3/07/2012

Mini Tutorial: Bird Mobile via Spool

I woke up today without internet.  Not how I wanted to start out the day, but it was a blessing in disguise.  I was forced to do other things, and I had a little more time to clean, work on some projects, run a few errands, and spend quality time with the fam.  Now that I have the internet back, I can share with you the bird mobile I made for Owen's room.  I love these little birds.   I first saw the them at Spool, which were used for a mobile as well.  They are really easy to make, and you could use these birds for things other than a mobile as well.



Mini Tutorial for a Bird Mobile

You will need to download Spool's pattern here.


Cut out the pattern. For the main body of the bird, you will need to place it along the fold of your fabric.  I am making two birds in this tutorial.   With the right sides of your fabric facing together, align the tails.  Red arrows in the picture are pointing to the dots on the pattern. This will help you align your patterns, and tell you where you will start and stop sewing.  You will need to maneuver the body over the belly as you are sewing in order to line things up.  Do not sew the tail end shut.


In this photo, I started at the tail end and stitched using a 1/4" seam allowance.  I stopped sewing at the other end of the belly.  Notice how the head of the bird is not attached to the belly side?  Repeat this again on the other side of the belly.
**After you have sewn one side of the belly, you can continue your stitching on the second side by starting at the tail and stitching all the way to the head to complete it, or you can pull it out from your machine, cut the threads, and then sew the head together.


When you have sewn both sides of the belly to the main body, it should look like this.


Here is what it looks like with the head sewn.


Pull your birds right side out, and stuff with poly fill.  I find using a dull end pencil or pen useful in helping push the fibers down, especially in the head area. 


After you have stuffed your birds, you have three options.
1. Sew the tail end shut.
2. Slip stitch (ugh), but recommended if giving as a gift.
3. Fold fabric into the tail and stitch it down.  (ugh)


Yep, this girl took the easy, lazy route because that's how I roll.  And quite honestly, in this particular case, the end result doesn't bother me. 



If you want to make these birds into a mobile, you will need thread or fishing string, a needle, and a thumb tack for each bird.

Place the string of choice through the needle, and thread a small amount on the bird's back.  Pull the threads through, and wrap a few times the ends of the strings around the metal sharp point of the thumb tack.  Push the tack into the ceiling, and voila! you have your very own bird mobile. 




happy stitching!

xx nancy


My quilting book released Sept. 24, 2015 and is on Amazon.  Check it out!


1 comment:

  1. Anonymous3/08/2012

    In your one photo, you put the words "belly love", and my first thought was is Nancy telling us something, and then I looked for a pregnant belly, and then I slapped my forehead and realized we were looking at the bird's bellies. I am such a birth geek.

    ReplyDelete

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