Flying Witch Halloween Decoration

I made this hanging pillow Halloween decoration with the Flying Witch from the Sin City Stamps Halloween Takes Flight stamp set.  For details on how to make the canvas in this picture, see this post.

I stamped the Flying Witch image onto a piece of tea dyed muslin with India Black Ink from Stewart Superior.  Stewart Superior provided us some inks to work with, and this one makes a nice, crisp image on fabric.  It helps to put your fabric on top of some craft foam when you stamp.  For more tips on stamping on fabric, see this post.

I added the text with ColorBox Chalk Ink in Pumpkin Spice.




Using a rotary cutter, I trimmed the muslin piece so that there were one inch margins all around the image.  This is easier for me than cutting the muslin piece first and then hoping that I stamp the image exactly where I want it.

Then I cut a piece of orange burlap and two pieces of tea dyed muslin 3 inches longer and 3 inches wider than my stamped piece.  That gave me a one inch margin all around plus a half inch on each side for my seams.

I attached the stamped piece to the burlap with a zigzag stitch.


One piece of muslin is for backing or lining the burlap and one is the back of the pillow.  I always use a backing piece when I want to stuff burlap, so my fiberfill doesn’t sneak out through the loose weave, and it also helps hold the fibers in place so the burlap doesn’t fray so much.  For more tips on sewing with burlap, see this post.

I pinned my layers with right sides together.  If you put the lining layer in place behind the burlap layer and treat that like one piece, it’s easier to figure out the order of your layers. 

You need to leave an opening for turning and stuffing.  I like to put a pin in a different direction from all the others through the center of my opening.  This reminds me not to sew the whole piece closed (which I have done, before I came up with this trick).


I stitched the pieces together, trimmed the corners, and added a zigzag stitch to the edge of the  burlap at the opening.  Burlap wants to fray, so it helps to zigzag any edge that is going to have pressure applied to it.



I turned the piece right side out, pushed the corners out with the end of a wooden dowel, and ironed the piece.


I stuffed the pillow with polyester fiberfill.


I stitched the opening closed.  Then I added a little embellishment.  It’s sort of a squashed rosette made from hand dyed cheesecloth with a bat button sewed on.


Finally, I added a hanger.  You can sew in a hanger when you sew the pieces together, but I like to
add one this way when the piece is complete because I can adjust the length.  I usually use embroidery floss, perle cotton or crochet cotton.  I cut a length (this was about 17 inches of 6-strand embroidery floss), thread it onto a needle and tie a double or triple knot at one end.  Then I sew through one side of the back of the pillow, coming up.  Then I sew through the other side, going down, and make another double or triple knot.  If it turns out that this hanger is too long for the place I want to hang the pillow, I just cut off one knot and make another one further up, shortening the hanger.


Here’s the finished pillow.