Tuesday 29 October 2013

Halloween Tutorial --> How To Carve A Pumpkin In 5 Easy Steps!

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

Carving pumpkins for Halloween is simple and fun, and takes no time at all! You don't need any fancy equipment or skills. Just a pumpkin, a sharp knife, and a great tutorial full of handy pictures!

So here you go!

Halloween Tutorial --> How To Carve A Pumpkin In 5 Easy Steps

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EQUIPMENT

> Halloween pumpkin

* Pumpkins are made available just before Halloween that are perfect for carving. Not only are they prettier than the regular edible kind, they have a much thinner shell so it's easier to cut in to.
> Sharp knife
> Texta/Pen
> Spoon
> Disposable gloves
> Rubbish bag
> Plastic/disposable table cloth (newspaper would also work fine)
> Scissors
Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP ONE: Set up your work station

I got a roll of black plastic from Spotlight years ago (in their party decor section) and it has been useful for so many different things - I'll even use it as a table cloth for the kiddies Halloween party table. Anyway, I cut a strip off to cover Isla's picnic table and got all my gadgets ready to get started.

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread
A blank canvas!

STEP TWO: Draw your template on the pumpkin

I have seen some truly amazing designs on Halloween pumpkins using all sorts of different tools, including drills! Just check out this page on Martha Stewart's Halloween page if you want to learn more about "pumpkin carving tools" and there are some great templates on there too. Some other great sites include The Pumpkin Pile and Pumpkin Masters.

But if you're like me and you just want something easy, fun and won't take hours? Then just stick with me and I'll show you how to carve a funky pumpkin in just 15 minutes!

So, the first thing you want to do is work out which 'facing' of the pumpkin you want to carve. Find the flattest (and nicest looking) angle and work out where the centre point is. Above that, draw the triangle eyes. And under that, draw the squiggle mouth. Don't be concerned about your lines because you'll be cutting around them - and with this in mind make sure you don't draw your face too big. You'll see what I mean as we get further on.

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

STEP THREE: Cut your pumpkins 'hat' off

I call the top of the pumpkin the 'hat' because you put it back on once you've finished carving. It's like a hat you can take on and off to light your candle/blow it out etc. So with that in mind, it's crucial that you cut the hat on an angle. Check out my photos if you're not sure what I mean.

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

Remember to BE CAREFUL during this step, to always cut in the direction AWAY from your body and NOT towards any fingers or arms!

I find it useful to kind of use a stabbing motion (sounds gruesome I know!!) and slowly make my way around the pumpkin. This also helps to keep the shape of the hat because trying to slide the knife around - if the pumpkin is tough - can lead to overcutting in the wrong direction. Just take it slow.

So, cut all the way around, making sure you stay at the same height, until you meet back at the starting point. ** It might be useful, if you've never done this before, to start at the back of the pumpkin because joining the cuts can sometimes look a bit ugly!

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

You might need to go back around with the knife to loosen the hat, I found that the top of my pumpkin was quite thick, as you can see from the pictures, and I just needed to carve through a bit deeper the second time.

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

Gently pull the hat off.

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

And if you've still got a lot of the shell visible like I do, just cut a hole in the middle so that you can clean out the pumpkin seeds.

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread
Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

STEP FOUR: CLEAN OUT THE PUMPKIN

This is the slimy step! I used gloves and dug everything out by hand. You could use a spoon if you want - or better yet, get the kids to do it!!!! Mine aren't old enough to clean out without either eating it or smearing it everywhere, so I got it done quicker myself. But what a great way to involve the kids as it doesn't any cutting!

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread
Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread
Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

STEP FIVE: Carve out the face

Start with the eyes and cut around the outside of your template lines, like this:

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

Then cut out the mouth. I started with the top row, then cut out the bottom row, and then joined up the ends.

Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread
Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread
Halloween Tutorial: How to carve a pumpkin in 5 easy steps by Rhapsody and Thread

All done!

Now, all that's left to do is find a tealight candle to sit inside, pop the hat back on and wait until dark to watch your sweet little pumpkin turn into a scary orange monster!

