Look at these fantastic Halloween Treat Totes from Chelise at CP! What an adorable tutorial! Check out all the DIY costume tutorials in the Handmade Costume Series!

Hi there, I'm Chelise and I blog over at cp. Gone
are the days that my 5-year-old could be easily swayed as to her costume choice. This year she has
unwavered in her decision to be Princess Peach and her brother to be Mario. Luckily he is only 1-year-
old and doesn't have an opinion yet anyway! I haven't finished their costumes yet, but every year I also
make a treat tote to go along with the costume theme. If you hand make a costume, then last minute
pick up a 99-cent pumpkin bucket for trick-or-treating, you are missing out on a great opportunity to
enhance your costume!

Here I will show you how to make the basic tote and from there you can customize it to coordinate with
whatever costume your child insists on wearing :).

Materials:
A- four pieces of felt size 9in x 9in
B- six pieces of felt size 9in x 4in
C- two pieces of felt size 2.5in x 14 in
D- two pieces of plastic canvas size 8in x 8in
E- three pieces of plastic canvas size 8in x 3in
F- one piece of plastic canvas size 1.5in x 13in

Step One:
Sew together the bottom of the tote by sandwiching one piece of plastic canvas (size E) between two
pieces of felt (size B) and stitching around the edges.

Step Two:
Sew the handle strap by sandwiching the long canvas piece (F) between the two long felt pieces (C) and
stitching around the edges

Step Three:
Two of the large felt squares (A) make up one side of the tote. With the two large squares together, sew
it to one side of the bottom piece. Lay it flat.

Step Four:
Repeat step three, sewing the last two large felt squares (A) to the opposite side of the bottom piece.
Lay it flat again.

Step Five:
Sew two felt rectangles (B) to each of the remaining sides of the bottom piece. Open it all up so that it
looks like pictured above.

Step Six:
Lift up two adjoining sides of the tote (keeping the doubled up layers together) and stitch all the way
down.

Step Seven:
Repeat step six with the remaining sides until it has all come together like pictured above.

Step Eight:
Flip the tote right side out. Insert the rest of the canvas pieces (D and E) into the "pockets" you've
created on top.

Step Nine: Tuck in the handle to the smaller sides of the tote.

Step Ten:
Stitch around the entire top of the tote, making sure that handles are being stitched in there as well. I
also trim around all the raw edges (without clipping through the stitches) just so that everything looks
clean and lined up.

Your basic tote is finished! Now you can embellish or decorate it however you want. Last year Drew
was Snow White so I made a brown tote and glued a large red felt apple to both sides. You could turn
it into a cauldron for a witch, a flower for a bumble bee, or a frying pan for Rapunzel. Just use felt and a
hot glue gun. For the mushroom and star I wanted them to be a little 3-dimensional so I cut and pieced
together two layers of my shapes, stitched around the edges, and stuffed them with just a bit of stuffing.
Then I glued the plushies unto the totes.

These totes are sturdy and are going to handle some major candy collecting!



Follow my blog this month if you are interested
in seeing the finished Princess Peach and Mario costumes, along with our family's 9th Annual Pumpkin
Carving Contest (we are serious about our pumpkins), along with some other fun sewing projects I have
in the works!

Thank you!