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Free Felt Bird Pattern – Meet Petal

June 13, 2014

Brighten up your world a bit with Petal – a free felt bird pattern.

Isn’t she pretty?

She looks complicated – but she’s really not hard to make. It’s all hand embroidery and hand sewing, so it’s not fast. But this is a project that takes more patience than skill. Expect to spend a couple of evenings on her. Or him. I guess in real life it’s the boy birds who are all fancy – but I thought the finished one looked like a gentle girl named Petal. 🙂

It uses just a few of the most basic embroidery stitches and simple whipstitch to put all the pieces together.

This project uses one half sheet of lovely wool felt (I used banana cream) plus a tiny scrap of contrasting color for the beak (I used mac & cheese) and some colorful embroidery thread. I also use The Magical Embroidery Stuff to mark all that pretty embroidery. It makes things sooooooo easy!

Ready to make her? Here’s how!

Step 1

Download the pattern pieces and print or trace it onto a sheet of Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy.

You can print all the pieces needed for two birds on a single page, so that’s how it’s laid out. Save the other pieces to make a matching bird for a lucky friend. 🙂

Step 2

Roughly cut out the pattern pieces and stick them to the felt.

Embroider right through the stabilizer. I used 2 strands of embroidery thread for all stitching. These are the stitches and thread colors I used – but you can use any colors you like! (The links all go to video tutorials showing how to do the stitches.)

Eyes - backstitch with DMC #3371
Wings - chain stitch with DMC #703
Belly - backstitch with DMC #3846, French knots with DMC #601
Neck - backstitch with DMC # 3846, French knots with DMC #703
Body - lazy daisy with DMC #601, stars with DMC #703, and French knots with DMC #3846

Step 3

Cut out all the pieces.

Cut them right on the solid lines – no need to add seam allowance.

Step 4

Soak off the stabilizer in cold water. Let it soak for at least 15 minutes (I often leave mine soaking for an hour or more) then rinse it off under cold running water. Use a sprayer to remove any stubborn bits, but do not rub the felt.

Lay the pieces flat on a towel to dry. Do not wring, twist or even smoosh them. Just let them dry flat.

Step 5

Time to start putting it all together! Use 2 strands of matching embroidery thread to whipstitch all the pieces together.

Sew one embroidered wing to one “naked” wing, all the way around the edge. Repeat for the second wing.

Step 6

Sew the belly to one side of the bird.

Start sewing at the tail of the bird, matching it to the wider end of the belly piece, and sew all the way to the top of the belly piece.

Step 7

Sew the other side of the belly to the other body piece. Start again down at the tail and sew all the way up to the top, but this time keep going past the belly, sewing the two sides of the face together.

Slip the beak between the layers of the face and keep stitching. Instead of whipstitching up and over the edges of the felt, stitch through the beak.

Step 8

Continue sewing up over the top of the head and down the back.

Stop when there are a few inches left open, but leave your thread tail hanging.

Step 9

Start adding small bits of stuffing to the head and working your way down the body.

When you get to the tail, slip in a couple of pennies or other weights to keep her from tipping forward. I used two American pennies in mine. If you want her standing up even straighter (like Flora) use three pennies.

Step 10

Add a bit more stuffing to the tail and finish sewing her up.

Step 11

Pin the wings in place, one on each side of the body.

Use the flowers as a guide to line them up exactly. Thread a long needle with a long piece of thread. Start sewing underneath one wing, near the top, leaving about 6 inches of thread hanging. Sew through the body and out the other side, through the opposing wing. Take a small stitch back into the wing, through the body and out through the first wing. Stitch back and forth like this a few times to secure the wings. Don’t pull the thread too tight or you’ll distort the shape of her body. Knot your thread underneath one wing and bury the tails.

There’s a video showing how to do this here - just leave off the buttons.

Finished!

No make another in a different color. 🙂

Happy stitching!

If you like this free pattern, sign up for my weekly newsletter so you never miss a new one!

