Minecraft Creeper Pillow / Cushion

Both my sons enjoy playing Minecraft, so I decided to make them each a quilted Minecraft Creeper Cushion.  As the game uses a very pixelated format the objects lend themselves to being pieced out of smaller squares of fabric.  I started with a screen shot that showed the face of a creeper very clearly and chose to use 2" finished squares, giving a finished face size of 16" and an overall cushion size of 22" square.

This instructable shows how to make a cushion cover using a no-zip method, by skipping the piecing and quilting the method could be used for any fabric.  The addition of borders and how to measure for them is also included.    After following this instructable a student should be able to make a plain or simple pieced cushion cover.  These are ideal as gifts and also great when you cannot find a store bought throw pillow or cushion to match your decor.

Step 1: Requirements

44 mixed mid to light green & grey 2 1/2" squares of fabric
8 black 2 1/2" squares of fabric
12 dark green 2 1/2" squares of fabric
black fabric for border
green fabric for binding

24" (60cm x 60cm) square of quilt batting / wadding
24" (60cm x 60cm) square of muslin (or ugly fabric or leftover fabric, but quilting weight or lighter to minimise bulk)
22" (56cm) pillow form / cushion pad

Scissors
Iron
Ironing board
Sewing thread
Sewing machine
Rotary cutter, mat & ruler (not essential, but these tools make cutting accurate strips & squares much easier & faster)

Step 2: Sew the Cushion Front

Lay out your fabric squares to make the face of the creeper. I used the very dark green squares as part of the eyes/mouth are rather than using all black.  If you have a digital camera take a picture of your layout to help you keep the squares in your chosen pattern as you sew them together.

Sew the squares into rows using a 1/4" seam and press the seams on each row in opposite directions (eg row 1 to the right, row 2 to the left etc). Sew the rows together to make the creeper face which should end up at 16 1/2" square.  Press all the long seams carefully, ensuring you don't end up with fabric tucks at the fold.

Measure across the centre of your creeper's face (should be 16 1/2", but mine was 16 3/8")and cut 2 strips of black fabric this long by 3 1/2" wide. Sew these to the top and bottom of the face and press the seam towards the border.  Now measure across the "height" of your face (should be 22 1/2") including the borders and cut 2 strips of black fabric this long by 3 1/2" wide. Sew these to the sides of the face and again press the seam towards the border.  If your borders are longer than the central measurement across your centre they will end up being wavy.  This would not be a big problem on a small project like this, but on a larger quilt or a wall hanging it would be quite noticeable.

Step 3: Quilt the Cushion Front

Iron your 24" square of muslin (or other fabric) and lay it down on a firm surface, smoothing out any wrinkles.  Lay your batting on top of it and finally place your creeper face centrally on top the batting with the right side uppermost.

Pin your layers securely together so that the layers do not shift while you quilt them.

If you have a walking foot for your sewing machine fit it now and choose a suitable thread for your quilting.  First I used black thread and quilted "in the ditch" around the eyes and mouth and around the border. Then changed to my darning foot, dropped the feed dogs, and did a square spiral in the eyes and the mouth of the the creeper.  Finally, keeping the darning foot fitted, I changed to the variegated green thread, then meander quilted across the mid and light green areas and did a square meander in the black borders

After quilting trim your batting & muslin backing so the edges are even with the edges of the cushion front.

Step 4: Make the Cushion Back

Measure your cushion front - it should be about 22 1/2" square, but may have contracted a bit with the quilting, mine measured up at 22". You now need TWO pieces of fabric for the cushion back, the length each will be the length of the front and the width will be 2/3 of the width, so in this case, 15".

On the wrong side of the fabric draw a line 1" in from one long edge on each piece. Fold the fabric to the line and press along the fold, then fold over again at the line and press again to enclose the raw edge. Sew along the fold to secure the fabric in a 1/4" hem. Repeat for the other piece of cushion back fabric.  I chose to use the green thread for this because it looked more attractive and was easier to see for the photos.

Lay the cushion front right side down and then place the two cushion back pieces so that the hemmed edges overlap each other and the raw edges of the back fabric match the raw edges of the cushion front.  Sew all around the raw edges as close to the edge as you can, this line of stitching will be hidden by the binding, so again I used a contrasting colour to make the pictures clearer.

Step 5: Bind the Cushion Cover

Measure all around the outside of the cushion - the perimeter should measure about 90".  You need to prepare length of binding this long, plus an extra 5" for each corner, i.e. about 110" !

Cut three 2 1/2" strips across the width of your binding fabric and sew them together on the diagonal as shown, then trim off the excess fabric and press in half lengthwise with the raw edges matching.  Apply the binding as shown in step 9 of my Charm Pack Baby Quilt instructable .

Once you have applied the binding you can slip your pillow form / cushion inner into the cover and lean against your creeper!