P1 and P2 revealed!

I gathered my supplies....

I measured and cut, measured and cut....

I painted and splotched (hey that is a word!), this is just the test piece...

I sewed and sewed and sewed (about 18 hours total)....

.... and then they formed....

Introducing P1 and P2..... Four 'n Twenty pies!!!

My sister {one of four - don't leave a message saying my sister called ;)} works as National something or other for Patties Foods who make the world famous in Australia Four 'n Twenty pies. They are major sponsors for the AFL (Australian Football League - different to rugby and league). They had a novelty event at the football and my sister thought wouldn't it be great if we could get some pie costumes so she checked on google..... plenty of costume of pizza, soft drinks, sausages etc etc, but no pies. Her boss said maybe we could get them made, but who could do that?? "I know just the person" my sister said! So pies were made. (as opposed to potatoes which I realised in the last post photo they could be mistaken for from the back...P1 and P2 fits for that too).

Because this is a professional operation, she had the brand logo (pie with sauce in the map of Australia) printed professionally and then I had to work around that. I gathered the supplies before  I had the print faces but all I knew was that it was 1 metre wide. It was for a novelty pie relay race and it would need to fit any person who would be chosen out of the crowd so I had to make something to fit nearly anyone.

I first thought of foam but it was very, very expensive and not the right colour (needing painting) and then I thought felt! I couldn't get that golden colour so I picked a brown and got some paints to make it a golden pastry colour. I glued the felt to heavy interfacing and cut out a back and front. For the front, I glued some old pillow polyester filling under where the pie crust was, so it was raised as a real pie crust would be. I glued the middle of the pie to the backing and then made straps.

The straps were made double thickness and ran a channel either side and ran some plastic tubing through each side to keep it a bit structured but still be able to pack it up. I also made bits for the sides to attach the backs and fronts together but leaving a big opening at the bottom for the legs. I had to work out strap placement to keep the shape too.

Oh, I also had a week to get them ready.... I did it in 3 days, but that's pretty much all I did. I needed to allow time for redoing in case my sister didn't like something. On Wednesday night I called her and said come and get them, they'll be finished in an hour .... it was about 5.30pm. At 6.30pm, I had the brain wave of P1 and P2. The reference is a parody of the famous Banans in Pyjamas Australian Broadcasting Corporation's very popular children's programme. They are exported all around the world and although now they are digitised (blah! nowhere near as good) they were people in costumes and they were great fun. They have been stolen twice (I can't find a reference to the theft in Russia in 2010, but you can read about it in a great book by Eric Campbell called Absurdistan - when he was the foreign correspondent for the ABC in Russia and the region).

My sister took them and showed them to her boss and they LOVED them. She said don't be surprised if they ask for a few more... eek! It was so hard getting the whole costume through the sewing machine, especially when the appliqué of the "P1 and P2" was the last thing to do.

So the costumes had their debut on the AFL field at the Brisbane Lions game on Saturday. I didn't actually realise when I was making them it was the for entertainment during the game at the Gabba so I was a bit surprised. My sister gave us some free tickets at the nose bleed row so my phone camera couldn't get any closer pictures, sorry!

The boys did all the things... with the mascot..

Trying to get the ball through the hole....

Trying to get a 'mark' .... (I laughed me head off here)..

Photo with the Four 'n Twenty pie and coke cart.... and below getting ready for the relay.

And finally, the pies in action....

I think this is my weirdest make.... what's yours?