Patchwork scrap quilt – 8 years of scraps!

My patchwork scrap quilt is finished! This is the most time intensive quilt I’ve made to date (so many squares!) and includes scraps from the past eight years of sewing. It was a serious labor of love, and I considered chucking the whole thing out the window three or four times before it was finished.

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I didn’t want to use strip piecing because I was hoping for a more random arrangement of squares, so each square was individually cut and painstakingly arranged (I always overthink that part!) I sewed the front blocks together using interfacing, which I had read was a shortcut for piecing small squares. It ended up being a major pain and if I were to redo the quilt I think I’d skip it the next time around. The back piecing was done without interfacing and I feel like it went more quickly while still being just as accurate.

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The fabrics I used are not only quilting scraps but scraps from dresses I made for my girls as toddlers and the overalls I made for my son’s first Easter. There are scraps from bags and baby blankets and Christmas gifts… when I look at this quilt I am flooded with memories of all of the things I’ve made, which is a pretty great feeling. I also got the added bonus of majorly cleaning out my fabric cabinet. I cut all of the remaining scraps down into manageable and regularly shaped pieces and folded them neatly, and tossed all the tiny pieces. It’s nice to finally feel like I’m not drowning in fabric (for the moment).

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The quilt is backed in a super soft double gauze cloud 9 cotton with a strip of pieced squares down the middle. I love how soft it is, but it did wrinkle a little bit underneath while I was quilting it together so it’s a little wonky. As is everything I make. I think the softness makes up for the imperfections. It’s bound in a crazy patterned bias binding that I made… I figured the total lack of cohesion in the fabric patterns called for something extra outrageous as binding.

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Hooray for finished quilts, hooray for using up years worth of scraps! It’s my new favorite blanket.

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Patchwork scrap quilt – 8 years of scraps!

Frozen family halloween costumes – Anna, Elsa & Kristoff

Another year, another set of Disney Halloween costumes! Last year for Halloween the kids decided that they all wanted to dress as characters from Frozen. They weren’t into the hype when it was a new movie but it grew on them and the girls especially were very excited to dress as sisters. I was excited for another chance to sew up some movie inspired princess dresses since I had so much fun the year before. All of the costumes were made without patterns and with the aim of creating garments that would be as screen accurate as possible while still being comfortable and wearable for kids. On to the photos!

Frozen family costume

I constructed Anna’s costume in four separate pieces, a long sleeved mandarin collared blouse, a vest, a circle skirt and a cape. The blouse fastens with two hook and eye clasps and has ribbon detailing at the neckline. The vest is made of a slightly stretchy thick knit fabric that can pull on over the head without any type of fasteners. All of the embroidery on the vest was mimicked with felt which was hand stitched into place. The skirt is a full circle skirt for maximum twirling and the designs were hand painted using acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium. The cape is made of a thick flannel and edged with pompoms. The heart shaped clasps were made of sculpey clay and are attached on top of a large hook and eye closure.

Anna Frozen girls halloween costumeAnna frozen girls halloween costume

Elsa’s dress was sewn to be pulled on over the head without fasteners as well. The main sequined bodice piece is fully lined in a costume satin to avoid itching and wraps from the front around the sides and into the back. It is split in the center back underneath the cape and the back panel is a shirred costume satin in a matching color. The shirred panel allows the dress to be stretched to pull on while still appearing fitted. The skirt was sewn from a solid colored costume taffeta and hand painted with streaks of silver and light blue as well as glitter (never too much glitter for a children’s costume!) Elsa doesn’t wear a crown in her ice princess dress in the movie, but that didn’t stop us from making one (because tiaras are so much fun, obviously).

Elsa frozen girls halloween costumeElsa Frozen girls halloween costume

The Kristoff costume is four pieces. A long sleeve light grey knit shirt, a pair of dark grey knit pants, a belted fleece tunic and a fleece cap. The tunic has ribbon and faux fir as edging and the belt is made from two ribbons sewn together. The cap has a fleece pompom. Kristoff’s costume wouldn’t be complete without Sven and we used a puppet that we already had at home as his trusty sidekick.

Kristoff Frozen boys halloween costumeKristoff Frozen boys halloween costume

Not wanting to be left out of the Halloween fun, I decided to make myself a costume last year as well. My husband and I decided to dress as the parents from Frozen, who never are called by name during the movie, but Disney wikia claims are named King Agnarr and Queen Iduna. They only have a few minutes’ worth of screen time so it was hard to dig up reference photos for their costumes but it was a fun challenge. Queen Iduna’s costume is made in three pieces, a long sleeved mandarin collared shirt with ribbon at the neckline, a purple underdress and a black overdress with painted detailing on the back. All of the ribbons on the overdress and coat were hand painted to mimic the patterns on the movie costumes and the medals and overdress clasp were made of painted sculpey clay.


Frozen parents halloween costumeFrozen parents halloween costumeFrozen parents halloween costume

In a last minute day before Halloween decision we talked my mom into wearing an Olaf costume (because what is Frozen without Olaf?) I used a white hooded sweatshirt and added felt buttons, eyes and eyebrows and pipe cleaner twig hair. The nose was a cone of orange felt and she wore white pants. A super easy and quick costume and she was a huge hit while we were out trick or treating.

Frozen family halloween costume

Once again a highlight of the Halloween season was taking the kids to Disneyland to meet the real Anna and Elsa. I’m a little bit sad that the kids have decided on non-Disney costumes for this year’s Halloween, but it will be fun to have total creative freedom with the sewing this time around. One month to Halloween… time to get started!

frozen family halloween costume

Frozen family halloween costumes – Anna, Elsa & Kristoff