Zombie Cactus Pincushion

Hey ghouls and creeps! This zombie cactus pincushion is another one from the psycho stitcher collection! This collection contains a variety of helpful tools, notions and storage solutions to help the functionality of your sewing space all with some creepy flair. I’ve always adored the cactus pincushions that can be found all over Pinterest, and wanted to create my own version of this super cute project idea!

I had this chartreuse quilting cotton left over from a previous project, which I had always thought to be the perfect zombie green. With this project in the works, and this previous association in the back of my mind, I came up with the most wonderful awful idea (insert Grinch grin here).

I gave this fella a moderate difficulty level because there are a lot of individual steps. For those intimidated by elaborate sewing projects, this project requires very little sewing, but requires a fair amount of hot gluing.

Step 1: Cutting your Fabric: Download the PDF below to acquire the templates needed for this project. Make sure to apply Heat n’ Bond to the back of the white felt scrap, before cutting out the eyes. All pieces will have fabric/material type notated, to avoid confusion on what you’re cutting!

Step 2: Making your Cactus Pot: Take your sketchbook paper/tagboard pot sides and adhere or staple together along the top edge. Make small snips 1/4″ apart and a 1/4″ in along the bottom edge of these pieces to easily wrap and glue to the pot base. Take your cardboard circle and begin gluing your side piece flaps to what will be the bottom of the pot, starting at the center of the side working your way to the ends. As you get to the ends, glue where the side overlaps together.

Hot glue the corresponding felt piece to the bottom of your pot. Apply hot glue to the inside seam where the sides meet the bottom of the pot to give it extra support. Pour your Poly-pellets into the bottom of the pot.

Cut your styrofoam cylinder with a serrated bread knife so that it’s tapered. I made a mark 1/4″ in on one side to use as a guide to make my piece mostly even all the way around. If your dowel is longer than 10 1/2″, now would be the time to cut it down to the proper length.

Make a mark in the center of the styrofoam piece and gently rotate a pencil or the dowl all the way through to the other side (you may notice that there’s no dowel hole in my styrofoam, I decided that instead of doing this step later, it would be better to do this here). Take the styrofoam piece and push it down into the pot tapered side down. The styrofoam should be tight enough inside the pot to not fall out without glue.

Grab your felt pieces for the sides and the upper band of the cactus pot. Make a line 1/4″ from the top edge of the side piece on the right side. With right sides together hot glue the upper band to the side piece lining up the top edge of the band, to the line drawn on the side.

Make a line 1/4″ from the bottom edge of the band. Fold along this line so that the raw edge is getting folded under the band, and hot glue this edge all the way around the outside of the pot.

Hot glue side and band piece around pot form, making sure to apply an adequate amount of glue near the edges, but not too much where it soaks through the felt. I started gluing the piece to the form starting in the middle and working my way out to the ends. Once reaching the ends, I overlapped my ends and glued in place.

Take your felt circle for the pot’s soil and cut a little X in the center. If you removed the dowel during the previous steps, stick the dowel back through the hole made in the styrofoam. Apply hot glue to the top of the styrofoam, quickly stick the dowel through the X in the felt circle and move circle down to glue soil in place. I used a bodkin to poke the edges of the soil felt in between the paper and styrofoam of the pot form to make it look a little more realistic.

Step 3: Making your Zombie Cactus: Sew brain parts on to both cactus halves, using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Pull your cactus side where the left arm is positioned higher than the right. Remove the paper backing of Heat n’ Bond and iron eye applique pieces in place referencing pattern for placement assistance. Machine sew around eye pieces to reinforce Heat n’ Bond.

Using hand embroidery guide on the pattern, embroider pupils, iris, eyelid, brain stitches, mouth, and teeth.

Place cactus halves right sides together, and sew 1/4″ perimeter seam, leaving bottom/base edge open for turning. Snip up to seam line around curves, cut notches out of the corners of the arms and flip cactus right side out.

Fill arms with Poly-Fil up until the main body of the cactus. Machine sew lines separating the batting filled arms from the body, doing this I found keeps the Poly-Fil more controlled and eliminates weird bulges in the cactus. Fill the body of the cactus with Poly-Fill, be generous, fuller is better than just enough.

Take your cactus and stick the dowel in the pot up through the center of the batting filled cactus. Turn the bottom edge of the cactus up a 1/4″ and slipstitch the cactus’ base to the soil.

Step 4: Finishing Touches: Cut two 1 1/2″ X 2 1/4″ rectangles from your faux fur. Pro tip: cutting fur from the back rather than cutting through the nap makes the process far less messy!

Stagger the fur pieces, placing one on the front right and the second on the back left around the cactus’ base. I folded over the fur edge nearest the pot edge 1/4″, and hot glued the pieces securely to the soil. I very lightly applied spray starch to the fur and teased the fur to stick up.

Take your 3D fabric paint and apply beads of it along the base of the cactus and faux fur, gradually applying less as you get closer to the pot edge. I layered up my fabric paint so it was denser nearest the cactus and fur. Do this technique to both the front and back soil sections. I then applied fabric paint right in the crevice of my pot band and used the foam brush to brush the paint down the sides of the pot to give it that distressed look. Allow fabric paint to dry (I waited about 24 hours).

You’re finished! Yippee! Now you have a zombie cactus friend to take along on all your sewing adventures! Since finishing mine, I’ve found it super convenient to have a stable/stationary pincushion option to have at arm’s reach of my sewing machine to grab a pin or needle at all times.

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Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!