Gunsmoke: Miss Kitty's Got a Fabulous!

I have never watched Gunsmoke.  The only reason why I thought of it was because it airs right after Hogan's Heroes, so I very often catch the opening credits to the show at the tail end of the recording on my DVR.  What's interesing, though, is that even people like me who have never seen an episode of Gunsmoke know exactly who Miss Kitty is.  She's frisky, she's fabulous, and she's in charge of not only herself, but a lot of the people around her.

 
Gunsmoke had a ton of memorably named characters that I just find hilarious.  I mean, where else are you going to see people not only named, "Miss Kitty," but also, "Festus," "Newly," and ... Matt Dillon?  Well, maybe not all of the names are strange...

Anyway, I wanted to make this outfit look like an updated Saloon proprietress dress.  In a few quick screens that I saw with Miss Kitty, the costumer often employed the standard Leg-of-mutton sleeves typical of the Old West madam, and many times, I have seen Kitty wearing a tight corset-like vest over a white blouse.

So, since my signature is the "short-sleeves over long-sleeves" (a style that I am seeing popping up more and more each day, which is a good and bad thing at the same time), I wanted to make a modified Wild West vest with short puff-top sleeves that will make people think, "Is it a jacket?  Is it a vest?  Is it a Pony?  It's fabulous!"


The jacket's fabric, if you have a good enough memory, is the remnants of the material left over from my Foppish Horror RenFair outfit I made last year.  I used pretty much EVERY INCH of this expensive fabric, which is why the bottom of the piece is shorter than what is shown in the original sketch.  I am SO glad I didn't have enough material to make it longer.  I really like it this short.  I just really like the way it turned out, period.  I guess it goes to show you that using fabric NOT from the dollar bin sometimes makes all the difference in the world.

Moving down, you may also recognize the pants have been seen before.  They are the pants that I used for my Janet from Three's Company.  I originally made some jeans that were recycled from three pairs of men's jean shorts that I found on the sidewalk near a dumpster, (I washed them first), but the pants turned out looking LIKE they came from the dumpster, so I threw them away.  (I can almost hear my mom right yelling at the screen at how disgusted she is that I even TOUCHED some stranger's jean shorts.)  Anyway, I re-used these pants not only because the color is perfect, but they also are constructed to look a little like chaps.  Notice the button-up sides and curved seam mimicking the shape of the opening of a pair of chaps.  Perfect for a gunslinger.

Lastly, isn't it nice to see Trina playing a sexy role for a change, rather than the "Old One?"  She's happy, too!