Best,
Wendi

PS – Do you like birds? Me too! Here are just a few of my other bird patterns!

You can find all of them (and lots more, too!) here.

Block 5 in the Controlled Chaos Scrappy Quilt-Along

June 10, 2014

Here’s block five in the Controlled Chaos scrappy quilt. I still had lots of purple scraps out from last week, and I love purple and green together so I went with that pairing. I love it!

I know I say that every time – but I really love how this quilt is coming together.

Here’s how the blocks look so far. . .

Controlled Chaos five blocks with no sashing

Barely controlled chaos. I like it!

I love the way the blocks blend together with no sashing. It’s hard to tell where one stops and the next starts and I really like the unruliness of it. One quilter who’s playing along mentioned that she might put sashing between her blocks – so I thought I’d share that version of the mock-up here too. . .

Controlled Chaos five blocks with sashing

This chaos is definitely more controlled. I like it too!

I think both versions look terrific. How much chaos are you comfortable with? 🙂

Ready to make block #5?

What You’ll Need

49 two-inch squares in color A (shown in purple)
51 two-inch squares in color B (shown in green)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below and sew them together into rows.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Sew the rows together to make the finished block.

Here’s the exploded view. . .

I have to be away from my studio all next week, so we’ll be taking a week off of Controlled Chaos. But check in tomorrow for a new video! This one shows how I match seams to sew the blocks together when I’ve pressed the seams open.

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Controlled Chaos Quilt Block #4

June 4, 2014

Block #4 is finished for the Controlled Chaos quilt!

I realized all my blocks so far included blue – so this time I grabbed some purple and orange. I’m loving how they look together!

So far. . .

Speaking of how they look together, here’s a quick mock-up of the first four blocks. . .

Love!

I’m so happy with how this is coming together!

Ready to make block #4?

What You’ll Need

70 two-inch squares in color A (shown in purple)
30 two-inch squares in color B (shown in orange)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below and sew them together into rows.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Sew the rows together to make the finished block.

Here’s the exploded view. . .

A Word About Randomness

It’s really HARD to be random when you’re sewing blocks together. The inclination is always to put two fabrics together that look good together, but if you do that you’ll have two things happen. . .

It will take longer to make your quilt because you’re making decisions with every single square.
You’ll tend to put the same fabrics together over and over again and a pattern will emerge. It’ll be a subtle pattern, but your scrappy quilt will look just a little less scrappy.

Some people throw all their blocks in a paper bag and draw them out without looking. I like the idea of that, but it makes my squares wrinkly and that bugs me.

Instead, I lay out one stack of squares for each fabric. I just stack them up near my sewing machine as I cut them, and I don’t go for any kind of order. Then when I sew, I just take them in order, regardless of what comes up together.

Did you see the video yet about chain piecing? Even if you already know what chain piecing is, take a look. I show my randomness method at the beginning of the video.

Block #5 coming next week! I don’t have any yellow or green yet, so I’ll definitely be using one of those colors.

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

If you’re stitching along – please send photos of any finished blocks! I’ll include them in future posts. You can email them to me at blockhead[at]wendigratz[dot]com.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Controlled Chaos: Scrappy Quilt-Along #2

May 21, 2014

I’m so glad that some of you will be joining me in this scrappy quilt-along!

Here’s block #2. This time I used orange and mostly turquoise-ish blues.

I really like how it turned out!

And here’s a quick mock-up of what it will look like if it ends up next to block #1 in the final quilt.

I like the way the horizontal blue stripes of the first block kind of feed into the blue border of the new block.

What You’ll Need

40 two-inch squares in color A (shown in blue)
60 two-inch squares in color B (shown in orange)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below and sew them together into rows.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Sew the rows together to make the finished block.

Here’s the exploded view. . .

I’m really happy with the contrast in this one. 🙂

I’ve had a couple of questions about my process on this. . .

