Poodles&Ponies: And the Best Part about Halloween is....

The Costumes!

Of course, had it been any other time and you answered "candy!" you would be 100% irrefutably correct... However, I'm going somewhere with this so just take a deep breath and follow me down the rabbit hole!

Anywho, I've been semi-crafty all friggin' summer .There were windchimes, boxes, painting, etc, etc. So when the fall schooling show was announced in Escanaba in October with a costume-friendly-freestyle class, I was so in.

Until I realized that ti was on the same weekend as the championships. Then I was so very sadly out, I emailed the organizer my regrets and wished them luck... Only to have them tell me that it'll be moved to the following weekend to accomodate the Championship-goers. Which was me.
The freestyle was back on!

Coming up with music and choreographing was no big deal. Honestlym I'm pretty good at that kind of stuff (thank you ten years of drill teams). Costuming was the harder part...

Now, sewing is something that I have never done. Ever.
I did not take home ec. I took welding and home improvement and repair where I learned to rewire shit and fix a leaky faucet... Because, I assumed, when would I ever need to learn how to cook or sew? Seriously.

In hindsight, I'm still glad that I didn't take that class.

However, I decided that ti was time to try my hand at sewing, in my quest for a non horse hobby, to create a little costume to go along with my roughly edited music and fan-freaking-tastic choreography. I mean, since The Blackfish will have had a good week off while I'm in KY showing Bucky, I was really kind of leaning on my costuming choices to carry this freestyle.

I found a little pattern in Walmart that I LOVED and gave a nod to my favorite design aesthetic. How hard could it be? Seriously... 8 year old indonesian kids can sew up designer labels that people pay big bucks for, surely I can whip up a costume that will be only viewed as I trot/canter/buck on by the meager dressage audience. Surely.

Where are the sleeves? WTH, Alison...

It took me about three days of cutting, sewing, lining and hemming before I actually believed that I might have created something AMAZING.

Blingin', part 1

Two days later, I had embellished it with enough flair for an off broadway production.

Screw the freestyle, I'm going to ride All of my tests in this baby!