Halloween with it’s trick or treating, witches, monsters, ghouls, ghosts, and Jack O’lanterns is well-known and loved by American children, but when I was growing up in Australia, Halloween was something we only knew from films and magazines.
I thought of it as this magical fun time that kids in this far-away country were lucky enough to have. I was enchanted by the carved pumpkins with their illuminated faces…and jealous of those trick or treat bags filled with candy!
Seems that all these early impressions didn’t fade over the years. I’ve designed a really simple Jack O’Lantern bag that you can make together with your kids to hold their candy in when they go trick or treating. I think they’ll enjoy sewing it with you and know they’ll enjoy filling it with goodies on Halloween.
Supplies You Need To Sew Your Jack O’Lantern Bag:
Two 8″ x 10″ rectangles of orange felt
Two 16″ x 1 ½” ” strips of green felt
Black felt
Needle
Pins
Hot glue gun (optional)
How To Sew Your Jack O’Lantern Bag
1. Print out the template for your Jack O’lantern’s face.
2. Cut the eyes, nose and mouth from the paper print-out and pin them onto to the black felt. Trace around them and cut out.
3. Pin the black felt eyes, nose and mouth onto one of the rectangles of orange felt. Sew them into place. You can use glue if you find this easier to do with your child.
4. Take one of the green strips of felt. Pin one end about 1″ from the top left corner and the other end about 1″ from the top right corner of your orange rectangle to make a handle. Do the same with the second green strip of felt on the top of the second orange rectangle. Sew the ends of each handle into place. You can use glue if you find this easier to do with your child.
5. Pin the two orange rectangles together making sure the Jack O’lantern’s face is on the outside. Sew along the sides and bottom of the rectangle leaving the top open to create your bag.
Tips for Making Your Jack O’Lantern Bag
I used orange for the pumpkin and black for the facial features but if you want to give the effect of a pumpkin illuminated at night you could use black felt rectangles for the bag and yellow for the face.
Also, pumpkins come in many shades of greens, yellows, reds, grey blues and browns, so you might like to experiment with something other than orange and remember, if you don’t mind wandering away from realism, kids love choosing their own unusual and idiosyncratic color combinations.
I also used orange embroidery floss to blend with the color of my felt but you could create a simple decorative effect by using embroidery floss that stands out against your felt making the stitches more visible.
If you’re not sure how to thread a needle or sew a running stitch then check out Zenkidu for some quick links
Happy trick or treating, Trixi.
Need Costumes to Go With Your Jack O’Lantern Bag?
- We have a big list of diy costumes for boys and they’re all super cute!
- We also have a list of fierce and beautiful costumes for girls.
- Be super with this list of hero costumes ideas!
- Go trick or treating together with these family Halloween costume ideas.
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