HOW TO MYOC (Make Your Own Cactus)

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Mini Terracotta Pot, Green Felt, Seed Beads, Polyfil Stuffing, Scissors, Sewing Needle, Green Sewing Thread, Craft Glue,Thin Cardboard

1 Make a template from the cardboard.  You want it to be a little wider than the pot, so your cactus ends up nice and squishy.  For example, if your pot measures 1 1/2" in diameter then cut the cardboard rectangle 2" wide and approximately 2 3/4" tall.  Then cut the top two corners off on a curve to complete the template shape.  Use the template to cut four pieces from your green felt

2  Divide up the pieces into two pairs, one pieces on top of the other.

3 Take one pair of pieces--you are going to whip stitch the pieces together all around the long edge (not the bottom straight edge).  Thread your needle with green thread and knot the end.  You can hide the knot by beginning your first stitch from the inside of one piece of felt moving outwards, and tucking the knot inside. 

Sew about 1/2" along (this part will be hidden inside the pot). Now continue with the whip stitch but every other stitch or so pick up a seed bead on your needle--the thread will pull it snug to the edges of your felt to make a tiny, colorful 'spine'.

4  Continue with the whip stitch an beads all the way around the outer edge of the shape until your reach about 1/2" from the bottom edge.  Continue in plain whip stitch with out beads to the end.  Fasten.

Repeat Steps 3 and 4 with the other pair of felt pieces.

5  Stack one cactus piece on top of the other.  Pin them together with a line of pins up the center, or your could draw a line with pencil or erasable pen to make sure you keep it straight.  Stitch alone the line then tease out the shape--you should now have a 3D cactus shape, with four vertical 'tubes'

6  Stuff the four tubes.  It helps to tear the stuffing into small pieces and poke each one into place with a pencil, knitting needle or the like.  Make sure your cactus is firm and plump--it helps to have a little less stuffing around the bottom of the cactus so it tapers when you put it in the pot.

7 Add a line of glue around the inside of your pot and stuff the cactus inside, pressing it against the glue.  Wait for it to dry.  You did it...you Made Your Own Cactus!

This tutorial was taken from Mollie Makes magazine issue 56, tutorial written by Katie Allen