busy book: a disguise kit

here is a new favorite page!  there are two variations–one that includes a photo printed onto fabric (see above) and one that instead uses a flexible mirror (see below):

both pages include a suitcase full of disguises and i predict that both will result in lots of giggles.

(the silly eyeball glasses were made using a pair of these that i had leftover from a library program yeeeeeeears ago, by peeling the plastic eye parts off of the original cardboard glasses and sewing them into glasses made from stiffened felt.  i made the pattern for the felt glasses by tracing the cardboard ones.)

of course, the idea with the mirror version is that they’ll put the disguises on their own face, then look in the mirror to see how silly they look (not that they’ll put the disguises on the mirror as photographed above).

i made this suitcase first and decided to line it with a slick material because i thought a felt interior would make it difficult to stuff other felt pieces into the pocket.  i also chose to let this one fold open halfway for easier access.  for the other version, i decided it wasn’t worth the extra effort and simplified the design (one layer, sewn all the way up the sides).  both have the ribbons that attach to the disguises sewn into the bottom edge of the suitcase for safekeeping.

i do like the blue strap on the first one (leftovers from a purse strap i used on another page), but it does make the suitcase more stiff.

and i do like the “polaroid” frame around the mirror.  i had originally thought the mirror version was impossible because i had no idea where to find flexible mirrors, then-lo and behold-i stumbled upon them at joann’s!  near where they sell magnets and regular mirrors.  it comes with a plastic film on top to keep it from getting scratched up, but when you peel the film off, it’s actually a pretty good reflection!  the “frame” is about 6.5″ wide by 8″ tall and the three skinny borders are about 1/2″ each, and the bottom border is about 1.75″ thick.  the mirror is sold is a 6×8″ size, so i just cut it down to a 6″ square and sewed it to the page (yes, you can sew through the mirror and a few layers of felt, just be brave!)

the printable fabric was some i had on hand from a project a few years ago.  it’s a bit yellow around the edges (and i somehow managed to accidentally print the picture in black and white…) but it works fine for this project.  i added a 1″ wide border of felt around the edges to prevent fraying and to make a nice “frame” for the picture.  i also sized the face to be life-size so that if he wanted to try the disguises on himself they’d still fit.

if you’d like to make your own disguise kit, here’s a pattern for some of the pieces i used.

there are some more disguise pattern options here and here and here and here.

how are your books coming along?  so far, we have a grand total of three participants in the flickr pool–anyone else want to join in?