Calling all sewers (wait that sounded wrong)... Calling all Sew-rrrrrrrs. Hows that? I am finally ready to do a beta release of my bird pattern. I think she's still got a ways to go - but we gotta start somewhere right!?!
This is the first sewing pattern I have ever made and I need your help to work out the kinks. A few things to remember. 1) I am a novice sew-rrrrrr. 2) I barely know what I am doing. 3) Did I mention that I am a novice and that I barely know what I am doing? Ok good. I think that gets me at least one get out of "Singer Jail" free card (or is that a get out of "Husqvarna Viking Jail" free card.. ooooh I would never want to leave that jail.. as long as they have those $8,000 sewing machines - they can lock me up and toss away the key!).
I have seen loads and loads of birdies out there. I love birdies and wanted to make my very own pattern so I could make a glutton of stuffed birds to sprinkle all over the place (wait till I show you my crochet carrots collection.. another fancy I took up a few years ago!!!). Now THAT was fun. I was on the prowl for orange yarn for a solid year.. I have lots of crochet carrots. Lots I tell you.
I think she's pretty easy to get together. There are 2 body pieces, 1 belly piece and optional wings. When you cut out her body make sure you have two pieces of fabric stacked one on top of the other - with the same sides facing each other (does that make ANY sense???). Do this before you start tracing the pattern cause if you cut them out separately with the fabric facing in different directions you will get two pieces that will not go together. I cannot think of a better way to describe this. Can anyone help me here? heck.. does anyone out there have any idea what I am talking about...? Hello? Anyone out there?
You have to take her belly piece and basically fold it in half. Then face her right sides together and flip up her belly area (see the pic - I tried to get a shot of what this looks like). You will pin her belly piece to each side and then sew down one side and then down the other (I'll post a pic of this once I have more daylight - it's cloudy potatoes today). Make sure you leave a little hole in her rear for stuffing (I'll refrain from saying anything crass here - butt... oh never mind).
Once I have her all sewn together I stuff her and then attach wings and eyes. Leave a small opening in her rear (oh man. must. not. comment.)... and it's really difficult to get anything up there (putting a needle through that hole and trying to sew anything through it is pure torture - as you can imagine). I guess I **could** attach them before I sew her all together.. my my...now we are thinking Lolly!
One more thing. you are going to want to put a weight in her backside too. I use a smooth stone (nothing fancy at all - it's about as big around as a quarter). This helps keep her tail down.
If you want to see other birds I have created using this pattern you can see them HERE.
Also, I want to try a little experiment with ole Wendy. I have created a LollyChops - Wendy the Bird Flickr group that anyone can join. You can post your Wendy pics for all the world to see! Again.. this is a first for me - so if you cannot upload pics or if you have any problems with this group, please let me know! I hope someone out there tries to make a Wendy and posts a pic (and I hope it's not a complete disaster). That would be sad.
Sew... My "Wendy the Bird" free beta pattern can be downloaded HERE (PDF format).
Happy sewing!
P.S. It's still not too late to enter this week's giveaway! You can read all about it HERE.
