Sewing, actual sewing!

I haven't written as much this week as I have been a bit poorly (after effect of day out on Friday).  But this morning I thought I would sit and make something,  so this is just a short blog.  It's a step by step guide of how I made a cute pumpkin bag for all those lovely sweets the little ones will collect on Halloween.  I saw the pattern in this months issue of Crafts Beautiful, there is a Halloween supplement with it.  It has some nice patterns and recipes to follow, so here is my take on the bag.  

The instructions on the patterns in the back of the magazine tell you to enlarge the images in a photocopier, but I haven't got one of those!  So I just used a ruler and scaled the project up, I doubled the size of the pattern but you could make it larger.  I made it in felt but it would be stronger in cotton, some of the patterned ones Carolyn (Make Me Fabrics) has for Halloween would be good.  If you did want to make it larger she has some stiffener as well, it's for bodices (summer dresses etc), this would give it more structure if you used it like ribs at the joints.

So here are the photos and instructions, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and it only took about an hour.

I used three sheets of orange felt and one green.

These are the patterns I made from the magazine.

I cut six panels and six leaves.

Stitch two together at a time.  I used blanket stitch on the outside, but you could stitch right sides together on a machine.

This is what the three pairs of panels look like.  The blanket stitch creates a ribbed  effect.

 Then stitch the pairs together to form the body of the pumpkin.  There should be enough felt left to make a handle.  I cut one from green felt and two from orange, the orange ones were slightly narrower.  I stitched these together in a sandwich and then added a strip of green glitter ribbon to the top.

Then attach the handle securely to the bag.  I added green bows in the same ribbon, secured with a few stitches.

In the magazine they had added buttons to the panels, if you are going to do this I would add them before you stitch the pairs of panels together.  You could add a face or any decoration you like.  It doesn't take much fabric and doesn't cost much either, probably less than a shop bought one.  There are some other really good Halloween projects in the magazine to try, some felt ghosts and monster that would be nice individually or made into bunting.

I hope this has inspired you to have a go, I am going to leave it on Carolyn's stall for a few days if anyone wants a look.  I know sometimes that's how I work out how to make something, by picking it up and having a look.

Well bye for now,

I'll be back soon with some more makes,

Love Louise xx.