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We have some new spring birds at our house. Not real birds, just colorful fabric ones.
I had thought about selling these back in the day, and realized I am not a business person.
I don’t do well with sewing for a business, and I would rather everyone enjoying making their own.
This is a great project to use up any scraps of fabric you have been collecting. In my case it’s called hoarding. I save everything. Don’t ask why, it’s for making cute little birds and what nots O.K.!
This is a small fraction of my scraps stash. I recently cleaned my craft room and threw a lot of little bits away.
So on to the details…
Supplies:
Scraps of fabric
Sewing machine
Embroidery floss
Needle
Template printed on card stock; label one side A and the other B
(there are two sizes to choose from, both fit on 81/2 x 11 inch paper)
Pen
Stuffing
A good attitude (I have to remind myself of this one)
1. Iron you fabric. Maybe your scraps are all neatly folded, but mine are crumpled in a basket under my desk. Ironing is a must for me.
2. You can either cut your scraps into strips, or piece them together and sew them a little crazy like this.
I used a 1/4 inch seam and stitched my strips together. Stitch together your fabric until you get a piece that is big enough for two of your templates to be cut out.
3. Cut out one 2 x 2 inch square and two strips that are 2 x 3 inches. The square becomes the beak and the other two are little legs.
Fold your 2 x 3 inch strips right sides together length wise and sew closed. Turn them right sides out and iron flat. Fold your square in half to form a triangle and then fold in half again. Iron this flat.
4. Set the template on your beautifully sewn and ironed fabric and trace. BE CAREFUL… You need to flip the template over and cut a body piece for side A and side B. I made one side striped and the other solid just for fun. You really could do them all striped, all solid, or mixed like me. 😉
5. Gather your pieces together and make sure you have two birds pieces going in opposite directions. If you want you can give your birdie eyes. I’ve done them with and without, buttons and embroidered. This bird didn’t get buttons because I wanted the kids to be able to play and not worry about someone eating and choking on a button.
6. After you eye decisions are done, lay your beak and legs on the body like the photo. Next layer your other bird body on top right sides together. Pin you legs and beak in place. I started sewing the bird together just to the right of the legs. Back stitching over the legs and beak is nice, but probably not necessary. I stopped my stitch about an 1 1/2 inches away from the starting point.
7. Flip that baby right side out and iron flat. Fill it with stuffing or batting until she’s pretty fat. Hand stitch the opening closed.
You can recruit young family members to help you make a few more. Maybe not sewing, but definitely stuffing.
In retrospect the orange eye is a little creepy to me. I think it’s because it’s in the middle of the white polk a dot. Oh well.
Now find a nice place to display your new spring birds, or hand them over to some super excited kids.
Enjoy!
Let me know if you have any questions.