Peggy Sue Throw Me Something Mister!

Whew!  I'm exhausted.  Even if I could go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans tomorrow, I don't think I'd have the energy.  I'd want to be one of those rich and famous people who get to watch the parade from a lace iron balcony while drinking mint juleps.  

I've been working almost round the clock on Peggy Sue's costume and just finished it this afternoon.  Once I got the design of what I wanted for her in my head, I went full speed ahead.  

I'd orginally intended on making her a short, puffy jester romper, but couldn't figure out how to make the diamonds match up in the center seam.  I'd purchased this fabric from Spoonflower earlier in the month and they must have had some on hand since it arrived within three days, rather than three weeks.  Typically, you order the fabric, then they have to make it up.  Print design on the fabric you've chosen.

This shiny satin is gorgeous, but what a devil it was to work with.  My hands are dry and chapped from washing them so much while working with silks.  You get one dirt smudge and the costume is toast.  So my poor hands, and the pins, kept making tiny tugs on the fabric.  I wiggle and smooth those areas if they happen and the fabric usually settles back to pretty.

Peggy Sue's costume is called Throw Me Something Mister! as she's wearing it on the sidelines of the parade, among the throngs of costumed partiers.  She's a child and she's having the time of her life.  Unlike Cissy whose costume was sheer elegance, and Mignonette whose costume was created for a late 19th century Mardi Gras - even if her companion was contemporary.  

I'm tired and I haven't much to add about Mardi Gras, but I do have one story of family history yet to share.

That summer when I was 10 years old, and spent it with my mother's family in New Orleans, there was one outing midway through the summer that I'll never forget.

I'd met so many people.  Maybe they were meeting me, too, but I hadn't met any extended family until one day we went to visit Uncle Mel's mother.  She was the grandmother of the three cousins I spent the summer with in Kenner.  They called her Granny Gorbach and if my memory serves, she lived near City Park.  Why do I think that?  Because we went there after visiting her to see the giant trees and get shaved ice drinks.  It was always hot and humid, even when it rained, which was often.

Granny Gorbach was a seamstress for the Mardi Gras floats.  She lived in a tiny home that was entirely her studio.  Large, elaborate costumes filled her living room which she used as her studio, design, and sewing center.  I was not able to touch them, but I'm sure my eyes were as big as saucers.

What was Mardi Gras to a ten-year-old who lived in California?  Something other people did.  A big mystery.  I never experienced anything like it in my short life and haven't to this day.  But I got a behind the scenes look at what Rex would wear that year, and some gowns that the women would wear.  

Granny Gorbach was a lovely woman and gave us cookies and lemonade and made us stay clear of the costumes.  I don't think she was well.  It was a very short visit, and I doubt if I were to ask any of the cousins today, that they would remember that day.  I wish someone had taken a photo of me with her and the costumes.

Later as the youngest of the three cousins grew up, Paula would take over the reins and continue the tradition of sewing the costumes for Mardi Gras.  I'd love to track her down and talk with her.  I might try that soon.  It would be calling different krewes and companies that design for the costumes, but maybe, just maybe someone might know her.  Or may have known her.

I finally got the cut bead necklaces to glue together with the glue gun.  You have to be really fast to stick the beads together before the glue cools.  Everything about this costume was fast.  I had to just do it and not think about it too much.  

I used the diamonds as edges for the costume by lining the satin with black silk.  The silk stabilized the satin and helped in the extreme as I sewed along the points and turned them inside out.  The points are trimmed with little pom-poms to match.

I am absolutely in love with Louis and Gaston, the alligators I met through study and books, so Peggy Sue needed one.  This little stuffed gator is called Louis and wears a little Rex crown.  He and two other gators were strung on a necklace for fans of some sports team in Florida.  He's a plush mini and works perfectly as Peggy Sue's companion for the parade.

I wanted so badly to make her a jester's hat but didn't have the time to fool with it.  Ladies do wear jester headbands, and this is what I chose to make.  The band itself, is covered in the satin and the jester horns are made from silk.  The gold crown detail is leather.  Two little bells trim the horns.

Peggy Sue with her haul of beads.

I used her black slipper flats for her shoes and wrapped them with silk ribbon ties.

I have had a wonderful two and half weeks, or has it been three? creating these three costumes.   I love Cissy's best, but then I love her elegance.  Mignonette's is a fantasy and Peggy Sue is all about fun.  Throw me something mister!

Next year I'll make the King Cake for Blaire.  When Mardi Gras, the 21rst of this month, tomorrow, is over, it is time to Lent.  I'm going to take a few days to put all the beads and feathers and fabrics away and clean this house of mine.  I don't even want to think about my next project, but I know I'll do something for Easter.  Maybe a couple of things.  One thing I'm aware of though is that I should never let too much time go by in between projects.  I lose the rhythm and it's hard to get back.  I just need a break.

I'm sharing the Louis paper doll again because I love it and because of Peggy Sue's Louis.  I also found a menu cover from 1916 that's very cool.  I hope you'll enjoy Peggy Sue's Throw Me Something Mister costume.

Until we meet again!  Melissa