Wednesday, February 19, 2014

SuperFan 5K Costume

Just survived a major snowstorm in Portland and simultaneous illness, but I'm getting back into a routine.


Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to participate in the first annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes SuperFan 5k Run, held at Mary S. Young Park in West Linn, Oregon. There was a costume contest and I'm excited to say that I won a free pair of running shoes!


About 100 runners/walkers were encouraged to don their best duds to support a high school, college, or professional sports team. There were plenty of Beavers, Ducks, Seahawks, and Broncos to honor the state schools and the Superbowl contenders.

Although I'm a Duck and I have a son at the school, I chose to show support for my daughter's college in Helena, Montana: Carroll College. The school's colors are purple and white, with a touch of gold. I was dressed with my Carroll College Mom t-shirt, which I layered over a black long-sleeved sports shirt. I wore purple leggings.


I made three accessories to complete my outfit. One was a tutu. I used 1 yd. of 1.5 inch wide elastic for the waistband. I added 3" x LOF strips of white tulle with a few 2.5 inch x LOF strips of purple tulle. I put the center fold of the fabric over the top edge of the waistband and sewed the tulle together just below the elastic band. I sewed 2 strips of white, then 1 strip of purple, until the band was full. I also made a few bowties of purple tulle and tied those on some of the white strips. I added a daisy chain waistband of white and gold flowers, just tacking down the white centers every few inches so the elastic would remain stretchy.



I used the rest of the white and gold flower lace to make a headband. I sewed on a short piece of elastic to join the two ends, which provided a little needed stretch to keep it in place. I wore another plain, sweat-absorbing headband underneath the flower band.


The other accessory was a really fun jet pack that I wore on my back. I took 2 empty 50-oz. Smart Water bottles and spray painted them purple. I used duct tape to attach the bottles to a banker box lid. In retrospect, I would add 2 thin strips of duct tape at the top and bottom, rather than one wide strip at the bottom, because the bottles flopped around when I was racing.

I cut a curve along the long sides of the banker box lid, which had slits to string the yellow webbing. I used 1 yard of webbing for each strap and secured them with safety pins. I colored the lid with a black pen, added some stick-on black felt and a bit of black and white duct tape. Next, I used red and yellow felt to make some "flames" and glued those in the bottle openings with Super Glue. The final touch was adding the stick-on block letters I picked up at a scrapbook store. "GO SAINTS!"

Copyright ©2014, SharonBaggs