Tag: costume

Holidays Are Coming

At this time of the year, it seems to me that the holidays are coming very fast. It doesn’t help that stores don’t seem to know what holiday it is. You can find Halloween, Thanksgiving (if you’re lucky), and Christmas goods at the same time in any given store right now. As a crafter, that’s good, so you can get started on your holiday gifts and decorations if you haven’t already. But right now I’m having trouble deciding which holiday I want to work on! They are all so enticing! This is also a time of a lot of seasonal activities.

We celebrated Reformation Day this previous Sunday. The actual day is October 31, which doesn’t fall on a Sunday this year. All Saints’ Day is November 1, which we celebrate this coming Sunday. I took my framed Luther’s Rose to services this past Sunday and had a lot of people stop to look and read it. That made me happy.

Holding my framed Luther's Rose below the banner on wandasknottythoughts
Holding my framed Luther’s Rose below the banner.

Last Friday I attended Bingo at the Legion with my sister and niece. It was Halloween-themed, so people were encouraged to dress up. My niece went all out. (She also calls the games) I just wore what I had decorated for Palmetto‘s Tat Days a few years ago. I wasn’t a specific person, but I dressed up.

Dressed up for Bingo on wandasknottythoughts
Dressed up for Bingo

Last week we attended the school play our grandson was in, ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ where he was Ichabod Crane. All the cast and crew did a great job, but he was outstanding, even if I say so myself. (☺) He is also the Costume Designer. It wasn’t put on for Halloween per se, just their fall production, but the timing and theme made it so.

Grandson as Ichabod Crane on wandasknottythoughts
Grandson as Ichabod Crane

I can’t say that I am crafting much for Thanksgiving, but I have already got a great start on Christmas. Besides tatted snowflakes and angels, I’m doing wine cork angels. I saw this idea online but added tatting to my version.

Wine cork angel on wandasknottythoughts
Wine cork angel

I got carried away with making wings. I have done three or four different versions so far. I think I’m going to stay with this version as it is the right size, doesn’t take much time, and is a one-pass pattern. I have a jar of various wine corks that we have collected over time. I might as well put them to good use!

I have another jar of corks from whiskey bottles we’ve collected. They are a bit shorter than wine corks so I made a different pattern for the wings to see how they would do as angels. What do you think?

Whiskey cork angel on wandasknottythoughts
Whiskey cork angel

This pattern is also one pass, meaning a lot less hiding ends. I am debating about adding closed eyes to the angels but leaving the rest of the face blank. I do not have a steady hand and do not want to mess up the faces! Do they need something for the faces?

I’m glad that my hobby does not have to be done outdoors. We’ve had record high temperatures here in the Midwest, USA and high winds. It doesn’t help that we are in a drought right now as well. Yesterday, it was so dusty and brown outside! You could also smell smoke from wildfires in Oklahoma. With this much wind and dry ground fires are easily started and hard to keep from spreading. Usually, I can see fields and a tree line way past what is seen here.

Blowing dust on wandasknottythoughts
Blowing dust

My sister and I are planning to be at a craft show the first weekend of December. I’m hoping that the cork angels go over well. If they don’t, I guess I’ll have family ornaments done!

I’ve started on my holiday tatting, have you?

“Something strange happened long ago in a valley called “Sleepy Hollow.” “

Rings and Dragons

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.

Tatted rings on wandasknottythoughts
Tatted rings

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.

Two dragons on wandasknottythoughts
Two dragons

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.

Costume changes on wandasknottythoughts
Costume changes

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