Happy carving everyone!!

 

Monday 28 October 2013

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread

I LOVE fabric wreaths, they are so festive and fun to make!! And did I mention that there is no sewing involved? Yeah, awesome I know. So of course I added them to my list of "required party decorations" for the Goblins Tea Party on Friday.

You would've seen a great Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Hott Mama In The City in My 10 Favourite Halloween Craft Tutorials last week. AND you would've also seen the Giant Yarn Spider Web tutorial by Dana Made It. I loved them both and I thought they would look even better combined together.

The only major adaptation was the use of an embroidery hoop instead of a florists wire wreath, only because I have heaps of hoops around the place and no idea where I would get a wire wreath from. But either would work. And any size would work too - just adjust your fabric and wool amounts accordingly. I picked a 14" hoop because I wanted a nice big spiderweb with lots of spiders (eek, shudder!).

So here's how I went, combining the fabulous wisdom of both tutorials!

Spider Web Halloween Wreath Tutorial

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YOU WILL NEED

14" Embroidery hoop
Wool for the spider web
Fabric for the strips (approx. 60" / 1.5m in total - see step one for more details)
Plastic spiders for embellishment

50" length of ribbon for a hanging loop ( the length is up to you and where you plan to hang your wreath)
Scissors (or rotary cutter, quilting ruler and cutting mat if you have them)
Craft glue

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Materials and Tools

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP ONE: Cut your fabric into strips

You will need at least 300 6" x 1" strips of fabric to cover both inner and outer hoops.

The average fabric is 42" wide and a 6" length will give you approximately 40 strips. So this was perfect for me because I wanted to use 8 fabrics for a mixture of bright plain colours (purple, green, orange and black of course) and prints. And 40 strips multiplied by 8 fabrics gave me approximately 320 strips. I was also lucky because I had all of the fabrics left over from old projects, but if you need to buy fabrics you'll probably have to buy a 25cm/10" minimum and have leftovers yourself. Some places will let you buy a minimum 20cm/8" minimum, so it's worth asking. Nevertheless, excess fabric is always handy for future projects!

Now, for the cutting you can use scissors or even tear the 6" panel and cut the 1" strips. But if you have a quilting ruler and rotary cutters, you'll find the job even easier. As you can see from my picture below, I folded the fabric in half with the fold at the bottom and the selvedges together at the top. I used the ruler to cut a perfect 6" x 21" panel from each fabric.

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Cutting the 6" panel from the fold up to the selvedge

I then turned each panel around and cut 1" lengths, giving me approximately 40 6" x 1" strips of each fabric. And the great trick is that because the fabric is folded in half - you're cutting 2 strips at once!

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Cutting the 1" strips

When you've finished cutting all the strips up, set them aside in piles to make tying them in order easier later.

STEP TWO: Cut your wool into strips.

To be precise or conservative, you will need 1 x 20" strip, 1 x 30" strip, 6 x 40" strips, and 2 x 50" strips. BUT I just cut 8 x 50" strips and had some leftovers for Isla to play with on the floor! All I did was loop the wool around my left and right hands (like that game we played as kids, except you don't want to go tangling the wool around your fingers) at a length of about 25". Once I got to 8 loops on my left hand, I cut all the ends on my right hand. Perfecto.

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
See I had a 25" loop that I cut at one end
STEP THREE: Spin your spider web

Find your inner hoop and wool strips. Fold 4 of them in half and tie loop knots at ⅓, ¼, ⅔ and ½ on the hoop.

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread

Then tie the strips off at opposite sides of the hoop, making a + and then an x to form a star. Make sure your knots are tight and cut off the excess wool.

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Tied off loops make a star for the foundation of your web

Next make the web rings with the 4 remaining strips of wool. Fold each strip in half and make a loop knot on one of the arms of the web where you'd like the ring to start and end. Hold the wool fairly tight and loop it around each arm, moving clockwise until you get back to the starting point. Tie it off tight and cut off any excess wool.

