Last night, I came into the responsibility of costuming the prosecutors of the Tom Robinson trial from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
Because of my recent, long hiatus, I thought HAY! I OUGHTA BLOG ABOUT THIS because I check it almost every day in case someone has posted. For me. Alas. But anyways.
That will be the only mention of the awfully long hiatus, because I'm awfully embarrassed by that.
So. TKAM, as I will abbreviate it, is a lovely novel. It contains a trial about a black man raping a white-trash young woman. It is obvious that he didn't. However, my English teacher thought it would be a fantastic idea to recreate the trial. And make everyone go exactly by the book. So us prosecuters were stuck between a rock and a courtroom.
I was/am Mayella Ewell, the victim of the "rape". My best friend, happily (?), played Horace Gilmer, the prosecuting attorney. One of my other best friends, sadly (?) played Atticus Finch, the defending attorney.
As I said, I was stuck with costuming five people within the course of one evening:
- Mayella Ewell
- Horace Gilmer
- A Cartographer (by the name of Meriwether Butler)
- Sheriff Heck Tate
- Bob Ewell
I rose to my challenge, not unlike Mulan. These helpful hints and tips should help you if you ever need to costume Mayella Ewell, Horace Gilmer, a cartographer named Meriwether, Sheriff Heck Tate, or Bob Ewell.
One: Heck Tate!
Heck Tate is the sheriff of Maycomb, Alabama, where our story takes place.
What do sheriffs wear? Hmm.
- Stylish vest
- Badge, of course
- Hat
- Belt with gun holster
The hat was also easy. Any type of fedora will do, but if you have a police hat and can write Maycomb on it, that would be awesome as well.
The badge would be easy if I could find my Junior Rangers National Park Service badge. Alas, it is long lost (or in my dog's stomach). To make a badge, you will need:
- A manilla folder (any color)
- Scissors
- Construction paper (preferrably yellow)
- Sharpie marker or something similar
- Glue of some sort
- Tape (optional)
- A safety pin or some sort of quick adhesive
2. Glue it upon one side of the folder.
3. Cut that out in a badge like shape.
4. Write some sheriff-like message upon your badge. I wrote "TO PROTECT AND Sheriff Heck Tate, Maycomb Alabama SERVE". TO PROTECT AND was on the tippy top, SERVE was on the bottomy bottom.
5. Adhese the safety pin using tape or glue. I reccomend tape if you are not a Glue Goddess. I am not a Glue Goddess and therefore used tape. I did not use a safety pin because there were none handy. I used the clip from the tail of an old cat costume. If the vest is going to be a permanent Heck Tate vest, you can sew it on.
The utility belt was the biggest- but most rewarding- challenge.
You'll be needing...
- A belt of any sort.
- Two ankle socks.
- Scissors.
- Ribbon.
2. This is the hardest part. Flatten out the sock and fold it.
3. Cut as small of a hole as you can along the fold.
4. Unfold- and voila! A sock holster!
5. Repeat process for as many socks as you would like.
6. Take a strand of ribbon as long as you can make it and string the socks through the holes in the belt. Haha! A lovely utility belt for Mr. Tate!
Twoo: Miss Mayella Ewell
Mayella Ewell was simple enough to create.
Alls you need is...
- A spiffy hat.
- Lots and lots of beads.
- A spiffy belt.
- A shirt and undershirt.
- A fan (totally optional.)
Mayella is comparable to what we consider "trailer trash" and she is gussied up for this occasion. Dress your Mayella in something simple, like jeans, on the bottom.
Take your overshirt and roll it up to your Mayella's bust. Take the spiffy belt and tie it where you have rolled up the shirt and boom! a lovely-trashy top.
Find a plain hat and snazz it up! Or take a pre-snazzed up hat. I made this one at an Earth Day Festival last year.
The beads can come from Mardi Gras Past or Mardi Gras Present or any sort of parade. Especially good beads are those fake pearls that come really long and you can absolutely tell right away that they aren't pearls. Mardi Gras Past is the best place to get your beads from, so they look all un-shiny and trashy.
The fan is good because it makes you look innocent and naive. It is also useful so that when your compadres put on their Southern accents, you won't get yelled at for laughing*.
*Meriwether Butler let out a girlish shriek when his friend- playing Bob Ewell- got up and said "yeb'm". The boy playing Bob Ewell is a respectable one and was very angry about his hat (see below.)
3. Bob Ewell
Bob Ewell, like his daughter, is trailer trash. He is an alcoholic and is just a grody man. So we made him a fancy hat.
To make you a Bob Ewell hat, gather from the woods/your home...
- Construction paper (lots, and preferrably those large sheets)
- Staples (lots!)
- Some sort of lace (optional!)
2. Staple the two ends together.
3. Place that on your construction paper. Draw a circle a little larger than the band and cut that out.
4. This is the most interesting part. Staple the circle to form the top of the hat. This hat is not intended to be beautiful. It is supposed to look like something a bear might have dragged in.
5. Staple on your frills/lace. BEWARE! This may make your Bob Ewell hat look more like a French maid hat. As you can see below, it was awfully difficult for the prosecution/jury to stop giggling when Mr. Ewell was called to the stand...
"Mais oui, Atticus."
Fore! Horace Gilmer.
To make a prosecutingly awesome Horace Gilmer outfit, all you need is love and a few other items.
- A spiffy hat
- A fancy tie
- A lovely collared shirt
The spiffy hat should not be the same one as Mayella's. Gilmer is an attorney by profession, he is a spick and span man.
All three of these things can be borrowed from anyone's father's/husband's/son's/pool boy's closet. The tie should be tied properly, and the shirt should be tucked into your pants. Look lovely... for a man.
And finally... creating a cartographer.
How do you create a daring cartographer from a schoolboy with no real skills in the mapmaking department? Well, you'll need...
- A quill pen
- A bow tie
- Lovely glasses
Collect
- Black construction paper
- Two bendy straws
- Staples
2. Fold one half of your eight in half. Cut out a half moon from this.
3. Repeat with the other side.
4. Optional: Cut your bendy straws down to a more reasonable length, but DO NOT CUT THE END PAST THE BENDY PART OR THE BENDY PART!
5. Staple one bendy straw on each end.
Now you have a smart pair of glasses!
I, as you can see, look ultra-spiff-tacular in these glasses. The iPhone, however, doesn't take pictures that show off enough of my ultra-spunk.
So. We lost our trial today, but if the verdict had been based on costuming we would have kicked some serious toosh.
This is Emma @ TIBC saying have a happay December, and I'll try with all my might to post more regularly.