Binkies and Briefcases

Recently I’ve been seeing tons of really cute trick or treat bags. While it’s tempting to buy some adorable Halloween fabric and make bags for the kids, I’m not doing it this year. I just can’t bring myself to spend the time, money, and effort to make bags they are only going to carry around to 5 houses on our street to collect candy. After that they would just sit around in a closet for an entire year. No thanks.

I’m also not a huge fan of the plastic pumpkin candy carriers. Last year the handle broke off of the one we were using more than once causing spilled candy and unnecessary tears.

I decided to make trick or treat bags that we could re-use for a few years, wouldn’t cost any money, and could be re-purposed for other things, like our trips to the Farmer’s market, throughout the rest of the year.

I used an old pair of jean shorts and a thin sweater.
The jean shorts give it structure and provide a pocket and the sweater allows it to stretch. Plus, I just like to make things reversible.

To make 2 bags:

Cut the back side of the shorts in half.

Trace each half onto a sweater.
(I was planning on keeping this sweater in tact and adding it to my closet, but it had a hole in the back )

Pin the denim and sweater right sides togther on three sides with the finished edges at the top.

Leave the top open.

Sew it together on three sides and then cut off a piece of the hem from the shorts to use as a handle.

Sew on the handle and turn it right-side-out and you’re done. One pair of shorts and one sweater is enough to make 2 bags.

Yay! Free trick or treat bags…or purses…or farmer’s market bags…or diaper totes…or…

Abby’s already putting hers to good use.

I know I just posted a tutorial for sweater hats, but since Eddie is in our room packing for the next leg of his business trip I can’t go to bed so I might as well be productive.

I made pumpkin sweater hats for the kids and I am in love with them! I can’t wait for them to wear these hats to pick pumpkins later this fall. it’s going to be so adorable I can’t stand it.
(Yes, my model is Raggedy Andy. It’s late and my kids are in bed. Sorry.)

Start with an orange sweater

Cut the band off the bottom. This will be the band of the hat. Cut it to match the circumference of the head of the person for whom you are making the hat. (Wrap it around his/her head and cut it to length)

Next, trace a plate to get a perfect circle. Use a dessert plate for small kids and a regular plate for bigger kids or adults.

Cut out the circle. Next, pin the strip to the circle, right sides together with the edge you cut toward the outside. (This will keep you from having to hem the bottom of the hat once it’s together.)

Sew along the outside edge.
There will be a small opening where the two ends of the band come together, sew that shut as well.

Now turn the hat right-side-out. There you have your basic sweater hat (the same one from my earlier tutorial), but we want to turn this one into a pumpkin.

Cut two pieces of green fabric (I used an old tee shirt) into the shape of leaves and a piece of brown fabric (I used a sweater) into a small rectangle.

Stitch around the edges to prevent unraveling and then sew these three pieces together.

Sew the stem and leaves onto the top of the hat and you have yourself a brand new pumpkin sweater hat.

Pair it with an orange t-shirt and you have an instant Halloween costume.

Hide your sweaters. These sweater hats are addictive. I’ve made 4 of them tonight.

And, as always, I like to see how much money I saved by making stuff myself. These pumpkin sweater hats retail at Gymboree for $15. (although they were on sale this weekend.) I just made 2 for free in less than half an hour. That’s $30 in my pocket. I’ll take it. 🙂

Ok, that’s better. real life models the next morning:

Remember how I told you I was on a sweater re-purposing kick? Still on it.

My mom dropped off two huge bags of sweaters she no longer wears. Score! After I raided them and took a few to add to my wardrobe I started using the rest to make stuff. I made another sweater puppet and a teddy bear. Sadly the teddy bear came out, well, just plain sad. He is not destined to be blogged about, but my newest creation is.

I made the easiest toddler sweater hat ever. Seriously. Gymboree has several sweater hats in their fall line that are super cute, but why buy one for Little Diva when I can make one for free in 5 minutes?

Yes, 5 minutes. It would be just as easy to make one for an adult.

First you need a sweater.

I traced a bowl to get a perfect circle, then I cut it out. If you are making this adult sized, use a dinner plate.

Then I cut a strip of the band from the bottom of the sweater the same size as the circumference around my daughter’s head. (You can measure if you want to, but I just cut a long strip, wrapped it around her head, and cut it off to size)

(See the band at the bottom of the sweater? Cut that off for the band of the hat.)

Ok, now you should have a circle and a long strip.

Pin them, right sides together. (put the side you cut toward the outside, that way when you sew the finished edge from the sweater will be left alone and there is no need to re-finish the bottom of the band.)

Sew along the outside edge and sew the band closed.

Turn it right-side-out.

Done!

When I do this again (and I’m so doing this again) I think I’ll use a bigger plate or bowl to get a bigger circle.

I’m totally going to use this technique to make a chef hat (just use a really big circle) and a pumpkin hat out of an orange sweater with a green felt leaf on the top.

UPDATE:
Mr. Ham Bone got jealous and wanted his own hat, so we made a boy version:

To add a little flower detail to the girl’s version, just take a thin strip of the sweater material, roll it into a circle, and hand stitch it in place.