Celebrating Halloween with patchwork fabric pumpkin❣ ハッピーハロウイーン♪ パッチワークの布かぼちゃ作りました

Happy Halloween! 

今日は子供たちが待ちに待ったハロウイーン。。。

I don't carve jack-o-lanterns... but I stitched up a patchwork pumpkin last night! 

アメリカではかぼちゃを彫ってジャック・オ・ランタン(かぼちゃランタン)を作るのが一般的ですが・・・我が家ではパッチワークでちくちく手作りしてみました❣

Have a safe and enjoyable Halloween! I will be busy chasing our girls and their friends around our neighborhood going trick or treating tonight! 

皆様も楽しいハロウイーンをお過ごしくださいね♪  例年通り、今夜も私は娘&その友達グループと一緒に近所を徘徊してお菓子をもらいに行く予定です ^^;

***Love, Amy***

Find me on Facebook (Amy Morinaka) →☆

Follow me on Instagram @chickchicksewing →★

Honey bag (embroidered by our daughter)

Well, I know that Thanksgiving is just around the corner here in the U.S., but today, let me post about one more project that we made for last week's Halloween.

It's a trick-or-treating tote bag embroidered by our 10 year old daughter, and sewn by her mommy.   We'd like to call this simple bag a "Honey" bag.

As I've mentioned on this blog earlier, our 10 year old was a bumble bee for this Halloween.   And on the day of Halloween (last Sunday), just only few hours before we left for trick or treating, our daughter came up with this idea of carrying a trick or treating bag that matches her bee outfit... She specifically wanted a yellow bag with a word "Honey" on it.

I insisted her to take the good old plastic pumpkin container for trick or treating, but

 this girl is so stubborn (just like who?) that she just had to have the "Honey" bag that matches her bee outfit...

So she embroidered the word "Honey" on to a yellow fabric (in less than an hour)...

And her mommy quickly sewed it into a bag (in a little more than an hour)...

Because I was in such a hurry, I did not use any batting nor interfacing when whipping up this bag.

However, I still wanted to make this into a reversible bag, so that my girl can use this bag throughout the year (even on days when she is not a bumble bee!)

Reversible side is black/white corduroy polka dots from my stash.

Bag opening area

By the time we came back home from trick or treating,  the Honey bag was filled with candies.  Our bumble bee couldn't be happier!

Here is a small image of our bumble bee with a Honey bag on Halloween night.

And guess who is that Snow White behind the bee? 

Yes, it's me! 

 I sure enjoyed dressing up for Halloween as much as our kids did :D

And I guess because of my height (I'm only 5'1" or 153cm) I was offered many candies while trick-or-treating with the kids... In the darkness, people probably thought that I was one of the kids and not the parent... But I'm sure they noticed that it was the (middle-aged) Snow White and not the young and lovely one that they offered the candy to, once they saw me under the porch light...! Ha ha!

  Halloween was so much fun, even for the (middle-aged) Snow White ;P

Halloween sewing no. 2 (bumble bee) ミツバチの衣装作りました

Hope you all had a happy Halloween!

Well, our kids, too, had an exciting Halloween, with costume parades, Halloween parties, and lots of candies. 

But their mommy is exhausted tonight after walking around our neighborhood for two+  hours straight with our girls (and few of their friends) for trick-or-treating... The kids never seemed to stop knocking on peoples' doors to get more candies, no matter how much they've got in their bags!

Anyways, let me post about the costume that I sewed up for my 10 year old daughter for this Halloween.   She was a bumble bee.  (Also see this earlier post for the little cat costume that I sewed up for my 8 year old).

We purchased the bumble bee antennae and the wings, so all I had to make was this yellow and black top (T shirt).

It may look like a simple T shirt here, but this was a very challenging top to make, because...

Yellow/black stripe fabrics intended for the bee costumes were totally sold out at our local Joann store, so I had no choice but to sew together many many strips of yellow and black (stretch knit) fabrics to create the "bee" striped fabrics...

Lots of serging involved here

After creating the "bee" top, I made these matching ribbon pony tail holders for my girl (per request of our daughter).



The end result: a happy bumble bee flying in our backyard!

Thanks for reading and hope you have a wonderful November!

Halloween sewing (little cat)

Yesterday (Friday) was the Halloween costume parade at our girls' elementary school and this outfit is what I sewed up for my 8 year old daughter earlier this week... a little cat.

Instead of buying materials and supplies, I searched around our house and found useful stuff and refurbished them to make this one.

For instance, I used this hand-me-down black t-shirt for the top.

First, I cut two strips of leopard print fleece from my stash and quickly serged one side with the rolled hem function.

Then, I made ruffles using big stitches (by hand) on the opposite side of the strip and then sewed the ruffles on to the neck area with my hand again. (I couldn't use my sewing machine because the fleece ruffles were too bulky). I made two of these ruffles.

Double ruffles completed.

Then, I cut out three pieces of the same leopard print fleece to make a skirt.
Just like the ruffles, I serged the skirt hem with the rolled hem function.

For the skirt back, I made sure to cut the center in half to place the "cat's tail".

 This furry thing is used for the "tail".

The furry "tail" is sewn between the back skirt panels.

After sewing together all skirt panels, I folded the waist area in double for the elastic to go through.

 

With this cat head band (a store bought item from a few years back)...

Little cat costume is complete!



I think the best part of this costume is that it can be worn to school even after the Halloween.  (Only if I don't forget to remove the tail from the back skirt :P)

Our third grader at the school costume parade... She was a happy little cat!



Besides this little cat costume, I had sewn another costume earlier this week (for my ten year old), which I plan to post here soon...

Meanwhile, I hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween!!



Happy Halloween!

Our girls are all excited for the upcoming Halloween this weekend.  Tomorrow at school, there will be parties in their classrooms, followed by the costume parade.  I'm glad that this year's Halloween will be on Saturday, instead of on a weekday, so that the kids could stay up a little late after going trick-or-treating.

I made this Halloween garland by felt.  After cutting up the felts  into ghost, pumpkin, and bat shapes, I combined two felt shapes (wrong sides together) and machined sewed all around, leaving a small opening.  Then, I filled it with the fiber fill, and machined sewed the opening.  Their eyes, nose and mouths are glued on to the felt with the fiber glue, so the entire job was pretty quick and easy. 

Recently, when I found this orange trimming with pumpkin faces on at our local Joann's, I knew what I wanted to make with it... a Halloween garland!  This pumpkin garland was 60% off, and with that kind of a deep discount, I just couldn't resist but to buy and make something...!! 

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween!