So of course we wanted to make our own version of the Monster Book of Monsters. We went for a giant and cuddly reading companion version. (Have you seen the new illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Scorcer's Stone? Completely gorgeous illustrations. We've already pre-ordered our Illustrated copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets coming out in October...because you know two sets of all the books isn't enough for one house.)
I really couldn't be happier with how it turned out.
There's something about oversize plushies that is irresitable.
He was super easy to make and there's NO SEWING involved at all. Just grab your glue gun.
Time: 30-60 minutes
Skill: Beginner
Materials:
- 12 x 18 x 3" piece of cushion foam
- 1/2 Yard Golden Wolf Fur or other faux fur
- Large handful of Poly-Fil
- Animal Eyes (I got mine at the craft store which only had smaller ones. I wish I'd known about the large ones from 6060 on Etsy...they would be amazing on this.)
- 1/4 yard off white or parchment colored fabric
- White and Red felt scraps for teeth and tongue.
- Glue gun and plenty of glue sticks
Directions:
Cut your foam down to size if you need to. If you're purchasing it from a store with a fabric cutting counter, they will often cut it for you. If not, an electric carving knife or sharp bread knife works great.
Heat your glue gun up to high and have extra glue sticks at the ready.
Cut a 7" width of fabric strip of your off-white or parchment colored fabric. Start by gluing the ends so they wrap around the two short sides and one long side pulling/holding snug.
Glue the raw edges of the fabric down to your foam, folding the fabric flat.
Glue the teeth and tongue in place.
Wrap your faux fur around your foam. We loved the Golden Wolf Faux Fur from Shannon Fabrics, because it the color looks different whether it's "petted" or not. Measure and mark so that the fur extends just about 1/4 inch beyond the edges of the foam. Mark on the BACK of the faux fur with a sharpie or something similar.
Cut out your fur. Faux fur is a bit different than fabric to work with and cut. You can see Shannon Fabrics Faux Fur Tips here. I found it worked well to use some small sharp scissors. Try to just cut the fur base, without cutting much of the hair. Then pull apart. This will reduce the amount of hair you have floating around your work space.
Fit back around your foam to make sure you have it lined up properly.
Start by gluing the BACK of your book onto the foam.
Glue any overhanging fur down.
Next glue the spine.
Before gluing the top, you need to mark and cut an arc where we want the raised part with the eyes.
Have fun adding as many eyes as you'd like. The book in the movie has 4 eyes. We opted to add some extras. You will likely need to make a small snip through the backing to get the peg for the eyes through.
Glue the top cover down but put NO GLUE in a large circle in the middle, where we're filling the eye hump with poly-fil. Fill in the hole with the poly-fil.
You'll likely have a gap now. Use some of your faux fur scraps to fill it in and glue in place.
And finally, you don't want to be bitten or have your book bite someone you love. If you need to read your book, then you can keep it calm by stroking the spine. When not in use, we recommend cinching it tight with a belt.
See these links for more details about other Harry Potter themed crafts we've done.
Oh my goodness!! I am in LOVE with this!!! We made a book version of this, but I love the idea of it being a pillow!!! I'm totally making one of these!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cute!!! And I can't get over how many amazing HP posts you have!!! Pinning this!!! And I love those quilts too! Great job!!!
ReplyDeleteThan your so much for this idea! I just made this! Let me know if I can send a photo. 😊
ReplyDeleteI always love to see reader's projects. You can email me at piecesbypolly (at) gmail (dot) com.
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