Ice Skating Costume

This friendship goes way back, 14 years and counting.  My son met Chris Davis in a gymnastics class when they were 6 or so, and his mom and I struck up a great friendship sitting on the benches outside class each week.

Chris has gotten seriously into competition level ice dance.  At this point, I consider him another son, so when they come to me for costume help, I am right there!

This was a last-minute job. (I'm beginning to think that all costume jobs are last-minute jobs, actually...)  About a week and a half before a competition, the coach called for some new costuming.  So good ol' Skater Mom went shopping and found a great vest.  It fit perfectly, except for being a bit too short, so that his shirt peeked out a bit at the back waist when he moved around.

So I came up with the idea to get a woven ribbon or braid of some sort to lengthen it.  The braid also adds the required flash that is part of any proper ice skating outfit.  Chris's mom and I picked it out.  I'm totally a "less is more" person, so buying a gold trim and then doubling it is not my usual style!

In the meantime, the coach decided that he needed a different shirt too, something with puffy, floaty sleeves.  Chris and his coach found a shirt with huge sleeves and brought it to me as well.

So - the fitting.  Turns out that the shirt was far, far away from fitting.  It's probably a XL or maybe even bigger (no tag, can't be sure).  For example, it looked almost like the shirt had drop shoulder seams, poet shirt like, but really it's that the shoulders were miles too wide.  Things like that.  Anyway, I think drop seam shoulders would look wrong coming out of this very fitted, tuxedo style vest.

The solution:  I shortened the shirt by 4+" (it hung down way below crotch level and would've bunched terribly inside the skating stretch pants).  I tucked up the shoulder seams 2 1/2" on each side so they actually sit on his shoulders.  I ran four 1"+ deep tucks from armpit level to hem front and back, so the shirt fits inside the vest and doesn't try to poof out of the armholes.  Really!

Oh, and the ruffle on the front is put on crooked.  And the neckline is way too large.  These things were sort of fixed with hooks and snaps.  Still not really right, but the ruffle hides a lot of sins.  Hopefully.

All this took me a whole day, including the shopping and fitting time.  It was time well spent - my skater "son" spent the weekend winning one dance after another!  Way to go, Chris!!