The Sewing Bee~ Birds of a Feather mobile tutorial...

In celebration of my return to Blogger and my return to writing in a space in general, I am sharing the promised pattern and tutorial for my bird of a feather mobile.

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Every Thursday…
Take pictures and write a post on your blog (linking HERE to the Sewing Bee) of what it is that you are currently working on in your sewing space… whether it be hand or machine stitching.
Like minded chicas…the sharing of patterns and progress of sewing.
To inspire ourselves to keep stitching.
What could be better than that?

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Leave a link below in the comments to share your project with the rest of us!

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Supplies:

~ A few fat quarters in desired prints, either cotton or linen

~ Embroidery floss

~ Stuffing

~ A branch

~ Ribbon

~ yarn

Directions:

Print the image below on a 8x11 piece of paper.  You can enlarge or shrink it as much as you wish.  My patterns for the template "C" was 5 inches from left to right as shown below for reference.

A and B are the bird's body pieces.

C is the underbelly.

The little leaf looking piece is the tail feather and the wing feather template.

You will stitch the pieces together according to the colors as shown using a very tight stitch using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Blue stitched to blue.

Green to green.

Purple to purple.

You will have about 1 inch of tail fabric left of either side of the body that is not stitched together.  This is the fabric that will encase the tail feathers.

Turn the bird inside out at the backside.

Stuff the bird from the backside that you turned it inside out from.  Make sure that it is fairly plump and that there are no openings in the stitches.

To make the tail feathers you will add an inch to one end of the leaf template in a straight line to allow for the feathers to be encased in the body.

I like to use different fabrics and layer them to make the tails, but you can do whatever you like.

 Tuck your stack of fanned out feathers into the tail opening of the bird.

To secure the feathers into place you will tie and wrap a piece of embroidery floss TIGHTLY around the tail at the base of the body as shown.

Cut out the wing feathers and fan them out in a desired pattern, then hand stitch them onto either side of the bird's body.

There are many variations on patterns for the wings.  Each little bird seems to take on a personality.

To make the mouth, you will cut out a tiny square of yellow fabric.  Turn the square sideways and then stitch it across the center line onto the front of the face.

 It will naturally bend at the center to form a mouth.

 Sew a piece of yarn through a spot on the center of the back of each of the birds and then attach the other end of the yarn to a spot on one twigs of the branch.

 Cut a length of wide ribbon.

 Attach it to either end of the branch and make a bow.

Make sure that each of the birds is hanging level and that they are not tipping too far in any direction.

Double check the knots of all of the threads and ribbons for safety sake of the baby.

 You can either hang this mobile over a baby's crib, by a window, or use it as a wall hanging.

There you have it.

Even though this mobile may take a bit to construct, it is well worth the effort, it is really sweet to see them flying in the sky under their little canopy of branches.

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Now, please share with me what you are working on below in the comments with a link…  I am going to attempt to keep a list of participants in a link on my sidebar and update it weekly starting in the next week or so.
Oh Yea, and there is a Flickr Group too!
AND! Take a button if you like.
Just copy and paste an image from below onto your side bar or into your post.  (The link is already linked in the image.)   

THESE images for the buttons have been updated with links to the new space.
 

Thanks again for following me to my new space yet again, I promise it's the last one.

(I think)

Lots of love, Julia