Alison J Reid - Stitch 50 Birds: Easy sewing patterns for felt feathered friends

Easy sewing patternsfor felt feathered friends

Alison J Reid

www.davidandcharles.com

I dedicate this book to hand sewists everywhere. May you have lots of fun creating theselittle characters.

When I was in primary school, a teacher told my class that If all the birds in the world died, man would not exist withina year.

The thinking behind this was to do with the fact that birds wouldnt be around to eat the insects, which would mean that the insects would eat all of our crops. He went on to say that this made birds incredibly important in the preservation of the balance of nature. Now thats a pretty powerful statement to make to a class often-year-oldsand probably the reason why it has stuck in my mind ever since. At the time, I remember my teacher reading this information from a little tiny book that had a lovely drawing of a bird on the cover. A few years ago, I started to research this statement; it took me a little while, but eventually, I discovered the book my teacher had used, and I was lucky to be able to purchase a 1979 edition. The book was calledSpotting Birdsby Jaroslav Spirhazl Duriand Edmund Burke illustrated by Jan Solovjev. So naturally, I was really excited to put this book together. Initially, I gave lots of thought to the birds I chose and how I would replicate their feathers and beautiful markings. I have used a bright, colourful felt palette and have incorporated many mark-making stitches using embroidery thread. It has been a real pleasure to research each of the chosen birds, sketch them, create the individual patterns, select the colours and bring them to life using a few basic materials and somehand-sewingstitches. I hope you have as much fun making these birds as I did.

You can resize the templates as you wish, just download printable versions from:

www.davidandcharles.com

FEATHER YOUR NEST!

Once your birds are stitched, transform them into gifts and accessories that will make you as proud as a peacock.

A great way to show off your birds is to make a cute home using a bird box. Bird boxes are available in all shapes and sizes, as well as a huge assortment of colours. You can find them in garden centres and gift shops.

A florist wreath would provide the perfect backdrop to display a number of birds. There are many different styles to choose from, including those made from twigs.

Make a great gift for a friend by making bird bunting. You could use this as decoration for a birthday party as well as being a cherished gift.

Jazz up your living room by bringing the birdies indoors. Collect some ornate twigs in your local park to make a decorative centrepiece.

Want to make bigger birds? Simply enlarge the templates on a photocopier or scanner and then make bigger birds in exactly the same way as you would create their mini-me.

Have fun, and dont forget to share photos of your birds online. Use the hashtag#stitch50birdsand tag@dandcbooks, and we can all enjoy our crafted birds. I look forward to seeing them!

The beauty of these little birds is how simple they are to create, using very little in the way of tools and materials. The basic items you will need are covered below.

Brads (or split pins) come in a variety of sizes and colours. I have used them as eyes, making a hole in the felt to allow for insertion.

LIGHT BULB MOMENT

Coloured brads can be expensive, so I improvised with brass brads, painting them with black nail polish.

I chose a mixture of wool and acrylic felt to make the birds in this book. I like the way the fibres hold together well and its lovely to sew. There are so many colours available on the market today. I have named the colours needed on each template, indicating the relative tones. As long as you achieve a range of tones you will create the desired effect. There are now lots of mottled feltsavailable too.

I used basic 120s polyester thread as its strong and easy to handle. Its readily available in stores and online and is perfect for hand sewing. Ive used colours that dont match exactly for aquirky finish.

With fifty birds to make, I used a big bag of supersoft polyester stuffing. If you are only making a few birds, you could use cotton wool balls or recycle stuffing from an oldcushion.

Roving is fleece that has been cleaned, dyed and combed. I have used sheeps wool roving to add a bit of detail and texture instead of using feathers.

Embroidery thread comes in a wide variety of different colours. In this book, I have usedsix-strandedcotton embroidery thread to sew the details on the birds. Cotton thread also gives a lovely shiny lustre to your projects due to the mercerization process.

Eyelash yarn is a novelty yarn made from a chain of knitting that has long strands of evenly spaced thread along the chain. It comes in a variety of colours, and I have used it as a substitute for feathers to add details to the birds. I used a small amount of glue to hold in place before sewing.