Pumpkin Head Zombie Brooch

Sequins for brains...

I was beside myself with excitement when I saw the book Zombie Felties featured in Sew magazine Issue 16. I love zombies and I love making things from felt, so what could be more perfect! The book, by Nicola Tedman and Sarah Skeate features 16 patterns for teeny tiny felt zombies. There's a zombie rabbit, a zombie, duck, a zombie puppy, a zombie zombie...

With Halloween approaching, I opted for the zombie Pumpkin Head. I had everything I needed in stash in terms of felt, embroidery thread, beads and sequins. However, these guys are really tiny - Pumpkin Head is only about 6cm finished size. At first, I was tempted to enlarge the pattern and I still might with some of the others, but I decided to bite the bullet and cut it to size. The cutting out was really fiddly. I made the pattern into cardboard templates as usual, but the smallest bits were really difficult to get right and some bits like the bandages I ended up cutting freehand instead.

The bandages and mouth are glued on, but everything is hand sewn. I didn't find the small size too much of an issue for the stitching part and hand sewing is so zen comparing with the stress of the sewing machine. The sequin brains were the toughest part of the sewing - trying to get them spilling out of the split in the head appropriately. The sequins in the book were pink. I only had green, but I think zombie pumpkin brains could equally be green don't you?

Due to their petite size, the felties are great for making into key rings, bag charms and other accessories. I made pumpkin head into a cute little brooch by attaching a brooch back to the reverse of his head. I wore him out shopping yesterday and he was admired by several teenagers.

I'm doing the Day of the Dead Zombie next. I've already cut the teeny bits out so I'm looking forward to growing my zombie feltie family.

Melx