My daughter has finally flipped out and joined the Pillow Pet obsession that is sweeping through her elementary school. If you don't quite understand what all the fuss is about, they're these stuffies that convert to pillows. I believe that another company is making some I find actually cuter called "Zoobies". Basically the concept is to fold your furry pillow (with a head on it) in half like a taco...
...so it can stand on all fours like a chubby animal.
When the Velcro'ed strap is undone, it lays flat so you can sleep on it.
My daughter received the Monkey for Christmas. However, for some absurd reason this past week, she decided she wanted to spend her holiday money on ANOTHER Pillow Pet. :0 I just couldn't bare to see her forking out $20 on one (let alone a 2nd one!). So, I made her a deal. I told her if she didn't buy it, but instead put her money in her college fund, I'd make her one however she wanted it to look. I had her draw up her dream pet. After a little brainstorming, she came up with this:
If you can't decipher this image, it turns out she wanted a black bunny with brown feet and blue ears, eye patches and tummy. Oh! And I forgot the green tail. Yep, that's what she asked for. Oh boy. :) Off to the polar fleece remnant pile to find it. She was in luck. We had matching colors and enough to make it.
We later opted to make the green tail a pom-pom to match the body and ears with leftover scraps of black and blue. Waste not, want not, right?
It took one evening to whip up what we are now calling a "Cushion Critter". If you'd like to attempt one of these for your own kids, I'm sharing the pattern and a brief tutorial with all of you for a limited time. You can find it at: http://www.box.net/shared/o76leau9xb
You'll need to be able to enlarge the pattern to 400%. I set it up on one letter-sized page is PDF format. If you try it, please let us know how it works for you by commenting. It was very easy to make. Especially using polar fleece, which is nice to work with and easy to care for. She decided she didn't want the doll eyes we had planned to put on it. And, I didn't want to mess with hand-sewing the head on. (My luck I'd get it all crooked and wonky.) So, instead I sewed the head into the body, which made it kinda buff in the shoulders. :)
She has named it "Stitch", due to it's resemblance to the cute little blue Alien in the "Lilo and Stitch" movie. It was actually meant to be a "pooka". I'm doing a swap with a person who mentioned liking the movie "Harvey" about a giant pooka. Daughter wanted to know what they were, so we looked it up. Turns out I think "Totoro" is also one. Though, his name is supposed to be a mispronunciation of "troll" in Japanese. :)
Thanks for stopping by!
9 comments:
My kids have been wanting to darn pillow pets too, and $20 for a pillow is just not going to happen! Yours turned out great, I can't wait to give it a try. I think I want to make bed bugs because we always do the night, night, don't let the bed bugs bite, and if they do hit them with a shoe until they're black and blue (yeah, we're a bit strange here) thing at bed time and maybe a fleece shoe or two.
Thanks for sharing, I let you know when I get them finished :)
LOL! I'd never heard the second part about beating them "black and blue"! Hehe
I'd love to hear how the bed bugs turn out. I get all my remnants from the local fabric stores. It's great when the put the fleece on sale for 40-50% off. They'll discount the remnants the additional sale price, as well. Sometimes, I can get decent sized pieces in all colors for less than a $1 each. Since the pattern pieces are so small, it doesn't take much to make these pillows or other dolls/stuffies.
BTW, Crafterella, I'm working on a mess of witch boots over here. ** nudge, nudge, wink, wink ** ;)
Good luck with the cushion critters!
Mieljolie
Thank you for the tute! This is great!
JessA, you're very welcome! Hope the critter doens't give you any troubles and turns out perfect. If you have any questions, feel free to post them here.
Mieljolie
My pet turned out great. I never would have figured out how to do that head without it and Little Miss loves it, thanks for sharing!
Oh, and about those shoes just let me know when you're ready, I know you want a cemetery ;) I might have some other stuff you might like too!
You're very welcome, Crafterella! And, I'm so ready NOW!! :) I'll send ya a message.
Later,
Mieljolie
Just a note that Crafterella posted her Bed Bug Cushion Critter on her blog at:
http://www.crafterella.com/2011/01/lets-play-name-that-commercial.html
It's so cute! She did an awesome job. Her daughter named it "bug bite".
Mieljolie
THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! 4 weeks left until Little M's bday and she wants a pillow pet so badly. I refuse to buy a $20 pillow. Here you are to save the day!
You're welcome, amomwithalessonplan. Just comment or message me if you need any help with it.
If I make another, I'll take progress pics and write up a more thorough tutorial.
BTW, the velcro cover part isn't really explained. It's just a flap sewn under the rough velcro on the strap and folds over to cover it. It isn't required.
Mieljolie
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