Film Petit #4: Classic Hitchcock

Admittedly, I was not a Hitchcock fan before Kristin and Jessica wanted to do  a special Hitchcock edition of FP for Halloween. I just hadn't watched any of it before. But now I get it. I've been eating up episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents all week long. Such a strange and interesting genius, and completely entertaining storyteller. 

If you haven't seen it, The Birds is the tale of Meredith Daniels who follows near stranger Mitch Brenner into the town of Bodega Bay, California. And then birds start randomly attacking everyone. They flock the town, join forces across species, and just cause general mayhem and confusion. The movie is vague until the very end about why this is all happening, which really just adds to the charming Hitchcock creepiness. 

I was inspired by the Daniels character, played by Tippi Hedren. She's beautiful, she's blonde, and she is the best kind of 1960's overdramatic. The way Hitchcock scenes all end with those horrified expressions and fingertips in the mouth- she perfected it.  I just love the minty green suit she wears through most of the movie and I wanted to create a modern kid version of it for Elsie. 

The coat and the skirt are both made with light green fashion suiting from Joann and a Kokka Trefle Japanese print called County Fair that I got at Whipstitch in Atlanta over the summer. It's absolutely the perfect lining with that green color, and also a small nod to another Hitchcock film- Strangers on a Train. 

For the coat I used the Dear My Kids Stylish Coat pattern, which was great. I made a size 2, but cut about an inch and half off the bottom, and it fits perfectly. I added the black piping, which adds such a great pop to the muted green. I always say, piping makes everything better. I also added a layer of flannel for interlining, just to make it a little warmer. 

The skirt is the Oliver & S Sailboat skirt. Why haven't I made this before? I love it, it will be so cute with tights this fall. (It was 80 here yesterday when I took these pictures!) The suiting is a little flimsy so you can see the front facing through it, but I still love the shape and the peeks of that fair print on the side panels. 

 In one of the most memorable scenes, Tippi is caught in a phone booth while the town is under bird attack. They are diving and pecking at her and the cheesy effects are just fantastic.

 They are swarming... Can the different species really be flocking together?

How will I ever get out of this death box? 

Run for it little Tippi! 

I had a more creepy feel in mind for this photo shoot, but my girl wouldn't stop smiling the whole time! Can't complain too much about that cheesy grin though. We'll work on her Tippi faces. 

Kristin's photos this time around nail the creepy/cute combination for sure. Her post is SO much fun and you can't miss her tribute to Psycho. 

And Jessica from Running With Scissors knocks it out as our guest this time. She does her take on the Birds with a boy outfit, and her RJ is quite the little actor. You have to go see!

You can find past installments of Film Petit here:

The Life Aquatic 

Amelie

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Lastly, don't forget to add any movie-inspired kids clothes and costumes to our Film Petit Flickr group. 

(p.s. thank you Nick for the awesome pictures and Nathan for the camera!)