Ghost Garland from Cindy Hopper for Alpha Mom.
Sashiko Pillow from The Purl Bee.
Anything Animals Knitting Pattern from Petite Purls.
Fall Leaf Newspaper Garland from Dollar Store Crafts.
Wild Things Tote from Courtney Russel for Bloesem Kids.
Fall Paper Cut Leaves from Craft, Jr.
Lunchbox Napkins from Polka Dot Cottage.
Jack O’ Lantern Hoop from Betz White.
Here’s a fun project to make with the kids. These are papier-mâché bowls made from paper bags and tissue paper. We plan to use our bowls for Halloween candy.
I’ve never had much luck with the flour mixtures (maybe because of the humidity here), so I used a mixture of equal parts white glue and water. I used a full bottle of glue for each bowl. For the pumpkin bowl, I cut off the top of an actual pumpkin and used that as our base, but we just used a metal mixing bowl for the ghost bowl. If you do use a pumpkin, be sure to cut it at the widest point so that you can remove the paper bowl when dry.
For both, I first covered the base with a plastic grocery bag (you could use plastic wrap), dipped strips of paper bags in the glue mixture, squeezed off the excess and laid the strips across the top until the bowl was covered. Oh, if you’re working with kids, you will definitely want to do this project outside. We let the bowls dry for a day, then brushed them with more glue mixture and laid tissue paper (cut into strips) on top. We then brushed more glue on top of the tissue as we laid it around the bowl. Once dry, you can trim your edges or leave them ragged. We painted our bowls with acrylic paints and left the insides unfinished. If you used colored tissue paper, you wouldn’t need to paint at all. I just used some brown tissue paper leftover from packaging. Now the kids are ready to fill up the bowls!
Here’s one for the kids. These bears from Jesse’s shop, all things small, come with a cute little coloring set or tea set. So sweet and simple, the bears are small enough to just about fit in your pocket, around 7″ tall by 3″ wide. If your kids are like mine, they love tiny things. The embroidery on the tiny satchels adds a sweet handmade detail. Each set is $57. Jesse also has many other tiny cute things in her shop, including some adorable penguins and snowmen ready for cold weather.
Jesse lives in Toronto. Here’s a bit about her, in her own words:
My name is Jesse and I have been creating all my life. Since I was very little I have always had a passion for all things small.
Any little thing that I could fit in my pocket and carry around with me on all of my adventures, knowing that I had someone right there with me made it all better. I had a friend through thick and thin. Even to this day, I always have a little friend in my bag or pocket.
I have an Art Degree in Illustration/Design and Printmaking. I love creating my drawings to life from felt animals to sock friends. I have a busy toddler and a newborn baby which is currently slowing me down but giving me lots of inspiration!
Visit Jesse’s Etsy shop here.
Deck the halls!
Vintage Ornaments, $12 from Tinsel and Trinkets.
Baby Deer Cupcake Toppers, 12 for $3.25 from Cupcake Social.
Pine Tree Buttons, four for $2 from Stefanie Style.
Partridge in a Pear Tree letterpress note cards, set of 6 for $16 from dutch door press.
Nani Iro knit fabric, 19″x31″ for $10 from Matatabi.
Vintage Baby Dress (size 9 months), $14.50 from normalish.
Wooden Snowflakes, 5 for $25 from Grah-Toe Studio.
Gnome Pair, $15.50 from Bliss Forest.
Mary Jane Stocking Pattern PDF, $8 from Sew Lola.
The first thing that I ever sewed was that little pumpkin costume for my daughter’s first Halloween. Now maybe you’ve just bought a sewing machine and you are excited about making your first project: your child’s Halloween costume. I don’t recommend it.
First, Halloween costume patterns often call for the worst fabrics ever: acrylic felt (like the pumpkin above), slippery satins, polyester, fake fur, pleather, or the worst fashion offender of all — fleece. All of these fabrics can be tough to sew for beginners and that fluffy fleece is a lint nightmare for your machine.
Second, making a Halloween costume requires a deadline. This can be stressful if you are just starting out. Who wants to stay up until three in the morning working on a costume that your kid will wear once or might even refuse to wear altogether? “Mommy, it’s itchy.” Or “Mommy, it doesn’t look like the one we saw at Target.” Right, I know.
So, for your first project it’s smart to choose a simple cotton and a quick and easy skirt, curtains or pillow. But if you have already bought your blue fake fur to make that cookie monster costume, go for it. Relax and make it in advance. Try it on your little booger before Halloween so you don’t end up with tantrums and last-minute costume changes.
Now, the pumpkin project pictured above was fairly straightforward and not really a bad idea for a first sewing project, but the acrylic felt was no fun for a beginner and I do remember getting frustrated with the hat. I think it would have been super-cute in an orange cotton, linen or even a tweed (maybe with some interfacing). A couple of years later, I made Dorothy and the Good Witch costumes, which were fun and it was great to see my then-two-year-old wearing that giant poster paper hat. Then I made Wonder Woman and Super Girl costumes for the kids. These were homemade costumes made without a pattern, complete with my custom digitized designs for machine embroidery for the logos. The result? Costumes that I probably could have bought in the store for much less heartache. So if your kid wants to be Batman or Cinderella, it really might be easier to buy the costume. Yes, I’m actually suggesting that you buy a costume rather than make it.
Then the girls dressed as Little Red Riding Hood and a mermaid. The mermaid costume was fun to make with all the scales. And the Little Red Riding Hood cape was very pretty — made with a wool/cashmere blend that I couldn’t resist. My idea was that my daughter could wear it after Halloween. But then of course she went to a Halloween party and got green “witch’s brew” all over the side of the cape. And she thought the weight of it was too heavy for regular wear anyway. Lesson learned: no fancy fabrics. So, that’s my advice.
Having said that, my older daughter is insisting on dressing as Violet Beauregarde as a blueberry from the Willy Wonka movie (Gene Wilder version, of course). Yes, this one is a challenge. But I’ve already started, and so far, so good. It won’t be as large as the original, but there are some practical considerations here — like being able to walk in it. I’ll keep you posted.
Here’s hoping you have a Happy Sewing Halloween free of tears and tantrums (from both you and your children).