What’s the best way to cut squares from scraps?
Is there a tricky way to sew all the blocks together?
Is there a special way to make the seams line up just right?

I’m working on a short series of videos to answer these questions and hope to have the first one ready to post next week. Keep any questions coming and I’ll do my best to answer them as we go. 🙂

Block #3 coming next week! Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

If you’re stitching along – please post photos of any finished blocks. We love to see!

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Controlled Chaos Scrap Quilt Along #1

May 14, 2014

Raise your hand if you’d like to empty your scrap bins and make a pretty spectacular quilt along the way!

*hand raised and waving around madly*

I’m making a scrap quilt and I’d love for you to join me!

I had originally thought about just cutting all my tiniest scraps into two inch blocks and then sewing them together completely at random. That would be fun – in a way – but the call of pattern is too hard for me to resist.

Plus I know that that is one HUGE project and it will feel like a smaller project if I can have lots of “finished” bits along the way.

So then I decided to do a bunch of 10 x 10 square blocks, each one using only two colors.

I’m calling it Controlled Chaos. 🙂

This is going to be a regular series (that will help me actually finish it) with a goal of one block a week. We can make one block a week, right?

I’d love for any of you with overflowing scrap bins to join in!

Here’s Block #1. Simple. Classic. Stripes made out of itty bitty scrappy squares.

What you’ll need

50 two-inch squares of color A
50 two-inch squares of color B

Instructions

Use 1/4 inch seam allowance for all sewing.

Choose one color and sew 10 blocks together into a strip. Repeat until you have 5 strips of each color.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Sew the strips together, alternating colors.

Here’s the exploded view.

I think this block would have been more successful if I had tightened up the colors a bit more. I think the reds are good – they’re all red or very dark pink. But there’s a bit too much variety in the blues. I wish I had made them all dark blue or all light blue. It’s ok here because there is so much contrast between the red and the blue that it still clearly reads as stripes (and no way am I taking them apart) but it’s something I’ll keep in mind going forward.

Block #2 coming next week! Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Flutterby – a free butterfly embroidery pattern

May 13, 2014

free butterfly embroidery pattern from Shiny Happy World

Want to learn how to embroider with an easy online workshop – totally free?

Sign up for Embroidery 101 here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, and all the stitches you’ll need to embroider just about any design.

It’s a fun, inexpensive, and totally portable craft. You can do it!

When my daughter Jo was little, I made her a yellow dress lined with pink satin, embroidered with a butterfly almost exactly like this one.

She loved it and wore it ALL THE TIME. When she outgrew it she passed it on to a smaller friend who also wore it ALL THE TIME. The last time I saw it around town, it was on a new little girl. Her Mom said she loved it and wore it ALL THE TIME.

I’m sure it was the satin lining getting all the love – but all three girls called it their “butterfly dress.”

Now you can make a butterfly dress – or t-shirt or pillow or tea towels or quilt or whatever needs a butterfly stitched on it.

This is a super easy embroidery pattern.

Download the pattern here.

My favorite way to transfer an embroidery pattern is to use Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy. You can see it in action in this video. Just print the pattern right on the stabilizer, peel off the paper backing, and stick it down wherever you want to stitch your design. It works great for stabilizing stretchy fabrics like T-shirts too!

This cute little butterfly uses only backstitch – with optional running stitches if you decide to include her swoopy flight path. Those are the two easiest stitches in the whole embroidery world! And if you’re brand spankin’ new to embroidery, just click on the links to watch videos to see how to do them.

I used 4 strands of thread for everything except the butterfly’s face and antennae. I used just 2 strands for them.

Here are the thread colors I used. . .

For the orange body I used DMC #721.
For the pink wings I used DMC #601.
For the yellow spots I used DMC #736.
For the face, antennae and flight path I used DMC #3371.

