Devil Or Angel?

Like most of my friends know, I have been sewing most of my life and I love it. My mom didn't own a sewing machine but she could sew “by hand’ with the best of them. She designed a can and constructed all of my doll clothes and I watched as she meticulously sewed each piece.  

When I was in eighth grade the opportunity for me to take home a home economics class came along.  

“Oh my... How could I pass this up?” I thought. But not having a sewing machine at home for me to practice on was really going to be a problem. My dear, sweet Aunt Esther heard me talking about it and told me she had a sewing machine in her attic and I was welcome to go up there and use this machine whenever I needed to practice.  

So there!  

Problem solved.  

“New clothes for me!” I thought.  

So as soon as I finished my first project in class (and we all know the project was an apron, gathered, with a wide waistband) I was off to the fabric store for a pattern and fabric so I could make my first outfit! The more difficult the pattern, the better... I wanted to learn it all!  

Whenever I could get a little money, I would head to the store for fabric. I ended up making most of my clothes in high school.  

Jump Ahead.  

Married.  

Still sewing but now sewing for home and for my boys. Picking out fabric for little boys' clothes, designing, smocking, and sewing appliques was so much fun for me. And when it came to Halloween costumes, I never bought a “ready-made” one. I enjoyed thinking up ideas and constructing them.  

John was everything from Zorro to Captain America and even Gene Simmons from Kiss. But when Brandon came along, I tried to make costumes that were similar like Batman and Robin, Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket and Sesame Street characters. I had sewed the Pinocchio costume for John and was very satisfied with the results. Now I was working on Jiminy Cricket for Brandon. The top hat was a stinker to make but I did get it finished and thought Brandon looked especially adorable in the little gray coat and tails.  

We were getting ready to go out for trick-or-treat and Brandon was in a “poopy” mood and refused to put on the green face makeup. No green face for him. He wasn't going to put green makeup on no matter what I said so we headed out to trick or treat. I just knew everyone would know that be was Jiminy Cricket even without the makeup because John was obviously Pinocchio!  

The first house we came to I was totally insulted because they thought John and Brandon were Pinocchio and W.C. Fields!  

What?  

Are you kidding me?  

How could they think that I would dare dress my little boy like WC Fields??? You know, without the green makeup he did look like W.C. Fields! 

Another year, I decided to dress my boys up as a devil and an angel. So, I busily constructed the red devil costume with horns, long tail and a pitchfork. The angel costume had a long white gown (with glitter on it, of course) and a sparkly halo. I thought they were perfect.  

We hopped in the car to go out for the evening.  

Our Halloween evenings were just a little different because we didn't trick or treat door to door-- we went by car to visit close friends and family. We got out of the car, walked up to the front door and when they spotted John and Brandon blurted out, “Don't you have those costumes backwards? Shouldn't John be the angel and Brandon be the devil?” 

Everyone burst out laughing because we all knew it was true!  

Need I say more?  

Sometimes you think you hit a homerun and then you realize you just struck out! It just took someone else to point it out!  

So... Who's the devil? Who's the angel?