Trick or Treat Time is just around the corner! Why not make some Spook-tacular pillows for your favorite ghost or goblin! Our Zipper Critters pattern (IJ850) can be transformed into black cats, pumpkins and pumpkin-eater people with some spooky Halloween fabric, zippers, oversized buttons and a little creativity.
Start with the original pattern:
Here are some instructions and suggestions for the three we created (see below) but why not let your imagination go wild to create your own one-of-a- kind Halloween Zipper Creations!
To make the Horizontal Cat, we used the horizontal dog pattern and stitched a 2” wide strip down the center of his face to look like a long nose (cut the fabric strip 2 1/2” wide and turn under each long edge 1/4 to wrong side). Zig-zag 2 1/2” long eye shapes to the pillow and add large buttons for the centers. (If your child is very young – substitute felt circles for the buttons). A ball button or pompom makes the perfect button nose.
The Vertical Cat was made in a similar way to the first cat again by adding the stripe down the center of his face but this time we layered 2 buttons on top of each other to create the wide-eyed look and a fun triangular button for his nose. Heavy button and carpet thread was stitched to the cat’s face and knotted to create whiskers (embroidery floss or 1/8” wide ribbon strips can also be used).
Who said that pumpkins had to be round? We transformed the large dog pillow into this fun Pumpkin Eater. Add a 2 1/2” wide stem to the pillow’s top edge. Elongated triangles now become eyes with large buttons sewn to the center; add an upside down triangle nose and you’ve created a Pumpkin Eater! For a little more fun add some triangular teeth in the seam as you stitch the zipper to the pillow/mouth edges. Look through your zipper stash and try a fun color for the teeth – a great way to use up those odd colors that seem to stay in the bottom of your sewing box. Rummage through your button box. For this project, the buttons don’t have to be the same size or even the same color – what a great way to use up those odds and ends. Add some additional creative touches using decorative stitching or layer ribbon strips on top of the center stripes.
Amy Barickman’s Halloween Masquerade fabric collection from Red Rooster provides the perfect colors and patterns for your Spook-tacular pillow transformations. Here are a few more in critters to inspire you:
We can’t wait to see what you can create! Please send us pictures of your creations to info(at)indygojunction(dot)com or post your photos to our Facebook page.