Have fun!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Sweet Sylvia Snail – a free embroidery pattern

May 9, 2014

Sweet Sylvia Snail loves to go for a sloooooow stroll around the garden, stopping at every pretty posy for a sweet sniff. 🙂

She’s small – the total image is under 4 1/2 inches wide and fits nicely in a 6 inch hoop.

As with any embroidery pattern, you can enlarge or reduce the pattern to make it any size you like, and use whatever colors and stitches you choose.

Here are the colors and stitches I used in my sample. . .

Body - backstitch the outline with DMC #703. Satin stitch the stripes. Add French knots to the tips of her antennae. All stitching is done with 4 strands of thread.

Shell - backstitch the outline and satin stitch the stripes with 4 strands of DMC #333

Flower - backstitch the stem with 2 strands of DMC #699. Use the same color for the leaves in lazy daisy stitch. Lazy daisy stitch the flower petals with 2 strands of DMC #601. The flower center is a French knot with 4 strands of DMC #151.

Face - backstitch the eye and the mouth with 2 strands of DMC #3371.

She’s sweet. Hang her on the wall. Stitch her on a gardening apron or tea towel. Stitch her down near the hem of a pair of jeans.

Want to frame your snail in a hoop? There’s a tutorial here showing how, and one here showing how to hide the messy back.

Want the pattern? It’s free!

Download the Sylvia Snail pattern here.

Sign up for the Shiny Happy News to get more free patterns like this one – plus new tutorials, sewing tips and tricks, yummy recipes, special discounts and more. 🙂

Sylvester – a free embroidery pattern

April 29, 2014

Meet Sylvester. (A free embroidery pattern for you to stitch up!)

He’s a groovy monster who drives a groovy car.

He’s so proud of his car that he drives it everywhere – even when he only has to go a block or two.

Jo informs me that this is a bird – not a monster. I told her that any bird big enough and smart enough to drive a car is totally a monster. Big birds (but not Big Bird, of course) scare me.

This is a very easy embroidery pattern – great for beginners because it only uses a few easy stitches. The pattern has links to videos teaching all of them. 🙂

You can stitch him on anything you can get in a hoop – a T-shirt, a towel, a pillow. You can even frame your finished picture in its hoop! He’d look great hanging on the wall of a kid’s bedroom – and you can customize the colors to anything you like.

You can do it! Download the free embroidery pattern here.

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Fancy Felt Coffee Sleeve – a free pattern

April 25, 2014

Why use those same old cardboard coffee sleeves when you can use a fancy felt coffee sleeve – all pretty and touchable?

Materials you’ll need

1 sheet wool-blend felt (I used Babbling Brook)
scraps of wool felt for the flowers and butterflies
embroidery thread in assorted colors
2 inches hook & loop tape
freezer paper and Sulky Sticky FabriSolvy (optional)

Find links to all my favorite supplies here.

It’s super easy to make. It uses just a few of the most basic embroidery stitches – and there are links to video tutorials teaching all of them.

Download the template here.

Here’s how to make it.

Step 1

Transfer the pattern to the felt. I use Sulky Sticky FabriSolvy every time I work with felt. I love it!

If you’re wondering how it works with felt, read this post.

Step 2

Embroider the design and trim the edges of the felt to size.

I’m going to applique all the flowers and butterflies, so all I stitched here are the stems and butterfly trails.

I used backstitch for the stems with four strands of green thread, and running stitch for the butterfly trails with two strands of light blue thread.

Step 3

Soak out the Sulky Sticky FabriSolvy in cold water and let it dry flat. Don’t wring, twist or even smoosh it. Just set it on a towel and let it dry overnight.

Look! Now I know exactly where each applique piece goes!

Step 4

Applique and embroider the rest of your design.

Use freezer paper to cut out the tiny applique pieces. Trace the pieces onto the paper side of the freezer paper. Fuse the paper to felt, and then cut out the pieces, cutting through the paper and felt at the same time. It will help keep your cutting accurate.

I used whipstitch to applique the pieces, French knots for all the dots, and simple straight stitches for everything else.

