Fall has arrived here in the lower midwest, with cooler temperatures and leaves that are starting to change. I have made it through Halloween and am ready to decorate for autumn and Thanksgiving. I did have fun doing a bit of decorating for Halloween, including making a couple of costumes. There has also been tatting done, some in fall colors.
These two rings are made with the same pattern, one that I doodled. The ring with the button started as something else when I realized it wasn’t going to work, so I changed it up a bit and made a ring. Orange (this is Lizbeth #694 Harvest Orange Med) has never been one of my favorite colors to wear so I added the button. I had enough fun with it that I decided to make another ring, this time in Lizbeth #136 Autumn Spice. The doily background was made a few years ago and surprised me with how well it looks with the fall colors of the rings and pumpkin. I’ve been working on a couple of other things, but that will be for another post.
The local county historical society put on a costume parade for kids and their pets the Saturday before Halloween. My granddaughter was very interested in going with their dog. Her costume for Halloween was a dragon so we decided to dress the dog as a dragon, too. My daughter suggested that we dress the dog as a sheep, which would have been much easier, but it was too late, my granddaughter wanted a dragon.
During the week before Halloween, my daughter and her kids went shopping with me for items to make the dog’s costume. We found pink felt and fairy wings at a second-hand store that was the basis of the costume. As we didn’t know exactly what we were going to need to make it at that time we ended up using some green felt that I already had to make part of it. My granddaughter helped me with ideas, cutting out the felt, and putting it together. Amazingly, once we put the costume on her, the dog didn’t have any issues with wearing it. I think she looked pretty cute in it.
My granddaughter’s costume had been ordered online, which consisted of a tail, wings, and a mask. The sweats that were ordered to wear with them didn’t come in, so others had to be worn. But it was a pretty bare-bones costume and the mask hurt my granddaughter’s face. These deficiencies weren’t known until way too late to do anything about it for the parade. But there was time to do a little something before going trick-or-treating the next night.
While we were still in town after the parade we stopped and picked up some gray felt. It took several hours but I came up with a different mask, some shoulder pieces, and even horns. The mask didn’t hurt her face like the purchased one and was not as heavy, either. The arm pieces broke up her profile without restricting her movements. She still wore the wings and tail that her mom bought, as well as a gray pullover jacket to keep warm. She seemed very happy with the end result and I think the costume was much improved. I had a lot of fun making both it and the dog’s costume.
Though I plan on putting out Thanksgiving and autumn decorations I need to get busy making things for Christmas. I’m not sure what I’ll be making for family and friends this year. I only have a few weeks left, I’d better get on it!
Have you got your Christmas tatting done yet?
“Halloween is not only about putting on a costume, but it’s about finding the imagination and costume within ourselves.” Elvis Duran