The Making of a Super Hero Final Chapter

And here, he is! Super hero costume is complete.  Thanks to several hours of patient sewing, X-Libris made his appearance with super shield and mask.  And I think he looks fabulous!  Follow X's story by being his fan on Facebook.

The Making of a Super Hero Step 1

Clearly, our super hero cannot be seen in a Chicago Bears uniform. Being the creative seamstress that I think I am, I envisioned greater things for him.  I needed some guidance though.  What one image would both portray a superhero yet, be obvious to the general audience of college students that will be seeing him?  What better group to address my question than my co-workers.  This became the topic of casual conversation for about a week at work.  Finally, a decision was reached.  The upcoming blockbuster super hero movie, Captain America, became the obvious choice.  Its release will be shortly before our event and with that movie still on the minds of many, a costume and other accouterments reminiscent of Captain America should be just the ticket!  So, how to turn a football uniform into super hero costume?

Hmmm, no problem!

I will spare you all of the nit-picky details that I have labored through and worried over.  My inflatable was sewn out of nylon or polyester fabric.  If he was sewn together, then he can be altered by someone with some sewing knowledge and fabric.  Close inspection determined that his facemask was simply some fabric tubing tacked to his head with only 2 small holes open on the sides of his head for air intake.  A seam ripper freed his facemask from his head and a few machine stitches will close the holes.  Thus, no more facemask, removing on of the things that makes him a football player.

Then, on to his uniform.

When he is deflated, he resembles a flat pattern.

So, to make his shirt, I simply laid him flat on a piece of fabric and traced around him with a soap marker.

Once I had a basic shirt pattern, I was able to slash and cut it to add the stripes and color detail.

Stay tuned for the next step!

Craziest Thing I've Done in a While

Okay, I will admit right off that this is probably the craziest thing I've done yet, but then again.....life is short!  In my workplace, I am surrounded by millennials, a generation of people much younger than myself whose lives are defined by the movies they watch, music they listen to, games they play and the materials they read.  Most, if not all of it, centers around science fiction in some form or other.  Everything from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Star Trek to X-Men defines their world.  The really cool thing about this is that I was into this genre way before it was cool.  So, much to my astonishment, I feel I can run with them in most conversations.  All that being said, working with this group of people lends itself to a very interesting work environment.  Staff meetings become negotiations between the Romulan and Vulcan Empires or comparisons of the original Star Trek series and the later Star Trek: Next Generation.  Policy statements are created after we run through the discourse over which super hero is the strongest/coolest/smartest.

In an environment, many of us have taken on super hero personas.  The leader of our group fancies himself to be Batman while a newcomer has announced himself to be Ironman.  Numerous hours of debating, thinking and surfing have led to a few others being named.  My designation is Oracle, a brilliant woman with red hair that is currently confined to a wheelchair but has a lair equipped with any technology imaginable. (Yeah, I'm thinking it is a good choice!)

Anywho, we have an event coming up in the Fall at work.  We needed a means to advertise the event and grab some attention to how cool our event will be.  With all the super hero conversations in mind, what better way to advertise than with our very own super hero display?  With that idea in mind, I set about my latest "mission":  create a super hero for us. (I must add a disclaimer here that this is all my idea solely.)

Some creative imaginings later, I found an inflatable football player on clearance at an online vendor website.  He came in a variety of team uniforms and he was 8'tall.  Hmmmm, what screams "super" louder than an 8', bigger than life, man?   Thus begins the saga "The Making of a Super Hero."  Stay tuned for more installments.