Haunted Blog

This is the White House after Presdent Lincon's death. Draping you house in black crepe used quite common. I know that my grandmothers home was draped in black crepe during the war when a family member had died and been laid out in the home.

And so It begins. My first (well not really, but officially) Halloween project. Today I finished making funeral crepe for my house. This year my house will be outfitted as a funeral home to better blend into the graveyard that has been growing every year in our front lawn.

So if you are feeling scary, here is a project for you. And yes, it is okay to start this early if you are doing a pretty big show in your yard, or if you are just excited.

My Mom found this very light, almost sheer fabric for about $1.00 a yard at evil local business killing Wal-Mart. I had to get it because of the great price. Damn them.

Anyhow...
I cut out long strips of fabric to make some killer (no pun intended) funeral bunting.
You want the short sides of your fabric combined to equal the total space you want to fill. The length is up to you and how gathered of a bunt you want. Is it called a bunt? Oh well, to me it is...
For example if you want your "bunt" to hang from a 2 foot space, then your ends will need to be 12 inches each. You got me?

I did this the cheap way. Who wants to actually sew these things properly? Martha Stewart? Well, I am Rachel Dunston. And I am lazy. So I rigged these bad boys up with binder clips, safety pins and a grommet punch. Just screw the actual grommets. I didn't use any. I punched holes in the fabric. It is Halloween. If it starts to look ragged, great.

I gathered the fabric together accordion style, and punched a hole with the grommet punch. You will have to do it a bit at a time as the punch wont go through all your fabric in one shot.

Next, I strung the fabric accordion style on to ONE SIDE of a binder clip. Jam it all on one side without going over the hinge. Shut the clip, and flip it upside down. Your hinge will end up on top and the fabric will have a better space to spread out. Does that make sense?

I made a couple of little gathers with safety pins on the ends. This gives it more detail, and a place to hang the sides from.

I also got fancy and made a few gathered bits using black hair bands. Cheap and easy.

Toss up a couple of nails and ta-da! A house fit for a funeral.

My neighbors thought I was crazy. Well, let me rephrase that, my neighbors know for sure now that I am crazy. I wantedto make sure everything was working and fit so I did a test run on the house today. People driving by were confused to say the least.

Now, off you go. Make your own.

This project cost about $25.00 and will have a major impact on the look of this years yard haunt. Just don't tell anybody in my neighborhood these tricks. We seem to be in a friendly competition now. And I have to make sure I stay at the top of the game.

Way more projects to come.