bat pillow felt halloween holiday published

Batty Felt Pillow Tutorial

*I was given a Cricut Maker to use and create tutorials with, and this post contains Cricut Affiliate links. That being said, the opinions and projects are all mine.

If you have been around here since the beginning, you may remember this pillow from 2010. It’s one of my most popular projects.

Well, this year, I was contacted by a magazine who wanted to include my project in their Holiday Crafts edition for this fall. Of course I was thrilled. Especially since that magazine was by Better Homes and Gardens!!

That’s my pillow peeking out!!

I ended up needing to re-make the pillow, since I had given the original away. And because I was in kind of a hurry, I decided to make the process more efficient by cutting out all the felt bats with my new Cricut Maker!

Here are the easy directions to make your own Batty Felt Pillow!

Supplies:
Felt- I bought some wool blend felt to use, you will need 3/4 yard.
Bat Pattern- you can use mine , or use your own.
Sewing machine and sewing tools
20″ pillow form or fiber fill.
Cricut Maker or scissors and time. 😉 (and seriously, no judging if you cut yours by hand- that’s how I cut mine the first time!)

Directions:

  • Cut 2- 20″ squares out of felt (I find it easiest to make a full pillow and not a pillow cover because felt stretches and will lose its shape. If you prefer to make a removable pillow cover, you will need to cut 1- 20″ square for the front and cut your back to create your desired type of pillow cover back)
  • Cut out 21 bat shapes (the pdf has 4 copies of the bat shape- I like to print off my shapes onto freezer paper if I’m cutting them out by hand)
  • Arrange your bats in 7 rows of 3 on one of the 20″ felt squares. Start approx 1″ down from the top and place the first row of 3 bats across the top of the square. The tips of the wings should touch the edges of the pillow front. If you use the bat shape I designed, the tips of the bat wings in the row will overlap just a bit. Pin the bats in place. Next evenly space the first column of bats (use 7 total), ending 1″ from the bottom of the pillow front. Line up the tips of the bat wings with the edge of the felt square. Use your ruler to keep the bats lined up. Now fill in the rest of the grid. I turned the last bat in the 4th row at an angle just for fun!
  • Sew down the center of the bats. I just used a narrow triangle to attach the body of the bat. I wanted the wings to be free and flappy!
  • Pin the pillow back to the pillow front- make sure you fold all the bat wings in toward the center so you don’t catch them in the side seams!
  • Sew around all sides, leaving an opening in the bottom of the pillow for turning and stuffing. I like my pillows to be firm, so I use a 1/2″ seam allowance even though I’m using a 20″ pillow form, If you like your pillows softer, or are stuffing the pillow- feel free to use a 1/4″ seam allowance to sew around your pillow.
  • Turn pillow right side out and insert pillow form or stuff. Hand sew the opening shut.

Enjoy your new pillow!!

xoxo,
Amy

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  • Kara
    October 18, 2018 at 3:11 am

    Whoa, that is so cool that you were featured in a magazine. Way to go girl! Your pillow is adorable by the way!