2 pieces of felt in two colours, each measuring 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
- Embroidery floss in desired colour
- 1 packet of small beads
- Stuffing (scrap wool, polyester
stuffing, or other)
- A good pair of scissors
What You Do
1 Print and cut out the template attached to this post, and arrange them on the felt, making good use of space so you are able to cut all the pieces you need. You may find it handy to trace around the edges of the template, as a guide to follow while cutting out the pieces. You’ll need two body shapes and two wing shapes for each bird on your garland.
Cut three or five birds from each colour.
2 Organize your birds, putting two body pieces, two wings, and two buttons or three gems together into groups, alternating the color of the bird body and the wing color. You’ll be decorating all of the pieces before you begin to assemble the garland.
3 Place a wing shape on a body shape. With three strands of embroidery floss, stitch the wing on using your desired stitch. Arrange the wing to look the same on either colour of each bird.
4 Repeat this process for the remaining birds, creating six or ten pairs of bird pieces.
5 Sew one pair of matching bird pieces together with a length of three-strand embroidery floss that is roughly 30 inches (76.2 cm) long. Starting at the bottom center of the belly, use a blanket stitch to stitch around to the center top of the bird. Stop sewing when your bird hangs level when dangled from the remaining floss. Before going forward, stuff the tail of the bird while it’s still accessible.
6 Tie a 3-inch-long (7.6 cm) loop at the top of your hemp, jute, or ribbon, and knot it securely. Tie a knot roughly
3/
4 inch (1.9 cm) down from the top knot. These knots will be secured inside the bird and will hold each bird in place on the garland.
7 Slide the half-sewn bird over the knot on the garland and sew over it, encasing it inside the
stitching. Continue sewing around the bird until there is a
3/
4-inch (1.9 cm) opening left, and finish stuffing the bird.
Tip: If you’re using narrow ribbon, be sure to make a large enough knot so it doesn’t slip through
the stitch.
8 Finish sewing the bird, concealing the bottom knot inside the stitching. Tie a knot in your embroidery floss and hide it to finish.
9 The remainder of the string, jute, or ribbon will be hanging down from the bottom of the bird. Tie two more knots below the first bird—one 1 inch
(2.5 cm) down and one 1
3/
4 inches (4.4 cm) down from the belly—and continue sewing birds to the garland. Repeat the process until all the birds are sewn to the string. When you reach the last bird, trim the bottom knot so that it doesn’t protrude from the bird.
Variation Idea:
These little birdies also make darling ornaments if you’d rather not string them all in a row. Simply add a hanging loop at the top of each bird.
Photo by Lisa Jordan
