Weekly Obsession 9/6: HALLOWEEN!

I didn't realize how difficult it would be to maintain a blog, design fabric, work, and handle life. The last few weeks have been busy with work and celebrating my birthday (and seeing the solar eclipse!) with family and friends. I'm currently waiting to receive samples of new Halloween fabrics, and I'M SO EXCITED. I like the prints, plus Halloween is my favorite holiday (Christmas is a very, very close second). My current weekly obsession (more like, several week obsession) is Halloween. And slightly fall in general. It truly feels like fall weather here, and that makes me sooo happy, as I've been used to it still feeling like summer in September. In addition to ordering fabric from Spoonflower, I've also bought some Halloween fabric for various projects.

The spider web fabric glows in the dark! 😍

I'm planning on making a circle skirt with the spider web fabric, a dress from a vintage pattern with the purple twill to the right of the spider web fabric, and using the rest for a EPP (English paper piecing) project. It will be my first time doing EPP, and I might try my hand at foundation piecing as well. I'm equal parts excited and nervous about the project. I also bought glow-in-the-dark thread for possible quilting, and for topstitching for the circle skirt.

In addition, to buying fabric, I've been buying decoration and craft supplies. I also got some spooky things for my birthday! 😊 The Haunted Mansion is my favorite Disney ride, and The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite movies. I watch it year round, and might be currently wearing a The Nightmare Before Christmas shirt. (Guilty).

Unfortunately, the last time I checked, my local Target only had Halloween stuff in their One Spot section. But, other stores have had stuff out! I found the small cauldron and purple and orange LED lights at Menard's, the battery operated purple lights from Dollar Tree, the glitter felt spiders from Target, and the blind box Pusheen from Hot Topic. I had been a good girl, resisting blind boxes for months. And then I saw the Trick or Treat series of Pusheen blind boxes, and well, couldn't resist. I've come to the conclusion that one cannot be upset or angry looking at Pusheen. Pusheen is instant happiness for me.

I found the light up coffin at Michael's and the flat unfinished wood pieces at Joann. I've painted the spider web key already, and the interior of the coffin. I'm planning on using the flat wood pieces for a new Halloween wreath. I just have to get the rest of the supplies for it, which means more trips to the craft stores, and more time to see (and buy) Halloween stuff.

In addition to Halloween, I'm excited that farms with corn mazes are open now! I haven't been to one in a few years, and am planning on going to one with friends soon. And the place has apple cider doughnuts, which of course I'll have to sample.

Are fall activities or preparing for Halloween current obsessions for you? Comment away!

Easy, Pretty, Slouchy Knit Cowl

I love fall and winter. I love the cooler temperatures after dealing with a hot and humid summer. I love the crispness of the air, the contrast between the sky and leaves, and later bare trees. I love being able to enjoy warm foods and drinks (hello hot chocolate!). However, I do not like scarves, which are an (almost) necessary accessory for winter. I do not like how restrictive and fussy they can be. I would prefer a cowl, but could never find exactly what I wanted, which wasn't anything extreme. (I have found that even if I want something REALLY basic, it's near impossible to find). So, I decided to make one. (If you can't find it, make it!)

First, I found the perfect yarn, or rather, it found me. Walking down the craft aisle, I spotted a yarn that I knew I had to use for something. It's color is named Plum Perfect, which is the perfect name for it. It's a dark purple that has just a little bit of red to it.

Next, I had to find a cowl pattern. I wanted something easy to knit but had some texture to it. I also wanted it to be slouchy. I found a great cowl online at KnitPicks. It's knit in the round, has ribbing at either end and the middle, and has diagonal stitching between the ribbing sections. The cowl, named "Meine Kalte Liebe Cowl," can be found here.

It was easy to knit, but it had been a while since I had knitted, so I make some mistakes. The cowl was (relatively) error free, until right before my last section of ribbing. I must have miscounted what row I was on for the diagonal stitching, because it didn't match up with the ribbing. Oops. The cowl still looks good though, and I'll wear it scrunched so the mistake won't be as visible.

The top in the picture was where I ended, so you can see where I made my mistake. I love how it looks though, and it is really warm. It will be great to wear as the weather gets cooler. Here's a close up of the ribbing and diagonal stitching of the cowl:

I will be posting a garment reconstruction project later, and maybe either a decor or Halloween project. I may save the Halloween project for next week, and have a week (or two) for spooky crafts and fabric.

Jack O' Lantern Pillow/Plushie

This week's Fabric of the Week contest at Spoonflower is for Jack O Lantern pillow and/or plushie kits. My first idea sounded so much better in my head than on paper. It ended up looking like a Medusa pumpkin alien pillow. Not exactly what I had in mind. Somehow, that bizarre idea led to my refined contest entry. Here is my "Posh Pumpkin Pillow and Cube Kit":



You can view the kit by clicking the image above or clicking here. The kit includes an 18" pillow and two 4" cubes on one yard of quilting weight cotton. There is an extra 12" pillow on some of the wider fabrics. The pillow can be embellished with beading, French knots, or it can be tufted. The cubes can be used as decoration or toys. There are two different Jack O Lantern faces on the pillow, and six on the cubes (two of the cube faces are those on the pillow). The grey prints darker than pictured, and the orange prints as a burnt orange color.

