Welcome to my stop on the Halloween Haunts 2015 Blog Hop organised by Marian at Seams To Be Sew and sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop.

Thanks for dropping by, I'm excited you're here because this may just be one of the coolest things I have ever made! There's a great video towards the end of this post so you can see the full effect of the lights and what a nice addition LED lights are!

It is simple to make and a fun way to decorate for Halloween, so I'm going to run through how to make your own flashing hoop...


Supplies:

·  embroidery hoop - The diameter is dependant on the light strip you use, mine is 5"
·  light strip - I bought this one LED Light RGB Strip 50cm 19.7in (batteries not included so be sure to check and get batteries if you need to)
·  a piece of fabric, larger than the hoop
·  white felt
·  black thread and white thread, use embroidery thread or perle thread
·  a needle
·  a pen
·  a rubber band
·  pinking shears (optional)


1. Put the fabric into the hoop, making sure it is nice and taut.

2. Draw a ghost shape onto felt or use the adorable ghost template from the Flying Felt Ghost Toy project by the talented Mollie at Wild Olive (please note the template is for personal use only), which I used here. Cut out the shape and draw on eyes and a mouth.


2. Position the ghost on the fabric. Using the perle thread come up through the back of the fabric and stitch the eyes (French knots) and mouth (backstitch).


3. Write Boo! and stitch (backstitch).

4. Trim the excess fabric, if you use pinking shears it stops the fabric from fraying.


5. Undo the embroidery hoop, place the rubber band around the back part of the hoop so it's horizontal.


6. Put the fabric back in the hoop and make sure it's taut. Take some thread, tie a knot and do a running stitch around the fabric, pulling slightly as you go so it gathers and tie another knot when you reach the end. 


There are different ways to finish a hoop but I recommend this one as it helps keep the battery pack in place. It's also the best way to ensure the fabric remains taut and can be readjusted in the future.

Take your strip and see if you need to trim any of the LEDs, if you trim make sure you trim the right end! Peel back the paper and stick the strip to the outer edge of the hoop, pressing with your fingers as you go. Tuck the battery pack in behind the elastic. Add a loop of ribbon to the top, hang it up and your flashing hoop is good to go. 

I will be hanging this in the window on Halloween to encourage the trick and treaters to knock!

If you can please watch the video because it shows it to full effect (turn the volume off if you are at work though!) and if it won't play check out my instagram because I will post it there too (you don't need an instagram account to watch it). Warning, as the title suggests the video contains flashing images.



The cool thing is you can easily change this up, replace the embroidery with whatever theme / holiday you want and you can twinkle all year long.


Do let me know if you make a flashing hoop, I would love to see!