Fun fabric bags are fast replacing plastic pumpkins and pillowcases as the receptacle of choice for toting home lots of candy.

It’s that most wonderful time of the year. Doorways are decked out with banners and bows, twinkling lights edge the rooftops and all through the house everything from baby bibs and bath towels to tablecloths and throw pillows sports a holiday motif. No, it’s not Christmas — yet. But hot on Santa’s heels, Halloween is second only to Christmas as the largest decorating holiday of the year, says the National Retail Federation (NRF), the world’s largest retail trade association.

According to the NRF, 55.8 percent of consumers plan to celebrate Halloween and they are continuing to do it in style, decorating their homes and yards with a Halloween theme. With that in mind, the sewing experts at Husqvarna Viking are urging consumers to dust the cobwebs off their sewing machine and stitch up a few fun, fast and easy projects to celebrate the season.

Nancy Jewell, publicity director for the Swedish-made sewing machine company, points out that a terrific selection of Halloween-themed fabrics and the advent of computerized sewing and embroidery machines make it easy to duplicate those trendy ready-made table linens, door banners and pillows that fill the store shelves.

“Most of these projects require only the most basic of sewing skills. All you really need to know how to do is stitch a straight line,” explains Jewell. Embroidering those cute little ghosts, black cats and pumpkins on sweatshirts, bibs and towels is a snap. Machines like the Husqvarna Viking Designer I let you simply touch a button and the machine sews, all by itself. Hundreds of Holiday designs are available via the Husqvarna Viking On-line Web Shop (www.husqvarnaviking.com) or through your local retailer. Simply select, click, download to a floppy disk and sew. What could be easier?

So this Halloween, why not dabble in the creative arts? The experts at Husqvarna Viking offer these suggestions for Halloween decorating — all requiring only a minimum of stitch witchery. But beware, once you fall under the spell of sewing you may find yourself cooking up a bewitching spell to get one of today’s easy-to-use sewing machines.

* Fun fabric bags are fast replacing plastic pumpkins and pillowcases as the receptacle of choice for toting home lots of candy. Making your own is incredibly easy. Fabrics like sparkle felts, ric rac trim, variegated threads in autumn tones and a few decorative stitches add to the festivities. The best part, this simple to make bag is very forgiving so you don’t have to be an expert. Plus, you can sew in reflective tape to keep your little ghosts and goblins safe. For detailed instructions on how to make a fabric bag, visit www.husqvarnaviking.com

* Bring the creatures of the night into your house by suspending soft sculpture bats from fishing line. Cut bat shapes from black felt or fleece and stitch two pieces together, leaving a small opening on one side. Stuff with fiberfill and sew opening closed. Decorate finished bat with fabric paint and pens. Use a needle to thread fishing line through the top of the bat.

* Use glow-in-the dark threads to embroider creepy spider webs (Husqvarna Viking’s Holiday Embroidery disk has a great one) on a black fabric cut to fit your table. Or, sew a covering from glow-in-the-dark fabric for a trick tablecloth

* Decorate the doorstep with an easy-to-make patchwork pumpkin, courtesy of The Home Sewing Association; instructions and materials list can be found at www.sewing.org

* Greet trick-or-treaters with a friendly ghost door decoration made with Butterick Pattern 4312 (www.butterick.com). The site also offers a pattern for an easy-sew Halloween banner, pumpkin centerpiece and runner.

Armed with your bag of sewing tricks, you can create great decorative Halloween items for your home in little to no time and without spending a ghoulish amount of money.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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Halloween’s history has changed over the years. Centuries ago, Halloween night was known as “devil’s night.” Superstitious people associated this day with death and supernatural happenings, such as bad omens, black cats, and bats or spiders. Halloween night was known to be one filled with vandalism as well.

Fast forward several hundred years, and you have a more modern, contemporary holiday of fun, food and decorations. Today, Halloween has turned into one filled with lavish costumes, home decorations, and more candy than a dentist cares to know about. Party-goers of all ages dress up in fun, scary or outrageous costumes for school, college and other celebrations.

If you’re getting back to the simple ways of life, nothing’s better than an easy costume for kids and adults. How about the chiton?

“OK, so not everyone recognizes what the term ‘chiton’ means,” says Kathy Colussy, fashion design instructor, The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. “But if I mention the word, ‘toga,’ we can recall images of togas from movie epics or from college fraternity parties. Our mind conjures up bodies draped, swathed and pinned in bed sheets.” The gown is remarkably simple to construct and designed to be belted or draped to flatter any figure. By following the steps below, you’re sure to impress everyone at your Halloween party.

Now, it’s on to the food portion of your celebration. According to Michael Holderfield, chef instructor at The Art Institute of Houston, families are looking for more creative recipes to entice children to eat more traditional and seasonal favorites, such as pumpkin muffins.

Party and baking instructor Kim Smith, of The Art Institute of Seattle, recommends her pumpkin muffins to start Halloween morning off right. “These are a great start to anyone’s morning.”

For those wanting to create their own spooky haunted house sounds, they can use tapes or CDs of graveyard sounds, doors slamming or screams. “It’s fun to make your own tape of Halloween sounds,” says Rob Lehmann, chair of the Audio Production Department at The New England Institute of Art & Communications. “Popular sound effects include doors slamming and people screaming. Kids, and adults, can have so much fun creating their own haunted house sounds.” Simply recording such sounds on your tape or CD recorder will allow you to spook those trick-or-treaters.

For further information about The Art Institutes go to the Web site at www.artinstitutes.edu.

