Here Comes Santa!!!

Yes, his beard is real!!  This is a co-worker who needed a Santa's outfit.  The outfit has the coat, pants, hat and sack. It was an easy outfit to make except for the trim.  The trim was purchased as a band trim instead of a fabric cut.  The collar is cut on a curve.  I had to piece the trim to show the least amount of seams.  My co-worker was happy with the results and so was I.

Making of the French Hood

I didn't document how I got to this stage in the construction of the crescent.  It was with a lot of trial and error to get the correct shape and looking at a lot of portraits and information.  Instead of using buckram, I used super heavy pellon that is adhesive on one side.  I cut 3 pieces for added strength.  It is very lightweight so that's not an issue.  My husband purchased #18 gauge wire and with that I wired the outside of the crescent and held it in place by sewing it to the form with heavy duty thread.

French hood

This is what it looks like after the wire has been attached to the crescent.

french Hood

I laid my finished form onto the fabric and cut around it, leaving enough for a seam

As you can tell in this picture, the fabric has been cut and stitched.  Notice the extra fabric on the lower edge.  this part will be handstitched closed.

This is what it looks like after all the stitching has been done.              Now the fun begins!

I decided not to make a coif.  The decorations would have been sewn framing the face.  Instead, I decided to add them to the crescent.  It is really not authentic, but wearing 3 items on the head was a bit too much for me.

I found some gold ribbon 1-1/2" wide and carefully  pleated it manually by machine.  I couldn't use my pleater, the ribbon was too fragile.  In my stash of antique jewelry, I found this gold necklace with a string of pearl attached.  Perfect!  It was also the correct length.  It was handstitched at the lower edge of the crescent  above the pleated ribbon.

Billament added

The billament was extremely easy to make.  I found some thin wire in my basket and after my return trip from Michaels and Joann's, I was able to come up with a beaded trim.  Try and get a close up look and you'll then be able to see the detailling.  I used gold thread to sew it on the upper edge of the crescent.                                                            In this photograph, the hood is already in place.  To hold the French Hood on my head, I sewed a piece of black elastic at both corners.  I can either  wear it with the strap under my chin or behind and under my hair.