It’s day 8 of our special National Sewing Month blog series. We’re so excited to share another great guest post with you! Remember, leave a comment at the bottom of this post (and all of our series blog posts) for your chance to win our mystery grand prize. Trust us, you want to win this one! Find all of our National Sewing Month blog posts here and good luck to everyone!
Today’s post is written by Maureen Wilson, from the blog Made by Marzipan. To learn more about Maureen and to find her full project collection, visit her designer profile.
Hello, crafters! Maureen here from MadeByMarzipan.com. I’m excited to celebrate National Sewing Month with you! Since Halloween is right around the corner, I came up with a fun holiday decor project to share. These stuffed bats look great fluttering in the breeze, or, you can make them into a bat bunting to haunt your home. Here’s how to make your own..
Supplies:
- Bat Template (click to download from MadeByMarzipan)
- Black felt
- Black thread
- Ribbon
- Poly-fill batting
- Rhinestones & glue
How To:
1) Begin by printing out the Bat Template. (Margins are included in the pattern, so there’s no need to scale it when printing.) Cut out the bat using craft scissors.
2) You’ll need black felt for this project. It’s important that you use felt because it doesn’t fray, so there’s no need to finish our edges. I got 18 bat shapes out of a half yard of felt, for a total of 9 bats. You can fold the fabric in half to cut out two shapes at a time.
3) Pin two bat shapes together. This will be the front and back of your bat. If you want the bats to hang, insert a ribbon through the center of the bat and pin in place. Leave the top of the ribbon long for pinning, or you can loop it and tuck the end between the layers for hanging.
4) I added three bats to my ribbon, but you can add as many as you’d like. Cut the end of the ribbon short so that it’s tucked inside your final bat.
5) Sew the front and back of the bat together, topstitching with a 1/4 inch seam and black thread. Leave the long side of one wing open for stuffing.
6) Fill your bat with polyester batting. Use a pen to poke the stuffing into all of the corners. Then pinch the opening together and sew shut. Repeat for the remaining bats.
7) Once all the bats are sewn, you can add eyes. Googly eyes will make your bat look friendly, whereas colored rhinestones will make it look spooky. I’ve chosen clear rhinestones for a more sophisticated look.
This string of bats looks fantastic hanging outside, where they flutter in the breeze. If you’d rather, you could use this pattern to make a bat bunting…
1) Cut out the bats, then insert a length of ribbon to one wing of two bats. These will be the first and last bats in your bunting. Sew those two bats, remembering to leave part of a wing open for stuffing.
2) Now sew the bats that will go in the middle of your bunting. (I’m only putting one in the center, since my fireplace mantle is small. But you can make yours as long as you’d like.)
3) Once the bats are sewn, attach them by overlapping their wings slightly. Sew them together by topstitching directly over your previous stitches.
4) Finally, add stuffing to each bat and sew the openings shut. The bat bunting looks great strung across a fireplace or over a mirror.
What’s your favorite thing about crafting for Halloween?
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