Halloween table runner

Pattern: none

Fabric: 1.5 yard 47" wide chevron print burlap

Haberdasheries: two tassels

Last year I started decorating our house with Halloween things I brought from my trip to the USA. I also bought some chevron print burlap there, and this year, I made a runner for our dining table.

I halved the burlap lengthwise, serged the two long strips together and ran the sides under my serger as well. I used to have lots of trouble with my serger, but I had it checked and oiled earlier this year, and since then it’s been running so smoothly! It had no problem whatsoever with this burlap, even using the same settings I do for knit fabric. After serging, I folded the sides over and stitched them down, and I hand sewed two black tassels onto the ends. Voilà!

Halloween cushion covers

Pattern: None

Fabric: printed cotton, black cotton, cream cotton

Haberdasheries: 7 buttons, 4 black tassels

First: making cushion covers, making buttonholes on my own sewing machine, actually using the buttonhole foot!

Last month I visited my friend Nienke in the USA, and ended up buying lots of Halloween decoration materials. I also decided that I’d make some envelope cushion covers when I got home.

I bought the fabric for the first cushion cover specifically for that purpose, so I had enough for what I wanted to make, and decided to take it seriously and do French seams for a neat inside:

 

The second and third covers’ fabrics were gifts from Nienke/leftovers from her projects. I think they were fat quarters (weird name…) and this meant I had a bit too little fabric, so I couldn’t do French seams, and just made narrow regular seams and zigzagged them. I decided to add black tassels to the black cats one.

 

  

  

I like the black cats one so much I might actually leave it for the rest of the year as well!

Happy Halloween! – A Kitty skater shirt

Pattern: Drafted based on Kitchy Coo’s Lady Skater pattern

Fabric: 1.5 m organic cotton knit

Haberdasheries: none!

First: my serger not giving me ANY trouble! :P

I don’t think I’ll be making a habit of making basic shirts (it is handier, and even cheaper, to buy them) but I really liked this fabric, yet didn’t want an entire dress out of it. So I used the Lady Skater sleeves as they were, and the bodice with quite a bit added to the bottom.

In my enthusiasm about my serger cooperating, I forgot I was supposed to hem the sleeves and bottom before serging the side seam. So it was a bit of a tricky job to hem the sleeves, but I do think I prefer this method, because at least the seam lines up everywhere! I find it almost impossible to line up the seams when serging, even if I baste them first.

Happy Halloween everyone!