Hendrix and he loves it. He wants to wear it all the time. I might have to end up "coming out" to the other preschool parents about my strange habit of sewing him clothes to dress him up and photograph him in to look like movie characters. Oh nooooo...

We took these photos at Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati. (I did it all by myself this time, without dragging Nick into it!) People definitely knew what we were doing, but the why was probably a puzzler. Anyway, he did pretty good getting his twist on. He is still singing the song and calling himself Ferris, or sometimes Berris.

Now run fast to see Shannon's amazing little Sloane. Her mini fringe jacket is pretty much the cutest thing ever! We are so glad to have her and her super-talent playing along with us. 

And of course, Cameron is very well represented by Kristin's little guy. Her stencil work is amazing and she took the cutest pictures in a museum. I love it!

Can you imagine if we could have gotten all three of these kids pictured together in the museum? These are the weird things I dream about. 

If you are new to Film Petit, let me catch you up:

• 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.
• Next month we are so excited that Sabra will be our special guest! She is so awesome, especially at the boy sewing. You are gonna die when you see the movie choice :)
• You can see all my past Film Petit posts right here. 
• We have the most fun ever.