Glowing Trick or Treat Bag

Last night I put together this Trick or Treat bag for the Little miss.  She has been carrying it around with her ALL morning, I thought I was going to have to let her sleep with it at naptime. 

So it’s pretty cute right?  But is it necessarily all that special or blog worthy?  Heck yes!  Because it is no ordinary trick or treating bag, it glows in the dark!  Inside are little mesh pockets to put glow sticks in so it will light up on the outside and on the inside.  Awesome – I know!  I’m so excited to go Trick (Trunk) or Treating!  (Sorry there is no picture of mine lit up.  It is not because I am cheap and don’t want to waste my glow sticks, I would do that for you.  But it is pouring rain and freezing cold outside and I don’t want to go out to the car to get them.  Sorry I will not walk ten feet through a Utah Hurricane for you!) 

The tutorial calls for BRACELET sized glow sticks.  Wal-Mart has let me down.  Their pack of three “bracelet” glow sticks are not as small as real bracelet glow sticks.  I found a tube of 15 BRACELET glow sticks for a buck at Michael's and Target. 

I wish I could say I am a genius and figured this whole thing out by myself . . . . I am not.  I used the idea and tutorial from Holidash found via Be Different Act Normal. 

 

Here is the tutorial from Holidash:

Glowing Trick-or-Treat Bags

by Megan Reardon , Posted Oct 1st 2010 8:00AM

This Halloween, skip the plastic pumpkin and opt for a super cool DIY treat bag. Crafter Megan Reardon has the full how-to for creating these glow-in-the-dark totes.

Credit: Megan Reardon

This is a trick-or-treating bag with a secret. I've used glow stick to illuminate the decoration on the front, but they also work to light up the inside of the bag so that your child (or yourself) can see the candy inside the bag.

Credit: Megan Reardon

To make this I cut a window out of a tote bag and used recycled polyester felt to create a design to fit. The design also has pockets made from mesh on the back which are sized to hold six bracelet-sized glow sticks. The glow sticks shine more brightly on the inside than the outside.

Credit: Megan Reardon

What you'll need:
- 1 sheet black polyester felt (stiffened felt if you can find it).
- 1 sheet adhesive backed black polyester felt (regular felt will work with fabric glue if you cannot find adhesive backed felt).
- 1 sheet colored felt. (Regular, unstiffened, felt is fine here as it comes in more colors. Use orange, yellow, light green or white depending on your chosen decoration.) - 1 plain black tote bag from the embellishment section of a craft store (or a bag large enough to accommodate a 9" x 12" window being cut in it).
- Stiff netting that is 8" x 23" (1/4 of a yard will do).
- A Halloween decoration to use as a template, something that will fit onto 7" x 10" rectangle. (In the Halloween section of craft stores I found paintable wood cut outs, foam cut outs, pumpkin stencils, window clings and hanging decorations that work really well for this purpose. You can also download and trace free pumpkin stencils online. I've given some sources below.)
- Six glow bracelets of the same color. (I found $1 tubes of bracelets at Michael's craft stores, each tube came with three of each color so you'll need two tubes.)
- Tear away interfacing for delicate fabrics, or tissue paper.
- Chalk or a marking pencil that will show on dark fabric.
- Black thread.
Also helpful to have:
- Masking tape.
- An exacto knife.
- Fabric adhesive such as Fabri-tac.
- Fray Check or a similar product.
- Parchment paper.

Credit: Megan Reardon

1. Cut the window in your tote bag. Flip the bag inside out and mark a centered rectangle that is 7.25 inches wide and 10.25 inches tall. Cut the window out of the bag. I slip a smaller cutting mat inside the bag and use a rotary cutter as normal, clipping into the corners with small scissors. Use a product like Fray Check to seal the edges of the fabric, if you don't have Fray Check you can sew a quick line close to the edges to keep the fabric from unraveling. Tip: If you slip a piece of parchment paper inside the bag it will make applying Fray Check easier, it won't stick to the parchment and it won't soak through to the other side, a cling film will also work for this purpose. Set this aside to dry.

Credit: Megan Reardon

2. Create the decoration. Prepare the silhouette decoration you've chosen. If you're lucky you've found something to trace that is already sized well for the 7" by 10" rectangle. If needed resize the image in a graphics program or on using a photocopier. If you're using letters (such as R.I.P.) be sure to reverse them now so they will be correct in the cut out felt. Trace the decoration onto the paper backing of the adhesive black felt and cut it out, still with the backing on, using an exacto knife or scissors.

Credit Megan Reardon

3. Create the frame for the decoration. Mark 1" around the sides of the stiff black felt and cut out the center rectangle, essentially creating a picture frame. Trim 1/2" off of the top and one side of your colored felt (or just be sure to make it slightly smaller than the width and height of the frame as it will be sitting underneath it).

