Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Homemade: Oni Pillows


I know for Setsubun you are supposed to drive away the demons, but maybe you can keep one or two friendly ones around. Perhaps as night time protectors?  I thought up these little oni pillows when I had the brilliant, somewhat insane, idea to handmake all of my Christmas gifts last year.  I was stuck on what to make for the little boys in my life when somehow this occured to me.  Here's what you need to start:

fabric, scissors, thread, sewing machine, doll stuffing or beans, pencil, scrap paper.

I traced out an outline of how I wanted my little demon to look:


I cut out two fabric pieces to match (I cut 1/4 inch outside of the pattern to allow for seam allowances).  One is felted wool that I made from a repurposed sweater for the front of the oni.  The other is some cotton (any fabric remnants will do) for the back of the oni.

I cut out two red wool eyes and a creamy-colored felt "face."


Sew on the eyes to the face.  I tried machine sewing them once and I didn't like it as much as the hand-sewn effect.


Then sew the face onto the right side of the felted wool.


With right sides facing, sew around the perimeter of the felted wool and the back fabric using 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Leave a small opening in the bottom corner.

Turn it inside out and stuff with doll-stuffing (or for an appropriate alternative, beans!).


Blind stitch the opening closed.


voila!

2 comments:

MamaM said...

So, so cute!

MaurLo said...

We love the one we were lucky enough to get...although the girl at our house has kept it safe from the boy it was meant for! Favorite night pillow. It must keep bad dreams away!