Craftacular Friday: Monsters will make themselves (all you have to do is feed them)

soon as Ittybit and I finished her Breakfast In Bed pillow, The Champ was growling for a craft of his own.

“I wan pilla, too … monsta pilla. … pweeese?!”

A monster pillow?

I searched the internet and etsy, and books at the library, and came up with nothing more than the understanding that the monster would likely create itself if I let it.

So I headed to my stash of leftover sweaters and let the The Champ’s monster find me.

This is what crept in through the sewing machine ...



What you’ll need
* A women’s small-sized sweater (I used a cashmere cable knit)
* An infant’s zip-front cardigan
* A large scrap of brightly patterned cotton fabric
* A larger scrap of plain fabric
* Stuffing or pillow form (why, yes. I did use cotton balls)
* One sleeve of a man’s large micro fleece jersey
* Two buttons
* Thread in matching shades
* Embroidery floss
* The patience of a saint



What I did (A twelve-step program)

1. I cut across the top of the sweater removing the sleeves to make a tube that would become the monster's head.

2. I turned the tube of fabric inside out and machine-stitched the top.

3. I next cut the zipper off the infant sweater leaving a margin of the knit, and stared at it for a VERY. LONG. TIME. (I had no idea what I was doing).

4. I cut a big rectangle of cotton fabric, folding it in half and stitched it on two sides, creating a pocket.

5. I then sewed the pocket, wrong-side out, onto the salvaged zipper.



6. I slit a hole in the center of the top third of the pillow form, poked the pocket through the opening, and hand-stitched the zipper (still zipped) on either side of the slit.



7. I unzipped the zipper and cut away more of the sweater, and then stitched more along the edges on the inside of the new “pocket” to make sure it was secure.

8. Then I stared at it for a VERY. LONG. TIME. thinking: ‘people who really know how to sew will laugh at this.’ Look, the pins aren't even facing the right direction. If the sewing machine hits one of the pin heads ...

Then I broke the needle. ...

And spent the next 25 minutes looking for a replacement and a flat head screwdriver. (I refuse to count those as steps).

9. Once I had the machine situation under control, I cut off the sleeve of one of my husband’s micro-fleece jerseys (to use as monster legs) and cut it in half up the center. I folded each piece wrong-side out, and stitched along the long edge. I right-sided each leg, and hand-stitched them to the bottom half of the pocket leaving the bottoms open.

10. I found two buttons and sewed them above the “mouth" as "eyes." (NOT thinking of Coraline at all).

11. I made a pillow form out of a large piece of cotton fabric (you can buy one pre-made), and stuffed it with cotton balls. (What? I still haven't gotten to the craft supply store.)



12. Then I turned the monster inside out, lined up the corners of the pillow insert and the corners of the monster and stitched the corners (back and forth with the zig-zag machine stitch. Returned the pillow right-side out.



Of course, the thirteenth step is going to need a twelve-step program of its own.

This monster is hungry.