Lady Bug Costume

I wanted to share my first homemade Halloween costume for my little girl! It came together nicely so I'd love to share how I made it. 

Sorry for the lack of a cute background, but we had to get in pictures before she ripped off any of the attire!

The hat is crocheted, with added crocheted black circles. The antennas are made using black pipe cleaners and are secured on the hat by threading them through the crocheted holes already there. 

I bought a plain red shirt and added black circles of felt that I cut out. I cheated and hot-glued them on instead of sewing since I was out of black thread!

The wings I found at a local thrift store for $1.00! But I can easily see them being made with hangers, red nylons (if there is such a thing), and some paint. The arm bands are elastic, covered with red fabric which stay on quite nicely.

The skirt is a piece of elastic measured to my daughters waist size, with black tulle and red fabric tied in knots around it. VERY easy and I'm sure you've seen the technique before. Then of course she has on black tights. 

This costume is custom made for the cold Utah weather! But as you can see it wouldn't be hard to make some changes if needed. In the meantime,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Halloween Monster Wreath

My door needs to be re-painted, but hopefully that doesn't detract too much from my Halloween monster wreath! This didn't require any sewing as I used a hot glue gun for everything, but I thought it was cute and appropriate to blog about! 

I took a hanger, shaped it into a circle, took some feather boas, and wrapped them around it. You could do any color really but this is what I had in my craft bag. I made the "googly eyes" out of felt pieces, as well as the monster hands and tongue. The hands and tongue are hot glued onto the back of the wreath. 

It's that easy! I made it in one night, and it's something different than your usual Fall wreathes! Plus it would be a fun craft that your kids can help with.

Quick-Tip: Chain Sewing

This could have a different title, but I call it "chain sewing." It's a really fast way to put together multiple quilt blocks that are the same. Plus it saves you a ton of thread. 

Take a look!

Here is what I would like to sew together (the beginnings of a star block).

Start with one side, place right sides together, and start sewing. Place your needle in the "down" position if you can on your sewing machine. 

Sew down until you have about 1/4" left and get your second piece ready. Place that piece a couple of centimeters away from the first one and sew right onto it. It's okay if you sew a stitch or two and there's no fabric under the sewing needle. 

When you've sewn all of your pieces, you'll have a chain like this one:

Don't snip your pieces apart just yet! Do the other side (if this applies).

NOW go through and snip your threads that are between the sewn pieces. 

That's it! This process will save you tons of time if you've got a big project to do! 

Tutorial: Eight-Pointed Star Block Pattern

This quilt block will end up measuring 6"x6". I will be referring to the inner fabric as your "star" fabric, and the outer as your "square" fabric. Sew with a 1/4" seam. 

This is a great block for scraps! 

Steps:

1. Cut two 2 7/8" squares from your star fabric and then cut once diagonally across on each. I used more than one fabric for my star because I only had honey bun strips. You can use one fabric!

2. Cut one 3 1/4" square from your star fabric and then cut it diagonally twice to make four triangles.

3. Cut one 2 1/2" square from your star fabric.

4. Cut four 2 1/2" squares from your square fabric.

5. Cut one 3 1/4" square from your square fabric and cut it diagonally twice to create four triangles. 

6. Time to sew! Sew your star and square quarter triangles (from steps 2 & 4) on the top right side as shown in the picture below. Be sure to place your fabrics right sides together with the square fabric on top. If you don't do this correctly your star won't come out right! Don't worry though, I did some unstitching too... After sewing, open the triangles and iron open the seam. Repeat this step for all of your quarter triangles.

7. Take your triangle from step 6 and sew onto it a half triangle from your star fabric (from step 1). Sew with right sides together, on the long side of the triangle. Iron open. Repeat this step to make four star-point squares. 

8. Here are what your star-point squares will look like: 

9. Start sewing your rows together. First row: square fabric 2 1/2" square, star-point square, and a square fabric 2 1/2" square again. Iron.

10. Second row: star-point square, star fabric 2 1/2" square, and star-point square again. Iron.

11. Third row: 2 1/2" square fabric, star-point square, and 2 1/2" square fabric again. Iron.

12. Now you have three rows that, when you place them above and below one another, should look like this:

13. Sew each of your rows together, remembering to line up the seams so your star comes out as beautifully as possible! Iron and straighten out your edges (by cutting) to make the block exactly 6"x6".