sewing is scary

This year, LO has expressed that he wanted to be so many things for Halloween: a ghost, a bat, a pumpkin. I wasn't sure how to pull off either of the first two costumes, but I decided a pumpkin (or the idea of) could be relatively easily executed.

Call it stupidity or confidence, but I only bought one shirt to work with, so I prayed that I wouldn't screw it up! I decided to machine-applique (my first time!) the jack o'lantern features instead of doing something easy but temporary like adhesive felt since he would be wearing it more than once. Unfortunately, he missed out on his preschool's fall festival today, as he's sick - when he tried on this shirt yesterday, he promptly barfed on it, poor guy. So... yay for washability. :-/

The hat is polar fleece stitched shut at one end and the corners sewn together, just like the winter hat I made him a couple of years ago. I don't know why I bought an entire yard of fleece for this hat (for some reason, I have problems buying fabric in any other increments other than one full yard) - I think I might try to do a fabric swap with a crafty OSU fan down the street. :-) The stem is felt that was rolled and partially sewn / partially hot-glued; the leaf was cut from adhesive-sided felt. I think I'm going to add some green ribbon curls for vines. (The oranges don't clash as badly in person than they do in these photos.)

I know that when he gets older, it will be harder to please him in the Halloween costume area, but as it is, his face lit up when he saw the finished shirt.

Oh, and I should mention that preschool has been going well (except for the fact that between illnesses and fall break, he still has yet to attend a full 2x/ week). Sorry I haven't been in a posty mood lately; hopefully next time I'll have more to report.