Boy's Necktie and Bowtie Pattern

This is far and aways our top selling pattern and it is actually a really great beginner project.  Plus, it is time to get a jump on Christmas crafting.  These are great in portraits and actually sell really well on etsy.

Shop our Green Patterns store for this great pattern available as an instant download.

Fall Jacket Tutorial

Friday was the first official day of autumn! Which just so happens to be my personal favorite season. The air gets colder bringing lots of new scents and sounds. It also brings to me a strong desire to cook and sew! Ahhh.... staying in and getting back to being crafting.
I LOVE FALL!!!!

So get your little one ready for some colder weather with our sweet instant download

 Fall Jacket Pattern and Tutorial. 

After you sew up this sweet and easy jacket, try your hand at some homemade graham crackers.

Smitten Kitchen has an awesome and easy recipe for you guys to try.

Don't they look yummy?!?!?!

You can find the full recipe with some beautiful pics here.

HAPPY FALL!!!

Featured Pattern - Easy & Affordable Halloween Costumes

Yes, it is that time of the year again and actually my favorite crafting time - Halloween.  As a special treat for our readers, we are offering 50% off of our ebook 6 Simple Costumes Under $10.00.  Plus, I give many additional variations that allow you to change the basics in the costumes to make dozens of additional designs. 

Use the code COSTUME to get 50% off of the ebook pattern at our instant download site http://www.greenpatterns.biz/

New Sew Halloween Treat Bags

So this year I am actually trying not to make all of our Halloween costumes and treat bags on the night before the Halloween party at school. 

I got a jump start on the treat bags with this little NO SEW bag.  Yes, it is still missing the google eyes because they have mysteriously vanished from my studio.  I made this bag no sew, even though it would have been easier to sew up or hot glue to sides because I thought that this no sew project would be a great way for kindergarten plus kids to practice fine motor skills and keep them busy making their own treat bag. 

First, I started with a rectangle of fleece.  You can make it as big or as small as you want.  I folded it in half so I would only need to tie the sides and not the bottom. 

Next, snip up the side to make a fringe.  I made the fringe about 1/2" wide and about 1 1/2" long.  IF you have a really small child trying to tie this, I would start with a larger bag and make longer pieces of fringe to make it easier to tie.

Then, I went along and cut off every other piece of fringe.  You can skip this step, but it does make the bag easier to tie. 

Knot the fringe up both sides.

Next, I cut out the handle. 

Finally, I just glued on the face.  I used hot glue, but fabric glue works just as well.

Some variations:

Cut a circle out of orange and make a pumpkin
Cut a circle out of white and make a ghost.
Cut a triangle and make a candy corn.
Cut a bag from black and make a cat.

Really you could use this to make any sort of bag that matches your child's costume.

Chore Chart

I finally managed to make a chore chart for Kamille.  After looking up free printable charts online, I decided to make my own.  Basicaly, my four-year-old cannot read and so I wanted a chart with visual symbols for the responsibilities rather than a list of things to do.  So here are the two versions.  In the first version, I have clip art for the things I want her to do and in the second chart, I left it blank and you can either add your own clip art or text.

Apple Peanut Butter Granola Sandwich

I saw this on Whole Foods today and I thought that it was really cute so I made my own with The Granola Tree's Cinnamon Raisin Natural Peanut Butter and Maple Walnut Granola.

 Above is the Whole Foods version.  They added chocolate chips. 

I used a mini turkey cookie cutter to take out the middle of my apples.  If you want a round hole, you could use the back of a piping tip to cut a little circle - or an apple corer.  Kamille loves turkeys so I though that it would be cute to use an animal shaped cutter.  They are actually a really cute and tasty snack. 

Sew Many Patterns

We are so happy to announce that our pattern line was recently picked up by SewManyPatterns.com. 

Check out her great website for the best of independant sewing patterns.  Also, she could really use the support of fellow crafters at this time as she has a severely ill family right now.  I think that as mom's we can all identify with the many rolls that we have to play in our daily lives: mother, daughter, sister, caregiver, wife, businesswoman.  Sometimes it is hard to keep all of the balls in the air.  My heart goes out to her and her family right now and I hope our readers will support her site in the coming months.  She is just a mom like the rest of us trying to make it work in this aweful economy.