A Sweater for Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas

    I first watched Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas as an adult. It's so charming and sweet. I was inspired in 2019 by Sally's signature patchwork look. It's more of a Disneybound rather than a cosplay. A full cosplay will be coming someday, but for today, I present my Sally-inspired sweater. I decided to make a sweater to coordinate with my future costume. Most years in Oklahoma, October 31 is cool enough to at least require a light sweater. And I can't wear a mundane, everyday coat or sweater with my costumes. Oh no.

    I bought 4 sweaters at the thrift store. They were carefully chosen to have different textures in the knitting, and also to match a specific color palette of muted traditional “fall” colors. From the beginning, I knew I wanted a pumpkin orange, a mustard yellow, and a green. Funny enough, those are all also my least favorite colors. But the more I thought about this project, the more I convinced myself that no other colors would do. And in the end, I am so glad I stuck with my gut feeling and used these colors. Individually, I honestly hate these colors. But all together, I love the look I achieved.

 

   On to actual construction. I took a very simple ready-to-wear sweater from my closet, and traced out the front, back, and sleeves onto scrap fabric for a pattern. I then planned my placement and cut the sweaters, trying to maintain certain design elements (placing an interesting cable stitch pattern straight down the back, for example) while also keeping the illusion of randomness. Each piece of the pattern had to be patched together; no sweater piece was big enough on its own. I roughly cut out or traced the pattern piece on the sweater, then I used a zig-zag stitch all around. Since sweaters are knit, this was a necessary first step to keep it from falling apart.

    Each seam was sewn at least 3 times. Once, to keep it from unraveling. The second time, to actually seam the pieces together. And third, the seam allowance was stitched down on both sides, just for security. I did NOT want it to fall apart, after spending so much time on it. After each pattern piece was patched together, I assembled it. The shoulders, sides, and sleeves were also sewn multiple times so it wouldn't fall apart. I think construction took about 8 hours when all was said and done. The final step was to add Sally's trademark cross stitches. I used a black, smooth cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby. Every seam was stitched yet again with big, bold crosses. Also, I stitched a few patches the same way, just to add some color. I think this took me two movies to finish.

    I also made some accessories, using the remainder of the sweaters. since I love it so much. For the scarf, I just cut rectangles and sewed them in a strip, using the same steps as above. I also made fingerless mitts and an earwarmer headband. I wear this set all the time. Sometimes even twice a week. Some year, I plan to wear this set to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in Walt Disney World. 

Yours in hard work, creativity, and a dash of Pixie Dust

Sarah