posted                

quote:

---

Originally posted by OptiMisTick:

I am the lady who wore a Tick costume to some protests and to the general March On Washington in the Capitol Greens, (but not to Congressional appointments, I wore a suit for those as we in our state had delegates that hit every one of our Reps and senators which I coordinated).

There is an easy kids' pumpkin costume in the back of one of the major pattern catalogs in your local fabric shop.

Essentially it is a drawstring ensemble, which goes around the torso of the body up to the neck.

I adapted it to adult size, and really, you wouldn't need the pattern, just figure out your length from neck which is where the top drawstrings, to under your rear, which is where the bottom drawstrings, then multiply that length by approx. 1 and 1/2 in order to allow for the costume to puff out, maybe 1-2/3. For circumference, that is up to you.

How "fat" do you want the costume to be to be in sync with your height? You can figure that one out. You end up with one long piece of fabric, which you seam up the two ends to each other. Figure out where your arms go, and cut two slits and hem those.

I sewed a "hem" of about 1 inch on bottom and top which I ran elastic drawstrings through.

When I got close to my destinations, I purchased a local paper - or three - and stuffed the costume with large wads of newspaper. I can't carry anything, so this was the best plan.

It was a black costume, and so I wore a black knit long-sleeved shirt, and black exercise pants, and black flats, with black socks over them.

I made "legs" out of stuffed long calf-length socks, (newspaper) and pinned the cuffs to the side of the costume. They were lined with clear fishing line on the toe ends, and then a loop of fishing line went over each wrist.

I had black gloves, one pair had feathery wrist band, from K-mart, I was stylin'!!

When I moved my arms, my "legs" moved as well due to being linked by the fishing line. I had a little Tick Air Dance with all legs waving in the air.

I found a picture of the tick mouth parts online eventually. My first mouth parts looked like a Saw but Lovey designed and drew a tick mouth part head which we cut of the stiff foam board

and sprayed black, then cut a piece out of it that was the same size as my plastic headband from the store.

We wired the black mouth-parts piece onto the headband and bobby-pinned the whole thing once it was on my head, for security.

I was a Stylin' Tick, that's for sure.

I wore it for emphasis, to MAKE PEOPLE LOOK which was the whole point.

Lyme disease has been swept UNDER THE CARPET too many times and every time we step back and act nice and go along with it, we are enabling this to continue.

I wanted people to LOOK at the tick and to ask questions and point, and ask their parents if they were kids.

At one protest at the NY OPMC, the chagrined officials could not believe we were protesting on their doorstep, I heard one of them mutter "They Even Brought a TICK!!." This seemed to be an embarrassment to them.

The good thing is it humanized our rallies and passersby came closer. We were not just 'another group of perhaps crazies,' in certain places when folks see some kind of commotion going on with a lot of people, they cross the street to avoid it.
Some places are also used to a lot of protests and would not stop to look without some "hook."

In this case people would come closer to see "What the Heck....."

There were a few NaySayers who felt the costume was Undignified. Needless to say they have not advanced the cause very far.

The costume served a purpose, to make people look, and come closer, and I handed out literature on Lyme disease and our actions.

It's currently packed away. At certain protests we chose to go dressed up to emphasize that Lyme disease was striking people from all walks of life, not just "Treehuggers," which I have also been called due to my extensive environmental works and advocacy.

As my health waned, I was not able to stand up very long and use the costume.

MisTick shall ride again!! She used to chronicle the various events afterward online, until enough other folks in LymeLand pitched in to give an account to those who were at a distance or who could not make it to our various actions.

In The Day we had people fly in from many, many states as far as CA, MI, FL and more. All parts represented.

Anyone is welcome to borrow my idea for the costume. You can probably make it for under $15 including the headband and foam board mouthpiece if you promise to give the socks back to your significant other!!!

I will say that I met my goal, which was to make people look and come closer.

One infamous troll actually thought that the stuffed costume was my full body size. That was funny.

I would advise, if its a local paper, you may need more than three copies to stuff the costume.

Prior to one event I jumped into a NY City cab in costume, with an entourage which helped to stuff the costume. The driver, typical New York, was completely unfazed by carrying an Arachnid in his cab.

Good luck all!! Would love to see Tick-ettes across the USA so please feel free to borrow this idea!! Make sure to have literature with you concerning LYme disease.

As I said, I made the bottom drawstring out of elastic, here's a little secret, and I had a pocket inside where I carried literature.

When I needed more, I just stepped off to one side and reached under the elastic, into the costume for more!! Managed to do it very privately so as not to receive odd looks.

Good luck to all!!!

---

IP: Logged |