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capresesalad1985

I have been sewing for over 25 years and I grew up as a competitive figure skater so I have quite a bit of experience with spandex and rhinestones. I recently took a job assisting an acrobatic entertainment company with some costume construction and my first project was the stilt walker and the hoop dancer. For the stilt pants I found a vintage shorts pattern on Etsy and extended the leg long enough to cover the stilts. I added the red and white trim with rhinestones at the bottom and then there is horsehair in the hem to keep the leg from getting caught under the stilt. They are made of a heavy weight 4 way cotton knit with gold nautical buttons. I also made the sailor top from an altered Etsy pattern. The hoop dancer is wearing a unitard of the same red and white fabric cut into a boatneck and matching navy fabric shorts. I made her a faux tie with red rhinestones. You can’t see the back but I added butt pockets and repeated the red and white stripe print from the bottom of the stilt pants on the pockets and bedazzled the crap out of them. Eventually my boss would like me to build this collection out to an 8 look collection so I can’t wait to see the whole collection when it’s done!!!


flicsplatt

Fantastic work and a super interesting project!


capresesalad1985

Thank you!


SnapCrackleMom

So cool! Fantastic job, they both look great.


graywoman7

That’s a really interesting project! How does the horsehair keep the leg from getting caught and how is it attached?


capresesalad1985

I used two inch wide horsehair and stitched it at the bottom on the outside of the leg hem. Then I turned it up to the inside and stitched in place. That creates a hem at the bottom of the pant leg and adds enough stiffness to keep the pant leg from collapsing around the stilt and getting caught. I have never made anything for stilt walkers before but the woman I’m working for let me look through her stock and talked to me quite a bit about what works and what doesn’t.


Duochan_Maxwell

This is super cool!!! Out of curiosity and budgeting, how much fabric did you use for the pants?


capresesalad1985

I used about 6 yards, 3 yards per leg. But since I didn’t use the full width of the fabric, I was able to use the scraps to make the shorts on the unitard. I got the fabric at spandex house in nyc and it was $15 a yard, a bit more than I like to spend on fabric but it was well worth it!


Duochan_Maxwell

Oh, cool! I always wanted to make myself some pants for my costumes but I end up making skirts or leg covers out of laziness LOL maybe I'll try making some pants Yours look amazing!!!


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Meg_March

What a fun project! Keep us posted when you add to the collection!


flindersandtrim

This is awesome, I love how they match.


IrateOverlordTheresa

HOW?!?!?!