I was working in the lab late one night

When my eyes beheld an eerie sight. For my monster from his slab began to rise, and suddenly to my surprise…





"blehhhh!"






It's… a baby vampire! Oh no, he's adorable. Yeah, he isn't going to be done in time for Halloween, but that doesn't bother me. I might start a Christmas themed bag right after this so that at least that one will be on time, but let's be honest; I'm much more likely to start a pattern of acorns and grapes just in time for the first snowfall. No worries!

Now we will continue on together in how to make your own baby vampire bag. The front will have a baby vampire and the back will have strategic bats and a jack-o-lantern. First we will focus on the baby vampire.

Materials

• Black cloth (46 cm X 51 cm)
  
• White, black, gray, gold, dark red, lighter red, bright red embroidery floss
  
• Charcoal pencil
  
• Embroidery hoop
  

Stitches (Linked to Mary Corbert's Needle N' Thread, an amazing site)

• Line Stitches
  
  • Outline Stitch
    
  • Portuguese Knotted Stem Stitch
    
  • Rope Stitch
    
  • Back Stitch
    
• Fill Stitches
  
  • Cretan Stitch
    
  • Long and Short Stitch Shading
    
  • Heavy Chain Stitch
    
  • Satin Stitch
    
  • Roumanian Couching
    
• Other
  
  • French Knots
    

First draw the vampire picture onto the bag using a charcoal pencil. If you aren't sure of your hand for free-drawing you can turn your window into a light box. Print off the vampire line art, tape it to a window, tape your cloth over that, and trace away! Make sure to leave plenty of room around the edges for the eventual seams, especially along the top since the top will eventually be folded twice for increased carrying strength. You really don't want to eventually sew over your vampire's head or feet after spending hours working on them. I sewed a line in Mountmellick stitch in across the top of the bag to keep that spacing especially safe. Finally, the baby vampire will be eclipsed by a moon in the same gold color to give contrast to his evening clothes, so the color will tie in.

This vampire will give you the opportunity to practice many different stitches. I'm a big fan of learning as you go, but if you are feeling a little insecure about any of these stitches feel free to practice them ahead of time.

First, outline your little guy. The skin (face, hands, and feet) should be outlined using the Outline Stitch in white, and the hair should be outlined using the same stitch in black. His cape should be outlined in black using the Portuguese Stem Stitch. Since the cape will eventually be filled using varying shades of red using flatter stitches (Satin Stitch, Long and Short Stitch Shading) the raised texture of the Portuguese Stem Stitch will give the illusion of a luxurious edging. Outline the clothing using black or white, depending on the area, using the Rope Stitch. Wow, look at that! You've only outlined the little bugger and you've already managed to get significant practice using three separate stitches! Wow!

Next, start working on the details, such as the face. I'm planning on doing all of the facial features in the Satin Stitch, which involves first outlining and filling in the areas in Back Stitch. This means that the eyes, eyebrows, nose, teeth, and tongue must all be very carefully outlined and filled. The buttons on his shirt, his belt, his ears, and even the collar of his cape will all be filled in using the Satin Stitch, so settle in and take your time with the preparation. The cleanness of your Satin Stitch depends on how carefully you outlined and padded the area ahead of time.

His clothing will be filled using Cretan Stitch, the lower half of his cape will be filled using Long and Short Stitch Shading in various shades of red, his skin will be filled using Roumanian Couching which strikes me as deliciously ironic, and his hair will be filled using Heavy Chain Stitch. This will be explored further in later entries.