Don’t you love when the seasonal catalogs start arriving in your mailbox? (If not, just pretend you do for this post…) The creative teams behind those products, designs, sets and shoots just blow me away! One of the first things I saw and loved this year was Pottery Barn’s “Mummy” Pillow.
I *really* loved it – but given the treatment our couch pillows receive I’d have felt anxious about it’s condition all season! Instead of worrying about the PB version – I thought I’d try making my own – and for less than half the price I created my own mummy pillow.
Take a little liberty when creating your mummy – use what you have and have available to you! My guy certainly isn’t a carbon copy of the PB version, but he looks really cute on my couch. Bonus: This project (minus the Hobby Lobby run) took less than a nap to complete, start to finish.
You’ll (basically) need: a light colored pillow cover (I got mine for 50% off at Hobby Lobby for $3), a pillow insert (on hand), black and white felt or fabric (or giant googly eyes would be really cool, too!), about 2 yards of muslin (mine is unbleached at $3/yd, on sale for $2/yd), felt and/or fabric glue (or a glue gun) and scissors.
Cut out and attach the eyeballs. White circles on the bottom and black on the top. I just eyeballed the sizes (haha – soooo punny.) and placement but they’re about 4 inches in diameter and placed almost half way down the pillow cover. Slip some foil or wax paper between the pillow fabric layers if you’re using a thin fabric.
While the eye glue is setting a little, tear your muslin into strips that are between 2 and 4 inches wide and 6 feet (2 yards) long. The varying widths provide interest and I was really glad to have those big fat strips at the beginning to really cover the pillow case. When the eyes have set enough they won’t come off with some manhandling, stuff the pillow insert into the pillow.
Starting near the eyes and working your way up and then down, use a dot of fabric glue (or hot glue) to attach one end of a muslin strip. Wrap it around the pillow in interesting angles until you reach the end. Use another dot of glue to secure the end. Repeat until the pillow is covered. Towards the end, I wrapped “decoratively” trying to give some character to the front of the pillow. Also, I did not cover the zipper on the bottom of the pillow so that I could remove the insert and fit the mummy-case into my Halloween storage box.
Once all the glue has dried, you’ve got a pretty darn cute mummy hanging out on your couch for the Halloween season. These might be cute to make in mini sizes for kid’s or guest room beds to bring some Halloween fun to other parts of the house – or even for a front porch if you used outdoor appropriate fabrics!
So darn cute and easy – my kind of craft!
too cute and so easy!
Perfect! Pinning this.
Super cute! I love this pillow… So fun and playful! Perfect for Halloween!