Handy Tip: I picked a different spot to start each time so that I could hide the knot with a spider.

Making the rings does require some patience because pulling the wool too tight and/or not pulling it enough will result in the ring sliding towards the middle. But I found that with practice it came easier - and it's not a tip but I found that when I'd finished all 4 web rings, it was much easier to redo the ring closest to the centre (this was the hardest one for me to get right).

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
The first ring is the hardest

Repeat with the remaining wool strips to spin 4 web rings, and don't worry about getting them perfect. I love the different angles.

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
The finished spider web on the inner hoop

STEP FOUR: Make your inner hoop fabric wreath

This step isn't mandatory but I wanted to cover up the inner hoop and I figured another layer of strips would look even better. So if you want to do the same, line up your fabric strips in the order you want to tie them. Then pour yourself a nice drink and get comfortable because this bit takes the longest.

Start tying your strips around the hoop with the knot on the inside (this is important for when the time comes to fit the hoops together). I found that one knot was enough if pulled tight and I scruffed mine up a bit because I love the look of the loose threads. Keep going until you've covered the whole inner hoop.

* One thing I will mention here is that I didn't push my knots together too tightly because I didn't want to add too much bulk. Basically, the hoops won't fit back together if there is too much bulk from the fabric. So, push the knots together but there's no need to really squeeze them tight as you might with other wreath projects - because remember you're doing 2 layers of strips (one on each hoop).

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Nearly finished the inner hoop

STEP FIVE: Make your outer hoop fabric wreath

Now find your outer hoop and what's left of your fabric strips. Again, tie your strips around the hoop with the knot on the outside this time. Push the knots together, but remember not too close.

STEP SIX: Join the hoops together

Now this bit took some work and a bit of elbow grease, thanks to my husband, after hearing my huffing and groaning as I tried to squeeze the two frames together :o). Of course, it all depends on how bulky your knots are and how well you separate your knots. See:

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Knots separated to reduce bulk and make it easier to squeeze the frames together

Handy Tip: I found it easier to keep the outer hoop screwed together. I laid it flat on the table and manoeuvred the inner hoop into it - being careful to keep the strips separated so they didn't get stuck in the middle.

Now that they're joined up, you can pull the strips forward and make them look pretty.

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Spiders are on their way... eeeeek!!!
STEP SEVEN: Add the creepy spiders

Get your little spiders and work out where you want to place them. As you can see in step three, I strategically placed the knots on the web rings so that my creepy little spiders would cover them up.

Glue the spider embellishments to the web using craft glue and allow to dry.

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread

STEP EIGHT: Add a bow for hanging

You can tie your ribbon any way you want really, and at whatever length you need it to be. I cut a 50" length and tied a bow around the screw clasp at the top of the hoop. I thought this would be stronger than gluing the bow on - especially important with little hands around wanting to pull everything down!

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
A bright bow for hanging

STEP NINE: Make it look pretty

Make sure all the strips are pulled forward and twisted so that the prints are facing outwards (not a problem if you've used only solids or double-sided prints if such a thing exists?

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Finished and awesome

STEP TEN: Hang your new Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath!!

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
Hung up outside, ready for the party!

That looks awesome and I can't wait to see what everyone thinks at the party on Friday!

I actually had so much fun that I decided to make another one for a table setting, what do you think?

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
A great table setting idea

I used a smaller 10" hoop for this one - quicker and I didn't have a lot of that fabric hanging about. And you can see from the next picture how cute the little hoop looks next to the big hoop!

Spider Web Halloween Fabric Wreath Tutorial by Rhapsody and Thread
My two creepy spidy wreaths together

This project was simple and fun and I highly recommend giving it a go!!

Huge thanks to Dana at Dana Made It and Kristina at Hott Mama In The City for inspiring me!!

