Quilted Halloween Banner

Hi everyone, it’s Ellie from Craft Sew Create! I realize Halloween is over, but I really wanted to share this quilted Halloween banner with you. Maybe you can just get a nice jump start on next year’s decorations :).

I just love the vintage “smiling” Halloween decorations. I have collected a few items over the years so I wanted to add a smiling pumpkin and cat to my quilted Halloween banner! Minick and Simpson’s Halloween Night fabric was the perfect medium to give this banner a vintage feel.

One Halloween Night by Minick and Simpson Charm Pack

5 yards black ric rac or other ribbon

10″ black felt or other batting

1/4 yard solid black fabric

4 tiny buttons for eyes

LAYOUT

First, lay out your fabrics and decide which fabrics you want to use for your banner. You need to save out the following: One solid orange for the pumpkin, one solid black for the cat, one solid green for the pumpkin stem, and one solid cream for the face pieces. After that you can use the fabrics any way you want. I tried to use fewer of the larger patterned pieces so the letters can show up better. I put those on the back. You will need one charm square for the front and one for the back with a felt or batting piece in between.

CUTTING

I used black felt as my batting for the quilt squares as it will show on the edges. You can use regular batting or any color felt you’d like. With a rotary, cut the felt into 16, 5″ squares.

LETTERING

For the lettering you can use any font you choose! The lettering I used was Berlin Sans FB Demi from MS Word. I used all caps and the font size was 400. Print out your letters spelling HAPPY HALLOWEEN (you only need to print one of each letter). I printed in a lt.grey so I wouldn’t use too much ink.

Cut the letters out from the black fabric. You will also need to cut the letters from a fusible applique medium. I used Steam-A-Seam 2 Lite. You can use your favorite.

Next you cut out your pumpkin and cat. Use the template included in this PDF for those. Cut one set from fabric and one from your fusible applique medium.

QUILT

This is fun part! Take each of your little charm “sandwiches” and quilt them. I tried basting with pins and with a basting stitch, but I found that a basting spray worked the best for me. I used four different quilting patterns.

The first I just did a 1/4″ straight stitch using my pressure foot as a guide.

Next I did a spider web! Straight Stitch diagonally from each side and down the center vertically and horizontally.

Then put your embroidery foot on (don’t forget to lower your feed dogs) and let the fun begin!

Starting from the center stitch around and around leaving about a 1/2″ space. Just keep going until you go off the edge.

Next I kept the embroidery foot on did simple stippling.

And last I did a grid pattern. The lines are 5/8″ apart both horizontally and diagonally.

IRON

Now you can iron-on your letters to your quilt squares. Peel the backing off of each letter and iron them onto each quilt square sandwich.

Iron the pumpkin and cat face pieces onto the heads. Be sure to leave the backing on the top part of the stem so it doesn’t iron onto your ironing board.

Before you iron the heads onto the squares, do the embroidery work on the faces.

EMBROIDER
Now you can embroider the faces on your pumpkin and cat.

I used a simple blanket stitch around the eyes.

Use a straight stitch around the nose, mouth and for the teeth. (I did the stem after I applied him to the quilt block.)

Sew the tiny buttons onto the eyes.

I used light colored quilt squares for the pumpkin & cat. I stipple quilted them.

Iron the pumpkin and cat onto the squares.

Use a straight stitch and embroider the pumpkin stem. I used a machine blanket stitch around the cat and the pumpkin.

FINISH

The last step is to attach ric rac or ribbon to the back for hanging. Cut two, 2 1/2 yd. lengths. Leave about a 1/2 inch space between each square and pin to back. You can use a simple tacking stitch to attach, or any kind of iron-on hemming fusible web to attach the ric rac to the back.

One delightful Halloween banner. It would look so cute hanging on a mantle, an empty wall space, or a doorway! Maybe next year, right?

{Craft Sew Create}

Monster Pillow

Oct9

Hello again! I just love creating things for my little boys and this Monster Pillow has been the biggest hit so far. We love Monsters in our house! And my boys have really enjoyed the little secret pocket in this Monster Pillow. They keep their Leapster, games, books, movies, and treats all tucked inside. And let’s not forget the great handles, which make for some awesome pillow fights! For more fun Halloween tote and bag ideas, you can hop on over to my blog at {http://tinyseamstress.blogspot.com}.

For this pillow I used my absolute favorite Halloween collection, Halloween Night by Minick and Simpson….Seriously the cutest! For this project you need:

2 Fat Quarters for outside fabric
2 Fat Quarters for inside pocket
1 Charm Pack
8″ by 8″ white scrap fabric for eyes and teeth
6″ by 2″ black scrap fabric for eyes
9″ by 2″ red scrap fabric for mouth
Batting
Magnetic Snap or Velcro
Wonder Under

Fusible Fleece

CUTTING:

1. Outside Fabric: Cut (2) 16″ by 16″ squares. Cut fusible fleece to match and apply to wrong sides.
2. Pocket Fabric: Cut (2) 12″ by 12″ squares. Cut fusible fleece to match and apply to wrong sides.

