Circle skirt

I just made this circle skirt for my granddaughter Sammy to wear for Halloween. She is obsessed with cats, and the Simplicity pattern had a kitty version, in addition to the usual poodle. 

It comes with petticoat directions. What do you think? Do you think it is needed?

Curious Matilda had to come take a look. 

Spider added

I found a spider for the web on Sammy's batwings. Now it's ready to send to NY.

Bat Wings for Sammy

I just finished these. My three-year old granddaughter wants to be a bat for Halloween. They are sturdy and I am pleased with how they turned out. I am thinking it needs a spider for the web, though.

Now I need a flat box to mail it to New York!

Belated Halloween Greetings!

I've been trying to send this photo from my phone ever since Halloween afternoon. Why do you suppose it took so long to arrive?

Also, I've noticed that the Blogger interface is suddenly totally intact via Internet Explorer. For several months, the toolbar was obscured. This is another thing that I don't understand why it took so long. Anyway, it's all good now.

Halloween in central NY

Sammy couldn't wait until Halloween!

 

She looks cute in the butterfly wings I made for her.

Luckily Sandy blew by south of North Brookfield, so my granddaughter got to go out trick or treating with her friends.

The pickings were good in nearby Hamilton.

Mom had to straighten out the wings from time to time. The batty antennae came from Target.

butterfly wing tutorial

I made a pair of butterfly wings for my granddaughter to wear on Halloween. I thought you might like to see how it was done, so here goes!

First of all, I bent four coat hangers into wing shapes. I used both my hands and a pair of pliers for some of the sharper corners. Then I tested some of my filmy fabrics for paint/dyeing capabilities. After that, I proceeded to cut out fabric with at least 1" excess fabric all around the wing shape. I folded it over the wire with clothespins, then with pins, making a smooth, neat fit.

I took some matching thread and sewed the fabric layers, as close to the wire as I could, wrapping the thread around the neck of the handle as I went along. Then I carefully trimmed away the excess fabric.

Sharp corners were trickier to navigate. I stitched around as well as I could and used a little fray check on the inner corners to secure.

This is how it looked after I sewed it and dabbed on a tiny bit of fray check. So far so good.

Painting was fun! I used Setacolor transparent fabric paints, which are colorfast. Other fabric paint would also work well, just make sure it's transparent and not opaque. You also don't want the paint to rub off on clothing. This is my fancy hanging system just outside my art studio, overlooking the living room. After I painted on the basic colors, I embellished further with fabric markers. This was my favorite part.

I also painted some "streamers" with lengths of the same fabric.

Okay, here's what NOT to do. I cut off the wire ends so that only the part where the wires wrapped around each other on the hanger were left, then wrapped the wires with duct tape. Then I used more duct tape to connect one upper wing and one lower wing. I attached all the wings together, criss-cross style, but the problem was that the wings became too floppy. So I removed the duct tape and went on to plan b.

I wrapped the wires together with batting and a sturdy glue. I think it was Gorilla Glue, but any strong glue should work. I further strengthened the connection with some selvedge strips I had on hand and more glue. I let this dry for a day before I went any further.

I arranged the wings criss-cross style and connected both pairs with more batting and more glue. No sharp wires will scratch my granddaughter, no way. I let this dry for another day. This made for a much sturdier set of wings. Hurray!

This photo is on its side, but as you can see I added some sheer matching layers over the batting. It was actually the fabric scraps I used to test colorfastness. Then I simply tied  the streamers onto right and left upper corners, to stream in the breeze.

At this point people often add straps of some sort, usually made with elastic. Living on opposite coasts from my granddaughter, I wasn't sure how big to make them. So I sewed three pinbacks to the center area. You can buy pinbacks at craft stores. This way the wings can be attached to any clothing. I also made a 4" padded square, made of fabric and batting, which can be used as a stabilizing base on the inside of thinner clothing, such as a t-shirt.

And there you have it! If I get a photo of my granddaughter wearing it (hint hint), I will post it here. Let me know if you try to make your own butterfly wings! There are all sorts of tutorials online, and this was my own take.

On Butterfly Wings and other things...

I recently got a wake-up call. I went with Joanell to the Oceanside Museum of Art where she was dropping off a quilt (as part of an exhibit including quilts from Dairy Barn! Lucky her!). When my friend happened to mention to the curator that I had had a quilt in Quilt Visions at her museum, I said "In 2002." Her wide-eyed response was that that was a really long time ago. She was young, and 10 years ago she could have been 15, who knows? But it shook me up a bit. What have I done lately?

Well, I have continued to make art quilts, although I have slowed down. I have other interests, as anyone who reads this blog would know.  Having a granddaughter has given me a different focus, and I have taken up knitting and making little clothing with gusto. Do I regret this? Of course not. I would hate to be so busy making art quilts that I wouldn't have time to make things for her. I am going to savor watching her grow up, and that's that. Quilts are still in the picture, when I can and want to make them.

My old friend Pat Raffee (Pat, are you out there?) gave me some advice during another moment of self-doubt, and I have had a few over the years. She said something like, make what pleases you. If you only make quilts that you hope will please judges and others, you end up with a pile of quilts that you may not even like. This advice has served me well over the years, so thank you, Pat. I will continue to make what pleases me.

Now I'm going to go upstairs to work on butterfly wings that Samantha can wear for Halloween. (tutorial will happen, eventually) In the meantime, here's a video to enjoy.

One more shamelessly cute halloween post

Samantha's first Halloween, at least the first one she could participate in. Yum.

Trick or treat with an Easter basket? Well, why not?

Halloween is not complete without a black cat.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everybody! I found a very simple tiny witch hat in Craft daily last week and whipped it out. It's nothing fancy. No sewing, just glue gun. Then I added elastic loops to anchor the hat around Ginger's ears. So far she's only worn it for the photo, and that may be as far as it goes.

That said, I've been sewing more tops. They take about 15 minutes to sew, and I just grab fabrics out of my stash, so really it's no big deal. They're mainly to cover up her bald spot from a brown recluse spider bite from a few years ago. But they look nice on her - I think autumn colors are definitely HER. (all the colors I can't wear any more)

One more, with a yoke.

Happy Halloween!