Birds of a Feather

Last week, a winter cold reduced me to napping and watching daytime television. To keep busy and to get in the holiday mood, I made some felt ornaments. Here is how you can make some festive decoctions of your own:

To make your own holiday bird ornaments you will need:

* Squares of felt in assorted colors

* Seed beads for the bird's eyes

* Embroidery floss in a range of colors ( I used 3 strands of the floss)

* Sewing needles and straight pins

* Scissors

Fluffy, brightly colored feathers

* Bristol board to mount your templates

* Glue

* Permeant marker

* Cotton swabs for stuffing the little birds

* Christmas ornament hangers

As my husband demonstrates, trace each template onto the wrong side of your felt.

Instructions:

1. Print your template from the book and mount it on Bristol board using a glue stick or craft glue.

2. Cut out your wing and bird body templates with scissors. 

3. Take the bird body template and trace its outline with a permanent marker on the wrong side of your felt. Flip the templates over and trace the reverse side to create the other side of the bird. 

4. Cut out the two sides of the bird.

5. Follow the same procedure to create the wings. 

6. Turn the felt to the right side and attach the wing with a straight pin.

7. Using a running stitch, sew on the bird's wings. Follow the same procedure for the opposite side of the bird.

8. Sew a seed bead on each side of the body to create the bird's eyes.

9. Put the completed wrong sides of the bird together and fasten them hold them in place with a straight pin.
10. Sew three-quaters of the way around the exterior of the two bird body pieces using a basic blanket stitch.

11. Pause three quarters of the way around in sewing the two pieces of the body together to stuff the bird with cotton swabs. Once the bird is stuffed, sew it closed.

12. Poke feathers in between the blanket stitch seam to create the tail feathers. Insert a single small feather into the seam on the head to create a plume.

13. Catch an ornament hook into the blanket stitch to hang your bird. 

More Information and Links:

You can find the bird template along with many other fun felt project ideas in the book Fa La La La Felt by Amanda Carestio.