How-Tuesday: Make a Zombie

julieincharge

Story by julieincharge

Published on Oct 12, 2010 in Make

Photo by Beasties

Zombie attack! Overcome your fear of brain-eating, vacant-eyed reanimated corpses by stitching up your very own zombie from felt and fabric (instead of foul rotting flesh). Diana Schoenbrun is the leader of our zombie army in this week’s deadly How-Tuesday post. This project and many other creatures, from sirens to witches, can be found in Diana’s new book, Beasties: How To Make 22 Mischievous Monsters That Go Bump in the Night.

If you’re in the Brooklyn area, get yourself over to the Etsy Labs for Craft Night on Monday, October 18 to make zombies with the author in real life! More details here.

Psst! Buy Beasties right here on Etsy.

A sorcerer brings a corpse back to life as a soulless puppet — a zombie — that he can control. Wait quietly in a cemetery in the dead of the night and you might see a zombie creep out of the earth. Zombies do not speak and can be dangerous, so stay at a safe distance.

Let’s get started!

Finished Size: 3 1/2 inches wide by 13 inches high

Materials:

  • Fabric: 10 x 12 inch white cotton
  • Felt: 1 sheet of black, a scrap of red, a scrap of white
  • Trim: 1 red pom pom + gauze bandage (if you don’t have a gauze bandage, try using bits of frayed cloth)
  • Thread: black and white
  • Craft glue
  • Stuffing

Preparation:
Cut from patterns:

  • From cotton: 2 body shapes (cut 1 in reverse)
  • From black felt: 4 arm shapes, 4 foot shapes, 1 left ear, 1 right ear, 2 eyes A, 1 eye C
  • From white felt: 1 eye B
  • From red felt: 1 blood drop each A, B, and C; 2 blood drops D

Cut freehand: From black felt: 1 small tooth ¼ x ¼ inch, 1 rectangle 1 x ¼ inch

Directions:

1. Pin together two arm pieces for left arm and two pieces for right arm. Beginning at point A, sew a whip stitch around arm with white thread to attach both layers of felt. Sew clockwise about halfway around, stopping just past the hands at point B. If you are using fiberfill, take a small amount and knead it back and forth between your hands, as if it were clay, to make it thin and long. Then use a stuffing stick to push the stuffing into the arms carefully. The arms should be just filled so they are squishy. Continue sewing arms with a whip stitch, stopping at point C. Leave the opening from A to C unsewn. Set arms aside.

2. Align and pin two feet pieces together and sew using a whip stitch with white thread. Leave opening from D to E unsewn for stuffing opening. Repeat for second foot. Use a pinch of stuffing to fill feet. Sew opening of feet closed with a whip stitch.

3. Lay one body piece, right side up, on your work surface. Place left and right ear on top, pointing inward. Pin in place. Place second body piece, right side facing down, on top and pin in place. Machine sew body, leaving an area open for turning right side out and stuffing.

4. Turn body right side out and fill with stuffing. Sew the opening closed with a small whip stitch.

5. Sew a whip stitch to attach straight edge of feet to the bottom edge of legs at point X.

6. Next, attach both arms. Align arms perpendicular to body (C–A to C–A) and allow unsewn area of felt to spread out to front and back of body. Sew a tight whip stitch to attach.

7. Put glue on back of one eye A and place on eye B. Then glue back of eye B to eye C. Glue completed eye to face. Allow glue to set for a few minutes. Glue the other black eye A to the center of the pom-pom. Sew one end of the black rectangle to the other end to form a loop. Sew three stitches through the pom-pom to attach it to the loop. Sew three stitches on the opposite side of the loop to attach to the face. Next, use a double strand of thread to embroider a mouth. Use a small amount of glue to attach the tooth. Finally sew a few strands of thread through the top to make hair stick out of the zombie’s head.

8. Glue blood drops to front and back of the zombie’s body.

9. Cut and fray gauze pieces and place on arms and the front and back of the zombie’s body. Attach with a tiny bit of glue.


Thank you to Diana Schoenbrun and the good folks at Penguin for sharing this project with us. For more mischievous monsters, check out Beasties.

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