August 2009

I wanted to be a zombie for halloween, and now with all this stuff with MJ, I was watching Thriller and want to be the Thriller zombie. I went on eBay to try and find the jacket and, of course, they are really expensive.
I have never sewn before in my life. I might be able to convince my mom to do it, but I don't want to rely on her. So how would I go about doing this? It doesn't have to be exact, just something similiar.

If you have access to a sewing machine, it's not all that difficult to learn to sew, It's basically just a power tool, like a drill or a circular saw. I used to teach grown men to sew when I worked in a shop that sold kits for camping gear and most of them picked it up quickly and enjoyed it. My high school boyfriend started sewing to make sails for his racing boat and then began making his own clothes.

Go to a fabric store and look in the pattern books they have (Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls) -- all have a costume section and you should be able to find something very close if not an exact copy. Also look in the jackets section (but those patterns for regular clothes tend to be more complicated.)

You can usually get red vinyl leather-look fabric in the drapery department of fabric stores -- they even sell quilted versions. Or, you might be able to find heavy weight red vinyl outdoor table cloths (the kind with flannel backing) that you could cut the pieces from. However, vinyl and leather are tough to sew.

You might be able to find shiny red fabric that would be easier to handle, or look for a quilted red satin bedspread or curtains in the housewares department of a home store. For the black stripes, use permanent black marker pen or black duct tape. Since you are doing this for show, you could just glue the zippers to the fabric.

If might be easier to cruise thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army, looking in the coat departments for a red leather, vinyl or nylon quilted ski jacket. Then you could use either the marker or black duct tape to create the stripes.