Happy Halloween everyone xx

 

Thursday 24 October 2013

A New "Happy As Clarry" Bubba Quilt Recipe

Happy As Clarry Bubba Quilt (in progress) by Rhapsody and Thread

I love cooking up new quilts and this one is absolutely gorgeous. Inspired by the Liberty of London print Clarricoates, I'm calling this beautiful bubba quilt "Happy As Clarry". I love this Liberty print - it is bright and funky and includes one of my favourite colour combinations --> Purple, Mustard and Teal.

I found coordinating printed fabrics in the Daydream Fabric Line by Benartex, at Textile Traders, and picked a gorgeous bright teal, mustard and purple from the 100% Homespun Cotton range at Carols of Midland. This quilt is so vibrant, and it's edgy and pretty at the same time. I'm so excited to see it all sewn together.

 

Sunday 20 October 2013

A Bubba Quilt For A Beautiful Baby Girl

Pink/Purple Bubba Quilt by Rhapsody and Thread

I couldn't wait to give this gorgeous little quilt to my beautiful friend at her baby shower today! I was itching to show her pictures as I was making it - to make sure the colours would match the nursery - and from what I saw of other gifts she recieved, the colours match perfectly. Phew!!!

Here's how I went:

Pink/Purple Bubba Quilt by Rhapsody and Thread
Fabric piles cut and ready to be laid out
Pink/Purple Bubba Quilt by Rhapsody and Thread
Laid out and ready for sewing
Pink/Purple Bubba Quilt by Rhapsody and Thread
Quilt top sewn together and looking so beautiful
Pink/Purple Bubba Quilt by Rhapsody and Thread
Finished view of the top
Pink/Purple Bubba Quilt by Rhapsody and Thread
Finished view of the bottom
Pink/Purple Bubba Quilt by Rhapsody and Thread
Rolled and ready for wrapping
Pink/Purple Bubba Quilt by Rhapsody and Thread
Wrapped and ready for giving xx

 

Liberty Fabric Shopping In Melbourne

I was SO jealous that mum got to go to Melbourne last week! She spent time with my sister for her birthday, and they filled a WHOLE day driving around Melbourne visiting fabric shops. I know mum was on the hunt for Liberty of London fabrics and so they targeted Amitie Fabrics, L'uccello, Patchwork on Central Park... and unfortunately missed out on visiting Tessuti - but she got more than enough gold to keep us going till her/our next visit ;o).

First they went to Amitie Fabrics in Gardenvale. Mum said this patchwork shop was "beautiful"... I think her words were "heavenly!" actually. The range of Liberty of London fabrics was gorgeous (online here) - and they had Jen Kingwell quilt kits (online here)!!

I've had my eye on this Green Tea And Sweet Beans quilt pattern for a while - because it's stunning!! AND because I think it would be a great, fun way for me to learn a range of quilting techniques all in one quilt - especially the bee hive (don't know the technical term yet ;o). I can't wait to get started.

Here's a picture of the pattern book and some of the fabric packs mum got from Amitie Fabrics:

Jen Kingwell Quilt Pattern Book on Rhapsody and Thread
Green Tea And Sweet Beans Quilt Pattern Book by Jen Kingwell
5" square Liberty of London charm packs from Amitie Fabrics
5" square Liberty of London charm packs from Amitie Fabrics
Liberty of London 5" squares
These Liberty of London squares are great for patchwork, appliqué and even small sewing projects
Great little Liberty scrap bags from Amitie Fabrics
Great little Liberty scrap bags from Amitie Fabrics
Liberty of London scrap bag contents
As you can see, the scrap sizes were quite big and the print range exciting!!

And I have to mention this stop on the trail that I think was mums favourite. Mum gushed about this shop, L'uccello Vintage Haberdashery, saying it was a "beautiful step back in time". She said "it was like a museum" or "an Aladdin's cave of vintage stuff". As opposed to the regular craft shops with quilts on the wall and regular quilting tools for sale, L'uccello was a small shop jam-packed with vintage goodies. It was an experience.

Liberty of London fabric from L'uccello, Melbourne
Liberty of London fabric from L'uccello, Melbourne

There are so many beautiful prints to play with now and I can't wait to get stuck into them!!