DIY Plush Owl

I looked long and hard for a stuffed owl for baby Gavin, and I just couldn't find one that I was happy with.  One that matched his room and was soft for babies.  Once again, my sewing machine saved the day!  (I should note that I made this owl the night before Gavin was born, not since he was born.  I suppose it was one last nesting push.....nesting.....get it?!)  I thought since I had made the quilt already, I might as well use some of the leftover fabric from that (and some additional fabric) to make a patchwork style owl that matched.  I didn't use a pattern or anything, I just knew what I wanted and drew out a basic pattern for myself.  Here's what I did:

I drew the size owl that I wanted, then I added 1 1/2 inches to that to account for a seam allowance and some thickness when I added the stuffing.  I did half of the owl and folded over the fabric, to make sure he was symmetrical. 

  

I folded over the fabric and pinned on my pattern, then cut.

 

Here he is all cut out

 

Then I did the same for the front side.  (I had already started cutting when I snapped this pic) 

 

Then I made the wings (again, adding a 1/2 inch seam allowance)  I cut two front wings and 2 back wings, out of the fluffy white fabric I used for the back of the owl.  

For the eyes, at first I used at Starbucks cup as a pattern, but I thought it was too small.

So I switched to a canning jar lid and liked that size better.

For the inside of the eyes, I found this coordinating fabric and picked one of the circles and just cut it out. 

For his tummy, I made another little pattern.

Then I laid everything out to make sure I liked the way it looked before taking it to the sewing machine. 

 

Then I took all of the pieces that were part of the face, and would have an edge showing, and used this fray check (with a special applicator tip) and applied it to all of the edges.  It only took a few minutes and beat the heck out of giving all of those round pieces hems.  

Now for the sewing.  The first thing I did was sew the wings together.  I just did front side to front side and sewed the edges together.  I didn't sew the seam that attached to the owl, no need.  I didn't stuff these, I wanted them to be floppy.

Then I started on the face.  His little nose is tucked under the eyes, so I started with that first, making sure to get it as centered as possible.  This was the only time I changed the thread from brown for this project.  I wanted the orange to stand out for the beak so I used orange thread.  I also used a zig-zag stitch, set on a medium width and sewed the edges down. 

Then I did the first layer of the eyes, followed by the top layer of eyes.....

And finally the belly.

It was at this point I decided to pass on the button eyes (that were in the picture where I laid everything out above).  They were really cute, but I didn't want to have to worry about baby pulling them off and choking on them.  They were perfect size for little hands to grab, and I thought that the pattern lent itself to looking like a pupil anyway.  If it weren't for a baby, I'd probably consider adding them.  

This is probably the most complicated step (and it's really not that complicated).  Attaching the front to the back, and the wings.  I put the wings on the outside layer (the "good" side) of the back side and lined them up where I wanted them and then put the face on (with the outside in.....good sides together).  Pin it like crazy.  Then I sewed a 1/2 inch seam around everything, leaving a small area at the bottom for me to fit my hand in and stuff him.

Then turned him right side out. 

And stuffed him until I was happy with how fluffy he was...

Then used a needle and thread to and sew the bottom shut, making sure to fold the edges in, so I don't have any edges showing.

Easy peasy!  Serious, the whole thing took less than an hour.  I am so inspired by how easy this project was I might even make a whole bird family!