Sew it's Santa

Ho Ho Ho!

The raw materials

I knew I might have bitten off more than I could chew when the lady at the cutting counter asked me what I was making with all the red material.
When I told her I was going to make a Santa suit, she said, "My, you're brave!"
I kind of wondered why she said that.
I mean, how hard could it be? A pair of pants and a coat with fur trim, maybe a hat with a pom-pom?
I soon discovered that making a Santa suit requires a LOT of time and figuring.
First of all, it's more than the outfit. It's the hat and the gloves and the boots and the beard and the belt and the bells on a leather strap.
Secondly, Marc and I had different ideas about how finely turned out we wanted Santa to be.
I'm thinking, soft, red fabric and plush whitish fur.
He's thinking a plush velvet and fine, expensive trimming.
I'm looking at getting away with about $100 for the whole shebang.

Can you tell who it is?

He's looking at $90 boots on the internet and a beard and wig that he can feel good about wearing.
By my calculations, we were heading toward a $500 ensemble.
I also wanted to be able to sew this thing together.
So I got the fabric I wanted even though Marc was dubious.
He surveyed the coat with suspicion until I told him it still needed the shoulder pads.
"That might help," he said.
He looked at the pants with similar reservation and suggested suspenders would be a good idea.
We compromised on the boots. He settled for snow boats he already had and I added cuffs to the pants.
I made a vinyl belt with a shiny diamond buckle after we scoped out what was available and not.
We borrowed some bells.
He bought white gloves from an open Santa suit at the costume shop and cleaned off the scuff marks.
I made a pretty good pom-pom for the hat.

Santa's hat and belt

It's been a journey as I tried to maintain my regular schedule and work full-time in the Santa suit factory.
I cleaned up all kinds of bits of fake fur which sheds like crazy.
I cut, interfaced, sewed on velcro through stubborn layers, made pockets, ironed, turned cuffs around when the fur went the wrong way.
It's finally finished and I'm really rather pleased with the result.
Now I just have to make sure no little untrained kid sits on Santa's lap with sticky hands.