Unique & Minimal Halloween & Thanksgiving Decor

9.25.2018

Unique & Minimal Halloween & Thanksgiving Decor

Believe it or not, we're heading into "the holidays" soon--pumpkin spice season, Halloween, fallen leaves, warm colors, then Thanksgiving! This year I'm all about a new way of decorating for the fall holidays...


Ashley and I are talking this week on the Your Home Story podcast about our takes on "decorating" for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the rest of fall--enjoying the fun parts of celebrating the changing seasons and holidays, without just accumulating lots of new STUFF every year (or to use only once/year).

Sometimes this means DIYs... in the episode we talk about some of our projects and decorating successes. But there are other ways you can celebrate the feelings of the season without going crazy with stuff. Including "looking past the end caps," choosing pieces that you love and feel festive to you, knowing your colors, and more!

Ashley's skull and candy bowl from last year (source)

Projects/decor we mentioned:

1. Suzannah’s simple holiday banner/bunting sewing project
2. Ashley’s Halloween decor last year
3. My minimal fall/natural decor last year
4. My Thanksgiving tea towel stencil tutorial

Listen here or in your podcast app!

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A Grimm Fairy Tale Halloween party -- And our favorite costumes!

10.31.2013

A Grimm Fairy Tale Halloween party -- And our favorite costumes!

Happy Halloween!!!!!

This sure is a fun holiday. I don't put much thought into it most years, but every time I go to a party I get so excited to see everyone's cool costumes and the creative creepy decor and the first festive foods of the year.

This year was particularly special--over the weekend we went to "A Grimm Halloween Dinner Party" hosted by my super pro party thrower friend Jenni of A Well Crafted Party. The theme: Grimm's Fairy Tales with a dark, modern twist. (There's also a great hashtag for the party!)

Last year, for the first time ever, really, I made an awesome Halloween costume for myself and an on-theme one (accessory) for the husband. We were Black Widow (ScarJo!) and Tony Stark from The Avengers movie. I put a lot of work into it, bough the right kind of fabric, spray painted all my accessories... it was fun but a lot of work to wear the thing for one night! And while the costumes were pretty cool last year, husband and I are both much healthier this year and we look more like the actual characters! (A little on our health story here.) So, we WORE THEM TWO YEARS IN A ROW. Is this sacrilege? I hope not. I really like my Black Widow costume!!

I did want to wear something fairy tale-ey, to be on-them with the Grimm night, but the dear hostess Jenni pointed out that The Avengers is sort of like a modern-day fairy tale! Aaaw, thanks, Jenni.

It was chilly but dry and clear, so we ate outside at these gorgeous candlelit tables. I love the string lights and candles to light everything!

Everything was so magical and pretty and spooky. Jenni sure can set a table!

And make Paleo slow cooker chicken drumsticks (our contribution) sound festive!!

Here we are in our costumes, looking even more badass than last year!

Photos by me and Bee

We'll make something new next year, I swear. ;) Maybe something a little more on-theme with the party of 2014! I wonder what theme it will be. You'd think, with my sewing background, I'd make myself costumes more often! I guess I just run low on inspiration sometimes.

Have you been to any great Halloween parties this year? Do you usually make a costume?

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Halloween!!! I actually made a costume this year and it rocks!

10.31.2012

Halloween!!! I actually made a costume this year and it rocks!

Big news from a DIYer at Halloween! I haven't had a reason to make a costume in years, and in college when I had parties to go to I usually just wore some funky vintage combination and called it a character. But this year I'm so excited--I actually made myself a super awesome costume, put a lot of work into it, and had lots of fun!

In August I finally saw The Avengers, and decided: Yep, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow would be a pretty cool Halloween costume. Gee, if only I could sew my own... (I'm sure there are storebought ones out there, but I've never liked the look of those packaged Halloween bag costumes... I'm a DIYer, anyway.) Here she is:

Jumpsuit with cool accessories, right? I studied it closely, and bought some heavier stretch suedecloth from JoAnn and used the wrong side, which looks kind of like the neoprene-ish fabric of her suit. I couldn't find a unitard or jumpsuit pattern, so I bought a dumpy fleece jacket pattern and cut it WAY smaller for the bodice. Then I traced a pair of skinny pants and cut them way larger, and then folded halfway down the center front and back of each leg and made a tuck, which I topstitched for the center seam look. I sewed the pants and jacket together, and the seam is covered with the waist belt.

Ta-da!

Another photo I studied, for the sleeves, collar, and V-shape panel details...

My version!

I was so excited about being something from a cool movie that I really wanted to do themed costumes... I wanted my husband to wear another cool costume from the Avengers, but the only one he wanted to be was Iron Man. And of course you can't just be Iron Man, without a 12' tall metal suit and all... but as we were getting the fabric cut for my costume, the girl at the cutting counter mentioned that ThinkGeek makes an LED arc reactor t-shirt that lights up and everything!

That gave us an idea. I figured, we could buy it for the $30, not too bad, or... maybe we could make one. So I picked up a bunch of stuff at Dollar Tree and I MADE this little "arc reactor" out of a closet light, circular pill organizer, and some strategically trimmed tape. I found a sort of sheer but dark t-shirt at Goodwill that the LED light showed through super well. It was a closet light base, so it already had an adhesive circle, and he just stuck it on under the shirt! Haha!

So we had a pretty cool themed costume look to wear at a party last weekend. If you follow me on Instagram (@adventuresindressmaking), you saw the sneek peek! Jason tried to make a smug Tony Stark face, haha.

My IG

I do really like Halloween, and love when everyone gets creative and dresses up! But like I said, never really made myself something before. I hope I have an inspiration next year and can do it again (although, this Black Widow costume will have to come out of the closet again sometime... too much work and too cool not to wear more than once!). Did you DIY your costume this year??!

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