Halloween and "Day of the Dead" quilt blocks
Welcome to the Quilt Block Mania blog hop for September. The theme is Halloween and it’s time to get our spooky on. Each blog has a free 12 inch quilt block pattern to download and it’s going to be so much fun.
Day of the dead makeup, Mexico City, 2019
My block is inspired by “The Day of the Dead” (November 2: All Souls’ Day), and the sugar skulls that celebrate the lives of family and friends. I didn’t really understand ‘Day of the Dead’ until i watched the movie Coco which was so cute and did such a great job sharing culture and story. I really liked that the more we remember family that has passed on, the more they still live.
12 inch FPP sugar skull block
Skulls and skeletons also work for Halloween with the idea of the ghouls and witches chucking a party before All Saints’ Day. It goes with the wonderful witches’ hats, monsters and general scariness of the night. So my block is a very happy skull which can be left plain or decorated like a sugar skull.
It’s made though foundation paper piecing for the skull, and then the background is pieced on rather like a log cabin block. The fun part is what you can do with it. You could make it with glow in the dark fabric so it really shines in the night. You could make it with fancy florals to get the effect of a sugar skull. I’ve embroidered my sample with glow in the dark thread, and fussy cut flowers for the eyes.
Cutting templates
I’m planning on making some more to hang up at school when we have a “Day of the Dead” / Halloween fundraiser. This year the students want to do a flash mob, so given we can’t sell food anymore (due to Covid), I do hope we will still be able to have some fun.
I have found a few hacks that make life easier. One is when cutting templates, I print out the paper copies and cut them out. Then I place my fabric right sides together as I need two copies of each template, one reversed. Then I lightly spray the back of the fabric with repositionable applique spray glue. This means that all my paper templates just stick a little tiny bit to the fabric and don’t slip and slide around, making it easy to cut put with a rotary cutter. I then put each FPP section together with its fabric and templates so they are quick to pick up.
Another little glue hack I like is if I’m struggling to get points to match and have had to unpick a bit, I use a little bit of glue from a washable glue stick in the seam allowance. I leave it to dry and then resew the seam. I don’t have to do it often but sometimes it really helps.
Pattern traced onto very thin tearaway quilting paper then free motioned.
For my skull pattern, I really wanted a friendly smiling skull so there are a couple of features that cheer him up. One is the shape of the mouth. If you also make the teeth follow the line of the bottom lip, the skull will look friendlier. If you make a straight horizontal teeth line across the mouth, he will look a bit meaner.
Skulls with eyes look friendlier, so just adding the flowers in the eyes makes the skull look more personable. Gaping black eye sockets look scarier.
To make him even more fun, I free motion embroidered him with glow in the dark thread from Superior Threads. It does look great in the dark where the line of stitching glows, though I did have a few tension problems I need to resolve.
free motion embroidery using glow in the dark thread
I like sugar skulls because they are really a celebration of love, life and relationships. While Halloween is a European celebration - the night before All Saints’ Day - when all the ghosties and ghoulies have their night out, Day of the Dead is All souls’ Day when all the departed family members are remembered with love and a big colourful celebration.
The marigolds represent the pathway from the world of the dead to the homes of their families, and the monarch butterflies carry the souls of the dead. The altars are really symbolic: Earth, wind, fire and water are all represented. Water is obvious and so are the candles for fire! Bread represents the earth and wind is represented by the paper cutouts.
Now whether you make a Halloween skull or a ‘Day of the dead’ Sugar skull, I hope you have a great celebration with your family and friends, and can borrow back some happy memories of loved ones who have passed on.
Beaded skull from the ethnographic museum in Mexico City, 2019
Painted skeletons at the house of Frida Kahlo in Mexico city, 2019
Memorial for Day of the dead displaying flowers, food, water, candles and photos of the departed family member
A quilt made as a memorial for a loved mother. Notice the symbols of the flowers, food, water, candles and paper cut outs. Quilt displayed at AQC, Melbourne, VIC, 2019
To download my pattern you need to go to my pattern store.
Don’t forget to check out all the blogs and download the fabulous patterns. And don’t forget to send pictures of what you have made. It is so great to see.