A Valentine Owl Pillow

This year I wanted to do something special for our girls for Valentine's Day.  I've had my eye on some cute owl plushes from Pottery Barn Kids for a while... so they provided the inspiration for this project when I called up my mom and recruited her help to make some Valentine's Day themed owl pillows!  This was such a fun project and only took us about two hours (we each worked on one owl).  Although some basic sewing skills are needed, I am a novice, which means if I can do it, you can too!

SUPPLY LIST:

Items I purchased (for about $12) with plenty left over

• 1 yard of fabric for the body
• 1/4 yard each of two fabrics for embellishments and details
• 1/4 yard of black flannel (or felt)
• batting  

Items I had on hand

•  white and pink felt
• rick rack scraps
• 1/4 yard of Wonder Under Fusible Web interfacing
• scissors
• paper for creating patterns
• sewing machine, thread and pins

TUTORIAL:

1.  Decide what you want your owl to look like.  Then create a pattern for each owl part on a piece of paper, pin to the fabric and start cutting.  Be sure when cutting around your owl parts that you leave a seam allowance for sewing.  Also, you will want to cut two each of the body, feet and wings since they will be sewn together and stuffed.

NOTE: Before cutting, we attached fusible web interfacing to the wrong sides of the fabric for the eyes, nose and other fabric embellishments so that it was easier to machine applique in place.  If you've never used the fusible web interfacing before, refer to the instructions that come with the product.  You can purchase this by the yard at any fabric store.

2.  Once you have everything cut out, start assembling your owl.  Iron on eyes, nose and any embellishments.  Do a machine satin zig-zag stitch around these.

3.  Now you are ready to assemble your owl.  Sew the two pieces of feet fabric together, right sides together, leaving the back of the foot open.  Clip the seams open between the toes, turn right side out and stuff with batting.  Use pencil or sharp object to push out the fabric to give a sharp finish to the toes.  (It also helps if you can recruit an additional helper at this point... I recruited my husband to be our stuffer - smile.)  Set aside.

4.  Sew the leg fabric, right sides together, to create a tube.  Turn fabric to right side out, stuff and set aside.

5.  Sew the feet to the legs by placing one end of the stuffed tube inside the opening of the foot and then sew the opening closed.

6.  If you choose to have a two-part front body, like our example, sew the bottom to the top right sides together.  Open seam and iron flat.  Add and sew around any remaining embellishments (like the hearts in our example).

7.  Now you are ready to sew the owl body.  Pin front to back, right sides together and sew, leaving the bottom of the body open.  Turn right side out.  Be sure to use a pencil or sharp object to push out the fabric in the ears so that you end up with tight points.  Stuff the owl.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step...

8.  Take your legs and place the top of them inside the owl, equally spaced.  Pin both front and back of the opening together and sew closed, leaving very small opening between the legs.  Add more stuffing through this hole until the owl body is stuffed full and firm.  Sew that final opening closed.

  

We're finished!  A fun, inexpensive project... I can't wait to give these to our girls!

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Today I'm linking this project to a Dear Lillie Valentine's Link Party