I showed you my kids' costumes last week, and this week I had to finish a couple of accessories. My oldest wanted to be Psyduck, a Pokemon with a duck-like beak. My youngest wanted to be Flareon, a Pokemon with a bunch of fur around her chest. I bought a hat for the youngest, and a mask and tail for my middle kid (Charmander), but I felt like I could take care of the Psyduck hat and Flareon fur myself.

The cowl was simple. I found the fluffiest yellow fabric at Joann Fabrics and googled how to make a cowl for kids. For the hat, I found a pattern a couple weeks ago on Etsy, and I went ahead and purchased it. It's from Apple + Fig, a cute pattern company. This hat pattern is very versatile, so I wouldn't be surprised if I find another use for it in the future. I did make a couple changes to it to make the hat lined, and after I read the instructions once I just kind of winged it, so I know I changed a couple things because of that. But you know what? I'm good enough at sewing now I can do that sort of thing, haha! Sewing is not an easy hobby sometimes, and I like to remind myself occasionally how far I've come, kind of like how I did in my blog post last month.

Anyway, my girls loved their hat and cowl. We had our first dry run last Friday at their school's Trunk or Treat. It was actually short-sleeve weather, so they were all a bit hot, but this weekend will be much cooler. Here they are all dressed up:

Pretty cute, huh? I feel like this year's costumes were a great success--fairly simple for me, and very exciting for them.

Now it's time for me to switch gears in my sewing efforts. My purse shop often slows at this time of year and then speeds back up in January when brides start working on wedding plans in earnest. Last year I started selling stockings to try to make up some of the lost income. I keep up the listings on Etsy year-round, and I've made some sales throughout the year. Now it's practically November and my shop is almost empty! I've been trying to assembly-line make a bunch of new stockings. However, I'm also getting custom stocking orders, so it's a bit of a juggle. Here are a few I've made, both custom orders and new inventory. I have two fun bride and groom stockings I'm making next week once some more fabric arrives for me.

Oh, and I forgot one project. Sunday night, I needed a break from the steampunk stockings, and I was waffling between just taking a night off of sewing altogether, or making something fun for myself. Fun for myself won out! I made some more Alyse Taper Pants, this time out of a super stretchy indigo denim. Even though they are denim, they are very smooth, almost a brushed texture. I wanted them as work pants. At first I installed an invisible zipper, but since I could pull them off and on without it, I removed it. They look much better too, because I have really been messing up invisible zippers lately. Actually the only time I've made a beautiful invisible zipper, I was following instructions from this same designer, but for a different pattern, the Jenny Dress (see if you recognize me in the product photos!). On this particular pattern, she gives instructions for a normal zipper, but I really should have looked back at the Jenny pattern before trying to do an invisible zipper in these pants. But they work fine without a zipper, thankfully. I wore them to work, where I just love stretchy pants that still look nice, because I literally jump, dance, and even roll around on the floor as a preschool music teacher! Here's the best selfie bathroom shot I was able to get. I'm wearing it with my Irena Sweater from Itch to Stitch that I made last winter--still one of my favorite items I've ever made.

Aaaand, exciting news. I will be releasing my stocking pattern next week as a free pattern in my shop! I picked testers tonight and they will be working hard to help me get this pattern ready for the holidays.

Weekly Sewing, Halloween edition