Octopus Pillow

A good friend of mine is about to graduate with her master’s degree (she’s defending today!) and move off to D.C. to start a real job. As a congratulations-on-graduating/going-away preset, I made her this fun octopus pillow.

Once I came up with a sketch of an octopus I like, I traced the pieces onto the paper side of some wonder-under (a thin double sided fusible material I get at JoAnn). I used the ghetto sophisticated tracing method of taping them both up to a window. I then fused the wonder-under to three shades of purple felt and used my pre-traced lines to cut out the shapes I needed.

After lining up the shapes to make sure that they lined up how I wanted them to, I fused them onto some white kona cotton. I also stitched them down with matching thread to make sure they’d stay nice and tight. As a bonus, from some angles the stitching puckers the tentacles just a little bit on the edges, which I think looks a little like the suction cups on octopus tentacles.

I also found this awesome print at JoAnn that I think my friend will love. Its really slinky and shifty, so I used some more wonder under to attach it to some more white cotton so it would be a little more sturdy. I love how the fun backing peeks out from the sides of the pillow.

I sewed the pillow together and used an invisible zipper for the pillow insert. The pillow is 14″ by 14″, and the octopus is about 8″ tall. I love the little felt octopus!