Cut (4) 15″ by 2″ strips for straps and cut 2 fusible fleece to match and apply to wrong sides of 2 strap pieces.
3. Charm Pack: Cut 12 large triangles 5″ wide by 5″ tall, with angles slanted inward 2.5″ as shown.Cut 12 medium triangles 3″ wide by 5″ tall, with angles slanted inward 1.5″ as shown.Cut 14 small triangles 4″ wide by 3.5″ tall, with angles slanted inward 2″ as shown.
4. White of Eyes: Cut (2) 4.25″ by 3.25″ ovals. Apply Wonder Under to wrong sides.

5. Black of Eyes: Cut (2) 2.5″ by 1.5″ ovals. Apply Wonder Under to wrong sides.

6. Mouth: Cut (2) 8.5″ by .75″ strips. Apply Wonder Under to wrong sides.

7. Teeth: Cut (1) 3.5″ by 1.75″ large tooth. Cut (1) 2.5″ by 2″ small tooth. Apply Wonder Under to wrong sides of both teeth.
SEWING:

1. Match 2 triangle pieces right sides together. Sew down long edges, leaving base open. Turn right sides out, press, and top stitch. Repeat with the rest of triangle pieces. You will have 19 triangles when finished.
2. Pin triangles around 3 edges of one of your 16″ by 16″ squares. Make sure all points are facing inward. Top stitch in place.

3. Press triangles so they point out as shown below.

4. Apply the “black of eyes” to the “white of eyes” according to Wonder Under instructions. Apply “white of eyes” about 4″ from top center, overlapping a little. Press in place with Wonder Under.

5. Measure 6″ from bottom center of outside fabric and press a mouth strip in place at a slight angle. With top of teeth inline with mouth strip, press teeth where desired. Press second mouth strip on top of teeth, also at a slight angle.

6. Using your favorite applique stitch, stitch around edges of all Monster Face pieces.

7. Measure 2″ from top center of both pocket pieces and apply magnetic snap or Velcro.

8. Place one strap with fusible fleece and one strap without, right sides together. Stitch down long edges, leaving ends open, turn right sides out, press, and top stitch. Measure 2.5″ from each side of pocket piece and stitch ends of strap in place, with raw ends facing up, as shown below. Repeat with second strap and pocket piece.

9. Center one pocket piece on one body piece with right sides together. Top stitch across the top only. Repeat with other body piece and pocket piece as shown below.

10. Lay both pillow pieces right sides together as shown below, with body pieces and pocket pieces lined up together and pin in place. Sew around all edges, leaving a 4″ opening in pocket to turn. Turn entire pillow right sides out.
11. Stuff pillow through 4″ opening in pocket.

12. Hand stitch or top stitch opening closed. Stuff pocket back into pillow for secret stuff. 🙂

Makes one Monster Pillow.

The fusible fleece is optional. I used it to keep a stiff structure to the Monster Face.

Tiffany Jenkins
{http://tinyseamstress.blogspot.com}

Fabric Ornaments

Oct8

Hi! This is Jera in Seattle from http://quiltingintherain.blogspot.com sharing a quick weekend project that doesn’t involve sewing for a change, though it does involve getting your hands a bit messy! I used the “Halloween Night” charm pack by Minick & Simpson; I’d love to see someone do a Christmas version. To make roughly 7 ornaments, you will need approximately 15 five inch squares (aka charm squares). You can use the leftover charm squares to make a matching table runner. All of the ingredients below (other than the charm pack) can be found at a crafts store.

Foam balls (2″ in diameter and/or 3″ in diameter)
1 charm pack, Halloween Night
ModPodge
Clear brush-on glaze finish
Paint brush
Wire (I used fabric-coated wire from the floral section)

Ribbon
Halloween tree (from JoAnn’s); or make your own similar to the one below using branches:

Step 1 – From your charm pack, choose about 10-15 charm squares. Cut these into strips no wider than 1”. If you’re using smaller foam balls, I wouldn’t cut them any wider than ½ ”.

Step 2 – Get your hands messy! (Tip: I covered my table with parchment paper). With a paint brush, apply a single coat of Mod Podge where you plan to place a fabric strip:

Place the fabric strip over the Mod Podge and smooth down with your fingers. Then, secure the strip by brushing it down with more Mod Podge. Don’t brush it on too thick:

Repeat the above steps but with another strip. Simply layer the fabric strips as needed until the entire foam ball is covered:

Let the fabric/Mod-Podged ball(s) dry on parchment paper overnight.

Step 3 – After the fabric balls have dried, apply a thin coat of clear brush-on glaze coating and then let it dry again overnight.

Step 4 – Create the ornament hanger. As shown below, cut approximately 4” of stem wire. Bend 2” of one end over to create a ½”-1” loop, and using the remaining wire secure the loop by wrapping the wire around the main stem to create a little knot.

Step 5 – Using a thin blade (e.g. the tip of an old pair of appliqué scissors), make a small incision on the fabric ball so that the blade cuts through the fabric. Insert the end of the wire hanger (the end that doesn’t have the loop) into the incision until it stops at the knot. The foam secures the wire better than I thought, but you can also apply clear glue around the base of the knot to reinforce it. If desired, add a bow using ribbon at the base of the loop.