It's hard to see the "stitched" detail on this kit, so I have some close ups of the faces on the pillow (and two cube sides). The first is a happy Jack O Lantern face:

The second is a happy vampire Jack O Lantern face:

You can vote for this week's fabric contest here at Spoonflower. There are not as many entries as the past few contests, but there are still a lot of great (and creative) kits. The contest unfortunately ends later today. I wanted to post this earlier, but life kind of got in the way a bit. (And fabric designs). To make up for that, there will be at least one more post today, and more this week.

Past contest result, Autumn contest: "Fall Flowers" placed 63/260. WOOHOO! Usually, my entries get lost in the big contests, and am happy to just place in the top half. I was really excited to see that number though. It's not top ten, but it's still the top 24%.

I talked about a knitting project last week that never got a post. It's happening today, after I take a picture I forgot about and upload them. Don't forget to vote for your favorite pumpkin pillow and plushie kits!

Sew Simple Dress: Now & Later

Simplicity has a new line of patterns named Sew Simple that include a pattern for one item. I like the idea, since the patterns are cheap, and I don't have to mess with patterns for something I don't like. (I hate getting a pattern for one item I really like and not liking the rest of the included patterns). I tend to like dresses with a '60s feel, and fell for this dress because it looked comfortable and cute:

You can find the pattern here at Simplicity's website. My only concern with the dress, was that it appeared a little short for my liking. I thought it would be okay since dresses tend to be long on me, and I decided not to shorten this dress for my height (more on that later).

Next was finding the right fabric. The pattern called for cottons, silky fabrics, and lightweight linens. I knew I wanted a cotton, but was debating between a solid or print. Then I found THE fabric in the cotton/quiting section:

Swirly, stained glass perfection in various purples, greys, and black and white. I think the print was also available other colorways (I don't remember though!), but I had to get the purple. Here is a closer look at the fabric:

Like I said, geometric perfection on fabric. The dress sewed up fast and easy. It was great not hand sewing anything (I tend to top stitch hems rather than do it by hand unless I need to for the fabric type). The band didn't need to be interfaced, which was also another (small) plus. I made one mistake by sewing an armband at 3/4" instead of 5/8" (oops!) and had to seam rip it and deal with some small holes in the printed fabric.

The biggest surprise came when I went to try on the dress. It was very comfortable, and somehow didn't make me look huge even though it's a loose style, but it hit right below my knees! I thought the envelope illustration made it look longer than the model picture, but when I held the pattern up to me, it seemed that it would hit mid thigh when finished. I chopped 2" off the hem so it would hit right above my knees, still longer than pictured. I'm very okay with it being longer than pictured, because I was a little concerned with it being too short.

Right now it feels very much like fall (first day!), but it's supposed to heat up a tad later next week. So, for now when it's a bit warmer, I'll wear the dress with some cute flip flops:

Here's a closer look at the flip flops. They have bows!

Later, when it cools down a bit, I'll wear it with tights and my grey knee high boots:

I'll layer it more when it really cools down with a long sleeve top and maybe a sweater cardigan. This dress was a breeze to sew, and it will be fun to wear! I will be doing another post soon, for a knitting project perfect for fall (and winter) weather.

Is it fall yet?

As soon as I get excited about nice, cool, fall weather, the temperature mysteriously climbs up for a day or too. It's happened three times so far this year, so I hope fall will finally be here for good. I just finished a knitting project, perfect for cooler weather, that I will put in a post this week. I will do several posts this week to celebrate the start of fall.

This week's Spoonflower Fabric of the Week contest called for autumn inspired fabrics using no more than three colors plus white. It's another big contest, although not as large as last week's Bird themed contest. My entry is titled "Fall Flowers" (I couldn't think of anything else at the moment), and is a large scale repeating pattern.

My design is layers of giant flowers piled on top of each other. The flowers were originally stylized mum silhouettes of one color each. They needed more to them, so I gave the flowers some layers of their own. It's a bit different and busier than my usual designs, but I'm happy with the outcome. I think it would be perfect for a full circle skirt, coat or jacket lining, and pillows among other things. Here is a closer look at the design:




The current contest ends Wednesday evening and you can vote here at Spoonflower. I am actually working on doing a collection for this design, and having the designs in various seasonal colorways. I will release the current collections as soon as I have them complete and proofed and release the others later.

As I mentioned before, this week will have several posts perfect for fall. I have a sewing project, a knitting project, and a garment reconstruction project. I will also have some fun Halloween posts later, too.

Past contest result, Bird Contest: "Chic Birdie Bows" finished 214 out of 341.

Please check out the Autumn fabric entries and vote for your favorites! Also, check out Spoonflower for fun fabrics for fall, Halloween, and Christmas. You can never craft too early!