Credit: Megan Reardon

4. Create the mesh pockets that will hold the glow sticks. Cut the mesh to 8" wide and 23" tall. Fold the mesh in half vertically and press (using a pressing cloth) the fold. This fold will be the bottom. Cut a piece of tear away interfacing for delicate fabrics or tissue paper (I used tissue) that is a bit larger than 8" by 12", and mark it to use as stitching links. Draw seven vertical lines spaced an inch apart (these will create six inch-wide pockets) and one horizontal line 1.5 inches up from the bottom. Place the mesh so that the bottom is flush with your template, and it's centered over the seven vertical lines. I've found the best way to hold the mesh to the template is to press a few strips of masking tape firmly to the top so that it clings. You could also pin it down, but be careful of pins sliding out. Stitch the seven vertical lines, then the horizontal line, and lastly stitch about 1/4" in on the sides and bottom (this last step just keeps the mesh flat so it's easier to work with later). Use a fairly short stitch, it creates more perforations and makes the tissue easier to tear away. Now rip away the tissue or interfacing, I found using a sewing ruler along the stitch line as I'm ripping makes go faster.

Credit: Megan Reardon

5. Assemble the decoration. With wrong sides up, center the colored felt on top of the black felt frame. Hold it in place with a little fabric glue, or put in some quick basting stitches to keep it together. Flip this so the right side is up. Take the paper backing off of your felt silhouette and press firmly on to the front of the colored felt. If your silhouette has narrow parts, such as spider legs, you might need to use some extra fabric glue or a few tacking stitches to keep it in place. (Warning: the adhesive backing on the felt will stick to a needle, so if you need to attach it more securely do this by hand so you don't gum up your sewing machine.) Once the silhouette is in place flip so that the wrong side is up and place the mesh pockets over the back of the colored felt, lining up the folded bottom edge about 1/8" up from the bottom. (We're doing this so that the tops of the pockets don't later get caught in a row of stitches.) Pin or tack the mesh in place.

Credit: Megan Reardon

6. Sew the decoration. With the wrong side up stitch the sides and bottom of the decoration about 1/4" in from the edges of the mesh. This will secure all the layers together. Now put some stitches vertically at the top of the pockets to secure the top of the mesh (without closing the tops of the pockets). This is confusing so I've drawn green lines on the photo above to show where I stitched.

Credit: Megan Reardon

7. Attach the decoration to the bag. Turn your bag right side out. Place your decoration right side up centered over the cut out window in the bag. Hold it in place using a bit of fabric glue or pins. (Sliding a small cutting mat or using the parchment paper here will help keep you from catching the back side of the bag as well.) With right side up, stitch the sides and bottom 1/4" in from the edge of the frame. Don't worry about doing this all in one line of stitching, it can be fussy to get the bag under the presser foot. Now stitch the top of the frame staying about 1/8" in, being very careful not to catch the top of the mesh in the process.

Credit: Megan Reardon

8. Finishing. Trim threads and pull any basting stitches and you're done! When darkness falls crack out your six glow sticks and insert them into the mesh pockets. Now have fun trick-or-treating, try not to eat too much of your kid's candy.

Credit: Megan Reardon

Last notes:
- You will probably need to shorten the handles on the tote bag for your child; they were long even for me.
- You can also create a decoration by cutting a shape out of the center of the black felt (see the Jack-O-Lantern above). However, you'll still want to create a frame from non-adhesive felt, as the adhesive from the felt will gum up your sewing machine.
- I used Eco-Fi brand recycled polyester felt for my decorations. All the sheets are the same size which made it easier. I was able to find it in both regular, stiffened and adhesive-backed for at Joann craft stores.
The sources for my silhouettes in the image above, from left to right:
- A wooden cut jack-o'-lantern decoration from Michael's Craft Store, traced onto paper then reduced to size in a graphics program.
- A wooden cut out skull from Michael's Craft Store, disassembled (it came with cross boens) and traced directly onto the adhesive felt backing.
- A wicked witch pumpkin carving stencil from MarthaStewart.com, resized in a graphics program.
- Spider traced from Martha Stewart Crafts Spider Silhouettes. - Bats traced from Martha Stewart Crafts Bat Swarm Window Cling, photocopied and traced.
The Martha Stewart website has two fantastic sources for silhouettes: Halloween decorating and crafts templates and pumpkin templates.

Before the trick or treaters arrive, get your house ready for visitors with these simple DIY ornaments from ShelterPop.

Crafty genius Megan Reardon lives in Seattle with her husband Scott and a clover plant, which she might have killed last week. You can find more of her DIY projects at her blog, Not Martha.