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28 October, 2014

An Artful Owl

Spring has well and truly sprung here in New Zealand. Hip hip hooray. I have been wanting to make the owl pattern from Abby Glassenberg's The Artful Bird since I first got hold of the book a few years ago. Things take time to percolate in my world :)

The wren was my first attempt. Abby recommends starting with this pattern, to get some practice with the techniques. I was really hanging out to make the owl. The owl looks a little more complicated (due to the feathers) but actually that turned out to be quite straightforward. I struggled a lot with getting the body to piece together correctly... I just couldn't get my head around it for some reason. There was a lot of swearing and unpicking at one stage, but once I figured it out it seemed so straightforward! I had a lot of fun with the embellishments, sewing the eyes and the feathers together, putting the ears on. Giving the bird its character is the best part.

I've been watching the birds around our house recently, and I'm thinking about trying a couple of NZ natives. Maybe a wood pigeon or a tui. For the tail I used an old skirt that I bought in Sydney at Glebe Markets years ago, that I just couldn't bear to part with but was long past wearing. And the feathers were the remnants of a peplum shirt I made a while ago, with a kind of painterly design that I love. Re-using these adds another layer of meaning when I look at this owl now, bringing back fond memories. Sometimes as I'm drifting off to sleep I recall old fabric patterns from my childhood that seem to have made a lasting impression on me. I wonder if anyone else does that.

1 comment:

  1. Omigosh, this is the cutest owl ever!
    I love how the unfinished edges give it this wonderfully quirky look.
    xoxox

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