What am I? I am a passing housewife!!!
Hehehe just to explain, Izumi Curtis is a character from my favourite Japanese anime Fullmetal Alchemist. She always introduces herself as just a passing housewife, and so is the character I can relate to the most. And so, when it comes to choosing an anime character for myself… Izumi Curtis, I choose you!!!! …that’s a pikachu reference there, in case it did not translate…
Izumi Curtis, character and artwork by Hiromu Arakawa
So, firstly… WHY?? well, in Northbridge there is a retro video-gaming bar called Respawn that my kids like to go to… and I should just slip in here that this VERY MUCH a young adult’s kind of a place to hang out on Friday and/or Saturday night. Anyway, last night was Mum’s Night, like a nod to Mother’s Day last weekend, and the deal was that if you brought your Mum you all got free entry. So naturally, Sam and Cassie hatched a plot that I would be going along with them. Of course I said yes! how often do I get invited out on the town with my adult kids? pretty rarely, that’s what! I won’t say never, since my kids are pretty fun and relaxed and not usually embarrassed by my company, but going out to a nightclub in Northbridge is not generally a family thing to do, mmmm? Fellow Perthies will attest to that 😉
Another thing about Respawn is that people often cosplay it up… and so I set about planning and making my costume… I made a sleeveless white shirt-dress/coat-dress, I wore my recently completed Morgan boyfriend jeans, and I made a pair of Japanese toilet slippers like the ones Izumi always wears.
Coat-dress/shirt-dress:
I used two patterns; Vogue 8997, a dress pattern, and for the notched collar I adapted the neckline and spliced on the collar from Closet Case patterns Carolyn pyjamas.
Alterations: for the collar, I added width to the centre back lines of both collar pieces, to fit the width neckline I was after. I also squared off the collar points somewhat, so as to match the more square collar points of Izumi’s coat dress. For the dress; I cut the bodice fronts to have a centre front opening and adapted the neckline to have the notched collar bit, and added enough extra width in the centre front to accommodate the button and buttonhole band. Likewise the front skirt piece has the buttoned opening. Likewise I cut the back skirt to have a centre back seam, and added a bit extra to the lower part of the opening to hem it.
The bodice front and back are in double fabric, and self-lined, so as to enclose the princess seams within the layers. Even though this is just a costume, I reckon there’s no need to cut corners and do a shoddy job of sewing it! I had a small moment of shock when my own Mum suggested just cutting the collar in a single layer of fabric and leave it with a raw edge … oh the horror!! I dunno, call me obsessive, but nowadays I could probably not sew a garment all rough-shod like that in all good conscience. Making all my clothes for the past few years and I am now a fair dinkum full-on, signed up member of the well-made clothing snob club, right here.
Izumi’s coat-dress/shirt-dress is very well fitted, practically skin tight across her bosom which suggests a stretchy fabric. However the collar is also quite structured and stiff-looking, more like a regular woven-fabric shirt collar. So, to get that tight, fitted look; I used two different fabrics in my bodice, a stretch and a non-stretch. Actually, I used three different fabrics all together… but more on that later…. to get the fitted tightness of the bodice AND the structured collar, I cut the bodice front and back from stiff woven ripstop cotton, and I cut the bodice side fronts and backs from stretchy bengaline. This way, there is stretch at my sides, but the shirt fronts maintain that nice crisp look of a tailored notched collar shirt. When fitting the shirt-dress/coat-dress to myself, I left the side seams until the last thing, and the final step was to pull in those bodice side seams nice and tight.
And yes, the skirt is a different, woven cotton… one that is not so stiff and has a bit more flow to it, more suitable to a skirt than the rip-stop. All are long term residents from my stash, probably from Fabulous Fabrics originally. The white buttons were harvested from a recently chucked-out doona cover.
Slippers: Izumi always wears these Japanese toilet slippers…. this is to reiterate her status as a humble housewife and that she spends her days cleaning and doing housework. I made these very quickly and simply, the padding is cut from my good old yoga mat, covered with black cotton cut from an old Tshirt. For the uppers and the underneath bit, I used some very stiff thick black cotton from Remida, from when Meggipeg kindly invited me to go with her the other day. I did the WC letters on the top by couching with some thick, white wool, leftover from Cassie’s beanie that I knitted her for Christmas.
Another pretty important component of Izumi’s look is the Flamel tattoo. Cassie drew this on with a ballpoint pen; it was a little bit hidden on me, but ’twas there…
And, you may be wondering… did I wear this outfit, and these slippers in the streets of Northbridge and in the club? well yes I did! You can rest assured that the other Mums were of course wearing all black, and heels or ankle booties and the like… but not I! I am just! a passing! HOUSEWIFE!!!!!!
pictured in the club…
