Total Time 1 to 2 hours Ages 5 to 8
Looking for an idea that's guaranteed to catch your kids unaware on April Fools' Day? Consider an appearance from a very special houseguest. Just draw the covers up over this Mickey no-sew pillow to create the illusion that the famous mouse spent the night in your family guest room.
Download Under Covers Mickey Pillow Template
by Cindy Littlefield
What you'll need
- Under Covers Mickey Pillow Template
- Scissors
- Straight pins
- Black felt
- Sticky-back felt (white, black, and red)
- Double-sided fusible tape (such as Steam-A-Seam2)
- Pressing cloth
- Steam iron
- Polyester fiberfill (or other suitable filling for stuffing the pillow)
- Wooden spoon
How to make it
1. Print the template and cut out the pieces.
2. Fold a piece of black felt in half and pin the Mickey head to it with the straight centerline along the fold, as shown. Cut through both layers of felt along the outer edge of the template piece but leave the fold uncut so that you end up with a full Mickey head.
3. Repeat step 2 so that you have two matching felt head shapes, one for the pillow front and one for the back.
4. Use the remaining template pieces to cut a nose and two pupils from black sticky-back felt, two eye whites and a Mickey face from white sticky-back felt, and a tongue from red sticky-back felt.
5. Cut out the mouth and smile lines from the felt face piece. To do this, first fold the face in half (with the template piece still pinned to it) and cut a slit between the mouth lines, as shown. Then you can fit the tips of the scissors through the slit in order to cut along the lines.
6. Remove the paper backing from the felt face and press it in place atop the front head piece.
7. Stick the eye white pieces atop the pupils, as shown. Then stick the eyes and nose onto the face. Stick the tongue in the center of the mouth opening.
8. Place the back felt head piece right side down and apply fusible tape (following the manufacturer's directions) along the edge, as shown. (You'll need to cut a series of snips in the tape in order to follow the curves.) Go all the way around the head, except leave a 3-inch or so section at the chin free of fusible tape for now so you'll have an opening for stuffing the pillow.
9. Place the front head piece atop the back one and fuse the two pieces together along the edges, again following the manufacturer's direction. Be sure to cover the felt with a pressing cloth before ironing it.
10. Loosely fill the pillow with fiberfill, using the handle of a wooden spoon to gently poke some of the filling into the ears. Finally, use another piece of fusible tape to close the opening along the edge of the chin.
11. Now tuck the pillow under the covers to set up your April Fools' Day surprise.
