Easy Owl (From Recycled Sweaters)

Who...Who....an owl from old sweaters, that's WHO!

You will need: pins, scissors, sewing machine, felt, 2 - 3 old sweaters, old  flat pillows, paper for pattern, pen, needle, thread.

Using an old grocery bag, I cut out the shape of an owl. To get the shape even, fold the paper in half and then cut. I've shown the dimensions on a standard grid.

Cut:
2 Bodies & one bust (Body minus the head - This is only if you want the front to look different)
2 Eye liners (Any shape you wish...make your owl special)
2 eyes
4 feet
2 wings
1 beak

If you are using a stretchy/velvety material, you will need to make 2 additional bodies out of something like an old dress shirt, or pillow case to sew the stretchy material to. This keeps it from moving while you sew.

Pin patterns to your non-stretchy material first, then to your sweater material. (Hint: the velvet-type material likes to move, so pin the living daylights out of it before you cut, or sew.)
You can see I've already cut out the liners, then pinned them to my sweaters.

To make the bust, I pinned the liner to the sweater, but left the head free.

For my eye liners, I went ahead and used felt. (The sweater material wanted to move too much.)

My picture of the beak & feet didn't come out, but you will see them in another step. I used dark felt for the beak, feet, & eyes.

1.Sew the liner to the sweater material, wrong-sides together. Do this for the front and back pieces.

2. On the front piece, sew the bust to the front of the owl, using a small zig-zag-stitch. (You don't have to make a bust, I just wanted to use a different pattern from the sweater.)

3. Sew around the beak using a zig-zag stitch.

4. Sew around the eyes, using a straight, or small zig-zag stitch.

5. Next, sew the eye-liners, making sure to sew the inner part only. The rest should be left free so the owl has some character.

6. Sew the wings over the bust, using the zig-zag-stitch.

7. Sew the feet, wrong-sides together, using a small zig-zag stitch with a contrasting thread.
Stuff the feet with just a little bit of stuffing from an old pillow. Sew the feet to the front piece.

8. In the last picture, you can see the right-side of the front and back pieces.

Before you sew the body pieces together, pin the eye liners as far as you can to the middle of the bird. You want to make sure the liners don't get caught as you sew around the edges.

Face pieces right-side together, pin, and sew around the edges, leaving the bottom open.

Place the feet inside the bird, pin to the edges, then sew just to the middle of each foot. The area between each foot should be open.

Remember, you pinned the eye liners to the face, and you don't want to poke yourself with a pin...like I did....many times......ow(l).

Remove the pins from the edges, turn right-side out, and remove the pins from the owl's face.

I had some old, decorative pillows that were very flat, so I cut them open, fluffed the stuffing, and put it in my owl. (I also used the material from those same pillows as the liner for my owl.)

Take ahold of the stuffing, and start pulling little bits away from it, like you would as if you were pulling a piece of cotton candy from a stick. Keep doing this, and the stuffing will fluff back up.

Stuff the owl nice, and tight.

After you finish stuffing, thread your needle and tightly sew the section between the two feet together.

Push down on the bottom to make it sit up.

Sorry the picture is too bright. This is the bottom of the owl, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

Name your owl, and give it a place to sit. Have fun!