Tomato Cage Turkey

Hold on!  I know Halloween was 2 weeks ago, but don't put those tomato cages from your ghosts away just yet!  Why, you ask?  How about this...tomato cage turkey!

I came up with this idea this summer but had no idea how to do the feathers.  Thank goodness Hubster is pretty smart.  "Cornstalks on a trellis," he said as I discussed the idea with him in the car one day.  DUH!  Such a great idea!

I slacked on putting this together as it was my daughter's birthday last week, so I had a hard time finding cornstalks.  Someone answered a post of mine on a local Facebook garage sale page.  She had some leftover from her garden that she was willing to give to me!  THANKS!  I picked them up today and as soon as the boys went down for a nap, Sassy and I got to work.

Supplies:
1 tomato cage, upside down
2 yards of brown felt
scraps of white, black, red, and orange felt (I had leftover sheets from the craft section at Joanns)
Hot glue gun and glue
Wooden trellis (mine is 6 ft tall)
Zip ties
Cornstalks
Scissors
Flexible measuring tape

Directions:

We are going to create a slip cover for our tomato cage.  After this, you'll have the measurements needed to make all sorts of slip covers for your tomato cage!

1.  Measure around the bottom and top of your tomato cage to get the circumference.  Mine was 51" at the base and 20" at the top, around.  Then measure the height.  Mine was 42" tall.  I then divided my base and top by 4 and added 1" for seam allowance.
Bottom:  51/4= 12.75+1" seam allowance = 14 inches (I rounded up)
Top: 20/4= 5 + 1" seam allowance = 6 inches
I divided by 4 because I am cutting the felt for the body in two halves on a fold.

2.  Lay out your fabric and fold the long way.  So you'll be cutting 2 body pieces at once.  I marked on the bottom edge 14" from the fold.  Then I measured up the folded edge the height of the body, which was 42".  Then at the top, I measured and marked out 6 inches from the fold.  Then, with a white crayon, I connected my dots to create the outline to cut.

3.  Cut and unfold!  I kept my right sides on the inside.  Once cut, I moved it closer to my hot glue gun.

4.  Glue!  I kept the pieces of felt together and glued one side at a time.  I started at the top in the middle.  Peel back a bit of the top fabric, place glue about 1/4" from the edge of the bottom fabric (which will be placed on the 'right side'), and carefully place top piece back down, pressing down to adhere the glue.  I worked in about 10" sections.  BUT DON'T GLUE TO BOTTOM EDGE!  We are creating a slipcover to fit over the tomato cage, so leave the bottom open.

5.  While the glue cooled, Sassy and I worked on cutting out the eyes, beak, wattle (the red thing that hangs from their neck), and feet.

6.  Carefully turn the slipcover right side out and fit over tomato cage.  With the hot glue gun, carefully glue on eyes, wattle, beak, and feet.

7.  Gather cornstalks, trellis, zip ties, and scissors.  (I did mine in the garage.)  Lay the trellis down and then evenly divide your cornstalks.  I had 4 vertical sections on the trellis so I divided my stalks into 4 sections.  Then I took one section, bunched it up near the middle, and zip tied it to one of the vertical pieces on the trellis.  I did this to all for sections.  I had a few small pieces that didn't fit with the original bunches, so I filled in the bare spots and put the zip ties where they were needed.  Stand it up and shake it around a bit.  If needed, place a few more zip ties.  

8.  Assembly time!  Sassy and I put the trellis and stalks up against the house on the front step.  Then we placed the tomato cage turkey body right in front.  Voila!  The front step is ready for Thanksgiving!

I wish I had more cornstalks to fill thus in with. But, I'm happy with what I have since they were free!

Miss Sassy was very happy to help!

-Lynsee