How to Make a Toga

By Kathleen Colussy, The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale

Traditional Toga

In making a toga, there are two simple variations. The first involves one long rectangle (approximately 5+ yards of fabric) that will be swathed around the body. The second is constructed of a semi-circle cut from fabric that is the side of a double or queen-size sheet. More fabric is obviously required based on the size of the gentleman who will be sporting the toga, as well as his desire for more coverage for aesthetic or functional preferences.

To create a female version of the toga, visit The Art Institutes Creative Solutions web page at http://www.artinstitutes.edu/about/about_02.asp

Supplies:

One old sheet or several yards of muslin 1 1/2 times a person’s height

Sewing thread to match

Several large safety pins

One large brooch to fasten at shoulder, optional

Note: To allow for minimal sewing skills, men should wear some sort of shorts because the toga will later be fastened to what is worn UNDER the toga.

Directions:

Using your large bed sheet or fabric, begin to form a semicircle shape in the cloth. Next an additional cut into the top center of the semicircle approximately the size of 1/4 to 1/3 into center of the fabric should be made. This cut will allow the semicircle to be wrapped and draped successfully around the body.

It is totally optional if you wish to construct a finished hem where the fabric has been cut. If you are an overachiever you can opt to sew a 1-inch hem.

Taking one large safety pin, secure one corner of the semicircle to the waist on the right side of the body and pin again on the left side of the body.

It should be noted that once the fabric has been secured the amount of fabric from the waist down should fall to approximately the knees or mid calf. If it does not you may opt to cut additional selvage from your semicircle.

Before proceeding simply make additional fold in the cloth to compensate. Next the fabric will be wrapped several times around the body.

Finally, once you have the amount of draping and folding you are comfortable with, take the excess fabric and throw over either the right or left shoulder, and fasten with safety pin or brooch.

Accessorize with sandals, armband, laurel leaf crowns and plastic shields and swords and voila!

Pumpkin Muffins

By Kim Smith, Pastry and Baking Instructor, The Art Institute of Seattle

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

3 each eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cups melted butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 1/2 cups pastry flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

1 1/2 cups raisins

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup coarsely chopped nuts, such as walnuts, pecans

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

Add all ingredients into large bowl and mix together until well blended. Batter will be lumpy. Spoon into lightly greased muffin pan. Sprinkle generously with topping mixture. Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or heat in microwave until warm.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen

Courtesy of ARA Content

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By Sirena Van Schaik

I have found over the years that Halloween, when it comes to decorations, has become almost as decorated as Christmas. Each year, whole neighbourhoods suddenly become creepy villages that hint of dark vampires, witches and zombies trembling in the dark, waiting for the ghoulish night of Halloween to descend upon us.

It can be rather terrifying to young trick or treaters who hesitate at each scary house before gulping down the nerve to go up and ring the doorbell. Even more terrifying is the cost of some of the items. Let’s face it, Halloween is getting a little expensive but there are ways to create the Halloween ambiance with only a fraction of the cost of regular decorating.

Play up the environment:

Before you go on to reading my first little tip on creating excellent yard decorations for a fraction of the cost, I should warn you that this is not the strict gardener at heart. If you feel the need to have your garden in its best condition year round, then skip ahead to the next section.

For those of you who are ghoulish enough to try, play up your yard by simply letting it grow a little out of control. Don’t bother with removing deadheads from your plants and if the leaves have already fallen on plants you usually trim down or pull out, just leave them. You can even allow a few weeds to grow – although this isn’t completely necessary. Nothing says haunted house more than a few unkempt flower beds.

To add to the unkempt feel of the yard, allow the fallen leaves to collect. Pile some of them against your stairs, if you have any, or in the flower beds. If you are worried about the leaves going over to the neighbor’s yard, simply rake them up and then make your piles on Halloween before the trick or treaters arrive.

Setting the scene:

Now that you have your yard looking like you haven’t tended it in years, let’s start setting the scene. You will need to go and purchase a few supplies but don’t feel the need to spend too much. If you have a dollar store near you, go there since they usually have a huge selection of Halloween items.

Pick up a few things like cobwebs, police tape and anything else that catches your eye. Often, I can do a yard up for less than 20 dollars, which is an amazing feet if you look at the price of some decorations.

Once you get home, set up the police tape around the yard, cobwebs in the flowerbeds and around the door. You can give the rundown look to the house by hanging a few strips of police tape across windows and stick it to your door.

Lastly, pick up a black light for the front porch.

The Details:

As much as you have done so far, there are often a few details that people like to have in their Halloween scene. These are often things like tombstones, ghosts or monsters. Some things you can pick up at the trusty dollar store but you can make most of them.

Cardboard cut-outs are the best trick for all your decorating needs. Tombstones can be cut out of the cardboard, painted and set up in the yard fairly easily. Simply tape down a V backing for mounting or attach the cardboard to a stake to push into the ground. If you want to waterproof them, mactac can provide a limited amount.

Monsters can also be drawn onto large sheets of cardboard and painted. Hands coming out of the ground work in the same manner as the tombstones by either attaching a cardboard cut out to a stake or using a “V” brace on the back.

Ghosts are another easy and cheap detail to add to the yard. Simply take a plastic kitchen bag and stuff it with leaves to create a ball. Close and drape a sheet over it. Secure the bag inside the sheet by tying cord around the “neck” of the ghost. Finish off by pinning black felt to the head for the face.
And there you have a truly haunted yard that only takes a few items and really working with your environment, at a fraction of the cost.

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