My mother started a new tradition on my side of the family last Halloween. Instead of dragging the babies from one end of the county to the other going to all the relatives houses, we'd all meet up at her house for a party, and the children could go around the house "trick-or-treating" wherever they found an adult.
It saves gasoline, the babies have more fun running about and playing instead of getting their picture taken, grabbing some candy, and then being strapped back into their car seats five minutes later, and we have fun seeing the babies have fun. So, since this is the extent of the children's trick-or-treating, we all try to give them something extra special. Usually this means less candy in favor of a small toy or activity booklet.
This year, I knew I'd be handing out treats to three girls between the ages of six and eight and two boys who are one and two. I decided to make hair clips for the girls and toy watches for the boys.
I found a four pack of ribbon in fall colors, a square of felt, some dollar store hair clips, a bit of glitter paint, and a leftover ball of yarn from another project and set to work.
The ribbon flowers took a bit of experimentation to get right. If you take a look at the picture above, you can tell which one was my first one. But after a couple of tries, I had some nice looking flowers, and I'd found out why most of the ladies who make little girl's hair bows don't use flip clips. They're next to impossible to wrap neatly, and if you don't wrap them, the bow doesn't want to attach.
I don't believe I will be selling hair clips in the store, but I've been learning how with the idea of embellishing knit headbands, girls' hats, and purses with flowers or bows.
The toy watches are simply knit wrist bands with felt clock faces sewn and glued on. I sewed a
backing piece onto the seam of the wrist bands using stitches throughout the circle to make sure it's secure. Then I hot glued the "clock" face onto the backing piece and made a few more stitches directly in the middle just in case the glue ever came loose.
The bands have a fair amount of stretch and are knit together instead of seamed, so they should be durable. These are the first two I've made, so I'll be checking back with the mom's over the next few months. If they hold up as well as I believe they will, these toy watches will have a definite place in the store.
It saves gasoline, the babies have more fun running about and playing instead of getting their picture taken, grabbing some candy, and then being strapped back into their car seats five minutes later, and we have fun seeing the babies have fun. So, since this is the extent of the children's trick-or-treating, we all try to give them something extra special. Usually this means less candy in favor of a small toy or activity booklet.
This year, I knew I'd be handing out treats to three girls between the ages of six and eight and two boys who are one and two. I decided to make hair clips for the girls and toy watches for the boys.
I found a four pack of ribbon in fall colors, a square of felt, some dollar store hair clips, a bit of glitter paint, and a leftover ball of yarn from another project and set to work.The ribbon flowers took a bit of experimentation to get right. If you take a look at the picture above, you can tell which one was my first one. But after a couple of tries, I had some nice looking flowers, and I'd found out why most of the ladies who make little girl's hair bows don't use flip clips. They're next to impossible to wrap neatly, and if you don't wrap them, the bow doesn't want to attach.
I don't believe I will be selling hair clips in the store, but I've been learning how with the idea of embellishing knit headbands, girls' hats, and purses with flowers or bows.
The toy watches are simply knit wrist bands with felt clock faces sewn and glued on. I sewed a
backing piece onto the seam of the wrist bands using stitches throughout the circle to make sure it's secure. Then I hot glued the "clock" face onto the backing piece and made a few more stitches directly in the middle just in case the glue ever came loose.The bands have a fair amount of stretch and are knit together instead of seamed, so they should be durable. These are the first two I've made, so I'll be checking back with the mom's over the next few months. If they hold up as well as I believe they will, these toy watches will have a definite place in the store.
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