Baby Contest 2013

Okay, how have I not blogged this little bit of goodness yet?  Every year I make a costume for the Freedom Festival Baby Contest.  It was really early this year.  Usually it's more toward the end of June than the beginning.  Anyway.  This little Uncle Sam costume was just begging to be made.  It's the same pattern that I used for Q-ball's leprechaun costume, but this time I followed the pattern almost exactly.

image via betsyvintage.com

The picture's a little fuzzy, but you get the idea.  I also really love the little policeman uniform on the top left.  It's pretty adorable.  Maybe next year...hmm...

I started with the idea of making it look identical to the pattern.  But when you want fabric that is simple red and white stripes or blue with white stars then it will be impossible to find.  I had some solid red fabric that I cut out for the overalls, intending to print with white stripes.  As I was getting ready to start drawing lines on freezer paper to make the template I realized that it would be too time (and sanity) consuming.  So I made a run to JoAnn's and got the closest I could find.  I'm not disappointed with the results.

The only real change I made to the pattern was adding piping.  I just like the extra touch and definition it gives the jacket.  The collar would have gotten lost without it.

I modified and cut out a pattern for the hat.  After the first seam I saw that it wasn't going to work as I'd hoped.  Rather than spend the time tweaking and adjusting I decided to take a little shopping trip to a place I was confident would have something I could work with.  It's all about the dollar store hat, baby.  He hates it but the photographer was able to get in a couple of shots where he doesn't look like somebody has just questioned his sister's honor.

The bow tie was one I improvised.  It was a piece about 10" x 6".  Then I folded it lengthwise (hot dog) and sewed down the side.  After a turn and press I folded it widthwise (hamburger) to form a loop and sewed down the side.  I made the center section the same as the bow, just smaller.  Then the bow was pinched in the middle and slid into the center section loop.  The whole thing was attached to some elastic so it would stretch over his head.  I'm all about easy right now.

Q-ball was entered into the age category and the costume category.  There is a rule that the same child cannot win in two different categories.  Last year he got first place in costume and second in age.  There were no other 0-3 month boys in the costume category so he won by default.  In the age category there was only one other boy entered.  Not exactly a lot of competition.  This year they added superlatives (best smile, cutest hair, etc.) in each age group and the costume category included both boys and girls of the same age.  In the age category he got biggest eyes.  That made me laugh, as I don't think his eyes are particularly big.  I was surprised there was any prize at all, as Q-ball wasn't especially friendly with the judges and that is a big part of the criteria they list online.

The costume judge was super impressed with his costume.  She totally loved it, maybe even as much as I do.  When it came time to announce the costume winners I was a bit disappointed when his name wasn't called for second or third place, but two little girl names were called.  Girl costumes are always so much more fun than boy costumes.  I was sure that with the combination of boys and girls that he hadn't won anything.  That left me really surprised when they called his name for first!  Woohoo!  I know it's shallow and petty, but I felt particularly accomplished knowing that he got first place in a field of more than one.

So now I'll be deciding whether or not to dress him up in his costume again for the 4th of July.  Probably not because it'll be too hot with the jacket.  But I'll probably put on a onesie under the overalls so he gets another wearing out of it.  There is also a little children's parade the weekend before the 4th that I'm hoping we'll attend.  It could be fun for the girls.  I'll put them in the shirts they got from the scraps leftover from Q-ball's costume.  I over-estimated my fabric amounts.  Score for the girls!  And here's one last peek at the world's cutest Uncle Sam.