From
Handmade Halloween: Ideas for a Happy, Haunted Celebration.
It doesn't take witchcraft to make these, just simple sewing skills. Felt is easy to work with (it won't slip and slide while being cut and sewn), and the result looks like American folk art.
Materials:
two 15" pillow forms or two 1 lb. bags of polyester fiberfill
1 yard paper-backed fusible web
2 yards black felt
2 yards orange felt
20" hook-and-loop sew-on tape
3/4 yard contact paper
craft knife
metal-edged ruler
Steps:
1. Transfer or trace cat, moon, and star designs onto the backing of the fusible web. Iron to a piece of black felt and cut out the shapes. From the orange felt, cut out one 15-1/2-inch square for the front and two 15-1/2" x 9" rectangles for the back.
2. To make the pillow borders, iron a 15" x 3" piece of fusible web to a 15" x 3" piece of black felt. Remove the backing and iron to another piece of felt (you are putting the adhesive between two layers of felt to strengthen the fabric). On a 15" x 3" strip of contact paper, draw a border design that has seven connecting triangles, each about 2-1/2 inches across at the base. Cut out with a craft knife and ruler. Attach the contact paper borders to the felt and cut along the edges of the paper. Peel off the contact paper. Press down any fuzz pick-up with a hot iron. Repeat to make three more borders.
3. Place the felt borders along each side of the 15-1/2-inch orange square, the points facing inward. Baste in position.
4. On one long edge of a backing piece, turn in the fabric 1 inch and press. Center and pin a 10-inch hook-and-loop tape strip along this turned-in edge and sew two parallel lines along its length, securing it in place. On the second piece of backing, pin the matching hook-and-loop tape in the same place as on the first and sew in place. Remove the pins.
5. Place the hook-and-loop strips on top of each other to make one closed back. Pin the two back pieces to the front square, right sides together and the border pieces on the inside. Trim the back pieces, if necessary, to be the same size as the front. With a 1/4-inch seam allowance, sew front to back. Remove the pins and trim the seams. Turn right side out.
6. Insert a magazine or flat newspaper inside the pillow cover. Remove the backing from the black shapes and iron to the pillow front. Add fabric glue to some pieces if they don't stay pressed down. Stuff the pillow with a pillow form or fiberfill. Glue the open back edges on the sides of the hook-and-loop tape closed.
7. Repeat with a pumpkin design to make a black pillow with an orange cutout.
Resources Handmade Halloween: Ideas for a Happy, Haunted Celebration
by the editors of
Country Living
Order this title.
Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.
Website:
www.sterlingpub.com 
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