DIY: Halloween Felt Pillows

It's no secret that Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. Yes, it even surpasses Christmas in my book! Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the true meaning of Christmas, and I do love it as much as the next person, but I foster this unhealthy addiction to Halloween decorations. 

So it's also no surprise that my apartment is already pretty decked out in a rather spooky fashion. This of course has been facilitated with my roommates being 100% cool with my (almost) hostile take-over in decorating our entire living room with bats, pumpkins, and glitter as far as the eye can see. 

1. Purple glitter pumpkin from Wal-Mart | 2. Baby pumpkins & candlesticks

3. Bats (I used a black posterboard: $0.97) | 4. Ghost light garland from Wal-Mart

However, I wasn't satisfied. My roommates contributed to the decorations with some very cool pumpkins, garlands, candy dishes and other Halloween swag, but I wanted more. I wanted you to get hit in the face with that fall scent of Spiced Cinnamon Apple when you walked through my door. I wanted you to practically squeal with girlish excitement at the state of my apartment, which you thought rivaled the October edition of Martha Stewart Living. 

I wanted to be a Halloween goddess. 

It was this that spawned the creation of my Halloween throw pillows. I love pillows. My bed is full of them and it's my personal philosophy that a couch is not complete without a throw pillow. I love resting my head on them while I watch Honey Boo Boo, using them as a tray for my burrito that gets too warm in the microwave and would otherwise burn my legs - you know, the usual tasks of a throw pillow. I knew that my pillows would have to be both functional and cute. 

Behold: my new Halloween Felt Pillows.

I'm so happy with the way they turned out! I always get skeptical right int he middle of any project, and these guys proved me wrong so I'm thrilled. Ready to learn how to make them? Well you're about to find out.

Perks? Not only are they super cute, but from purchasing a few materials to sitting on my couch on display, the process was only a couple of hours worth of work. I had quite a bit of felt left over from when I went as Russell from Up a few Halloweens ago, and just needed some bigger felt pieces to tie everything together. 

Like I said, sewing throw pillows is a favorite hobby of mine. I learned how to make these in high school and have made them easily ever since. I love how easily you can transform a room with just changing your pillow cover so I find myself making them all the time. These guys are 18" pillows that usually sit on the couch anyway, so I didn't need to buy extra pillow forms either. Loved it!

One of the other perks of these guys is the fabric - felt. I love sewing with felt. I don't quite know why, but it makes me happy inside. These guys are machine washable, durable and still oh-so-soft for me to snuggle and relax with. They'll last me for a long time, too, so when I have my own place and kiddos I won't need to worry about them being easily destroyed. 

I followed a pretty basic process to put these guys together. For each pillow, I cut three different pieces of fabric: one 19"x19" square for the front and two pieces for the back at 12"X19" and 14"X19". I whipped these out with my rotary cutter and then finished one of the 19" edges on the two back pieces. Everything was sewn with a 1/2" seam allowance, which made it really easy to put together. 

Once I had finished the back pieces, I moved on to embellishing the front of the pillows. I cut the BOO and other pieces from felt and used a spray adhesive to attach them to the felt square. Then, I top-stitched over them to hold them into place and add a little bit more cuteness (because these guys definitely needed it...) I also sewed button eyes on a few of the pillows at this point before I finished putting them together.  

After that, putting together the pillows was easy. I placed the 19"x19" square and the 14"x19" right sides together, with the finished edge of the 14" piece pointing towards the center of the pillow, and then lined the 12"x19" piece up with the other side of the pillow so that both finished edges were in the middle. This creates a nice little pocket for the pillow to go through, and an overlap so your pillow doesn't peek through. Brilliant. 

Then, just straight stitch around the edges, clip your corners and put 'em on your pillows.

I'm so proud of the way they turned out! Proud enough that I had to post them for everyone to see at 1AM on Instagram and other forms of social media. Needless to say, it needs to hurry up and be October already!