Happy Halloween!
Halloween isn’t traditionally celebrated here in Australia, but as a community, we are embracing it to get out, meet our neighbors and enjoy dressing up!
I spent some time making little bats to hang out the front of the house. Each bat was free handed, so they all have their own unique personalities!
Making the Bats
To make the bats, I first painted a rough outline on black cotton fabric. I mixed a little bit of silver fabric paint with some black fabric paint. I brushed on a oval shape for a body, and then long curvy strokes off each side of the oval to give an idea where the wings go.
I ironed on some interfacing to the back of the painted fabric, then went to my sewing machine. I dropped the feed dogs, put on the free motion foot and threaded the machine with white glow in the dark thread. The painted areas gave me an idea of where to stitch the outlines, and then I got a bit creative with the details. Some have hearts embroidered on their bellies, another a star, one even has “2021” across its middle!
Once I had embroidered the outlines and some detail, I stitched them to another piece of black fabric, right sides together, leaving a turn out hole on one wing. Leaving about 1/4 inch seam allowance, I cut them all out, trimmed points, snipped curves and then turned them right sides out. To finish, I did a little bit more embroidery detail on one wing, added some stuffing to the body, and added more detail on the other wing, stitching the turn out opening closed as I went.
Making the bats. Painting, stitching and finished!
Glowing Bats
I was a little disappointed in the glow factor of the glow in the dark thread, so I used black lights to help them glow more. And now I am obsesses with black lights and want to experiment with them more! Haha
I used black lights to really make the bats glow. Added bonus, it made the fake spider webs we put up glow too!
From my family to yours
We hope you have enjoyed the day, in what ever way you spent it!
Happy Halloween!
With a toddler underfoot now, we have been reflecting on which traditions we want to celebrate/explore/acknowledge. So I’m interested in hearing about your family traditions! What do you celebrate? What traditions does your family keep?
Stay creative!
<3 Cate
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