50’s Theme Ice Skater

My daughter made the leap from “casual skater” to synchro-team and competitive events. Thanks to our lovely gentle coach, the transition was perfect for our family and our skater.

When it came time to create a solo routine, our first order of business was to choose music. My daughter picked Grease Lightning (!!!) and the coach enthusiastically approved. So, we were off to the races.  She wanted a poodle skirt. Those of you who have been following along know that I have made some poodle skirts at school now so, I was ready to make a smaller shorter one.

I started looking for a pink satin jacket. Then my daughter said, “Mom, I don’t want to be a Pink Lady. Those girls were not nice to each other. I want to be a “T bird.” OH! Of all the “take-aways” that could have come from Grease, that one was GREAT and unexpected. I was so proud of that reflection! So, I found a black satin bomber jacket and set about making it into a “T-birds” club jacket. I used a piece of (stiff) glittery white felt for the “T” and the bird.

(The white went on the jacket. The black shown here made the poodle on the skirt.)
I printed out a huge “T” and cut out iron-on backing to match. I was careful to make sure the glitter side of the felt would be up, and the plain side of the felt would be down. And after some thoughtful planning, I realized that the “T” is the same frontwards and backwards. So, HA. If you were doing OTHER iron-on words, you would need to be careful!

My husband sketched out the bird like it was no big deal. That’s the artist. Thank you. I repeated the iron-on process for that piece. There is a “front” and “back” to the bird. So I did have to make sure the glitter side was up this time.

To spell out “birds” on the bottom I used some quirky font iron-on “flocked” letters.

I thought they would look like the terry letter-man letters. They look more like bumpy rubber. But hey, no one actually pointed out the bumpy rubber letters. (Technically the jacket was a “no-sew” project! It was all iron on. Personally, I don’t think that made it easier.)

By far the most difficult part of the operation was the saddle shoe skate-covers. I thought they would be a cute addition to the ensemble.

Here is the finished product up close.
I made a template by tracing around the boots first. Then sketched out the “saddle” on the template. I cut the whole thing out of white, then cut the middle section of the template apart and used that to cut the “saddles” out of black. (So far, no big deal.) Then I sewed the two white pieces together. Then I added the black saddles on the top.

This is where I will need some more finesse. But there you have it. Sewing one performance fabric onto another performance fabric on a three dimensional shape is just no joke. I was humbled.
I added a lace detail to the top of the boot to reference a bobby-sock. That part went as predicted.

In the end here is how our little skater looked, after Daddy gave her congratulations flowers.

I’m going to be honest here, I could not take very many pictures of her on the ice because I was just electrified watching her. The courage that she (and EVERY OTHER child) displayed that morning was just spectacular. Never mind the actual skills and technical features of each program, the very act of suiting up and getting out there and saying “I can do this” was just a privilege to watch. We saw some “Tangled” and some Katie Perry “Roar”, a pairs number with two of the cutest skaters ever. It felt more like a wonderful show than a competition. I am so happy that she loves it. It has been an easy sport to get behind as a parent. So, until next time….