Host Kathi Cardinalli demonstrates how to add some spooky fun to decor with Halloween-themed throw pillows
(figure A).
Materials:
two pillow forms
1 yd. fusible web, with paper back
pencil and invisible fabric marker
2/3 yds. white felt
embroidery floss (comes in a variety of colors)
embroidery needle
regular scissors
peel-and-stick hook-and-loop tape
craft knife
1 yd. self-adhesive paper
metal ruler
glue made for sewing/hot glue gun with fabric-glue sticks
Steps:
- Decide, based on your Halloween home-decorating ideas, which designs will be used for the pillows. Pumpkins or jack-o'-lanterns, black cats, ghosts, moon and stars, etc. Draw out the design on a brown grocery bag or scrap piece of paper first , then cut out the pattern and pin it to a piece of felt. Trace along the pattern with a marker (figure B), then cut around the border.
- Transfer the design(s) by drawing free-hand onto the backing of the fusible webbing.
- Iron this webbing onto a piece of felt in the color you want the image on the pillow to be. For instance, for a black cat, use black felt; for a ghost, use white felt, etc. Cut out shapes.
- From another color of felt, cut out one 18-1/2-inch square for the front of the pillow and one the same size for the back.
- To make some interesting zigzag borders for the pillows, iron an 18-inch-by-3-inch piece of fusible webbing to another color of felt. Remove backing, then iron the piece of felt with the webbing on it to another piece of felt the same size. This will make the edges strong.
- On an 18-inch-by-3-inch piece of self-adhesive paper, draw a zigzag or connecting triangular border. Cut this out with craft knife and attach to the felt strip.
- Cut along the triangular or zigzag edges and peel off self-adhesive paper. You will now have a border for one side of the pillow. Repeat to create a border for the other three sides.
- Place felt borders along each side of one of the 18-1/2-inch squares of felt, points facing inward. Hot glue along edges.
- Place second 18-1/2-inch square of felt on top of this with border to the inside and hot glue along three edges, leaving one open to insert pillow form.
- Turn fabric right side out. You will now have a pillow cover of solid color felt with triangular or zigzag edges open on one side.
- Insert some paper inside the pillow cover to create padding about 1/4-inch thick. A magazine or newspaper works great.
- Remove the fusible webbing backing from the cutout Halloween shapes and iron to the pillow front. Apply a bead of sewing glue around the edge of the design to hold it in place, then attach by hand-sewing with embroidery floss (figure C).
- Remove padding and insert pillow form.
- Add sticky backed hook-and-loop tape along the open edge of the pillow cover to close.
)
)
)