Everything is stitched with two strands of thread.

Step 5

Cut a second piece of felt to match the first.

Sew the prickly, hook half of the hook & loop tape to the end of the embroidered piece.

Sew the soft, loop half of the hook & loop tape to the blank piece of felt.

I used a sewing machine to attach these pieces, but you could also sew by hand.

Step 6

Sew the two layers together all the way around the edge.

I used blanket stitch, but you could also use whipstitch, running stitch, or even sew it on the sewing machine.

Finished!

Wrap it around your coffee cup and you’re ready to go!

Happy stitching!

How to Make a Topsy Turvy Doll from any Rag Doll Pattern

April 23, 2014

I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately for a pattern for a topsy turvy doll.

Weird. I have no idea what has prompted the sudden influx.

I’ve had a topsy turvy doll on my Big List o’ Things to Make for a long time now, but the number of requests recently made me move it to the top of the list.

As soon as I mentioned it to Jo, she was full of IDEAS. She immediately started lobbying for a day and night doll. Not an awake and sleeping doll, but a doll with one girl all sunshine and bright, and another girl all deep indigo and starlight. She specifically asked for the night doll to have “dark blue hair – the darkest blue felt you have – sprinkled with tiny little embroidered stars in pale yellow.”

OK then. I can do that!

Instead of creating a pattern especially for one topsy turvy doll, I thought it would be more fun to show you how to turn any of the Dress Up Bunch dolls into topsy turvy dolls. You can apply the same basic technique to work with any rag doll pattern.

Fun!

So here we go. . .

To make a topsy turvy doll you’ll need to make two identical doll tops and no legs. The body will need to be chopped off at the waist so you can sew two bodies together.

Prep the Pattern

Where to cut the body pattern pieces to make a topsy turvy doll - part of a free tutorial from Shiny Happy World

Measure down 4 1/2 inches from the top of the body front and body back pattern pieces of any Dress Up Bunch doll pattern. Draw a line parallel to the top of the pattern piece and cut off the bottom of the pattern. (if you’re using another pattern you’ll need to figure out where the “waist” of the body piece is and add 1/2 inch seam allowance before you make your cut.)

Cut Your Fabric

Cut out all the pattern pieces for two dolls except the legs. I usually use skin-colored fabric for the body, but I don’t like having to put a shirt on a topsy turvy doll so I cut the body pieces from fabric to match the dress. Only one doll half needs to have a stuffing opening, so cut a total of 3 doll front pieces and 2 doll back pieces.

Cut two pieces of fabric for the reversible skirt – each 10 1/2″ tall and 30″ wide. (You’ll need to calculate your own measurements if you’re using a different rag doll pattern.)

Leave One Stuffing Opening

Partially sewn doll back showing a stuffing opening

Sew the two body back pieces together leaving almost the entire seam open for turning and stuffing. Don’t skimp on the size of the opening! You’ll be pulling a lot of fabric through here! I only sewed about an inch at the top and an inch at the bottom.

Press the seam open, then sew it to the back head piece. I stuck my turning stick through the stuffing opening so you can see it.

Sew Two Doll Tops

partially made rag doll - inside out showing the backs of safety eyes

Follow the regular pattern instructions to make two doll tops, leaving the bottom open.

Man – these dolls look so creepy from the inside!

The second doll (the one without the stuffing opening) will use body front pieces on the front and back.

Make the Skirt

Fold one skirt rectangle in half so the short ends are lined up, right sides together, and sew those short ends together with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Press the seam open. That makes one (ungathered) skirt.

Repeat for the second skirt.

Turn one skirt tube right side out and put it inside the other tube, lining up the seams you just sewed. Now the right sides are together. 🙂 Sew the two skirt tubes together around the bottom of the skirt using 1/4″ seam allowance.

Flip the skirt so it’s right side out and press that bottom fold nice and flat.

Masking a reversible skirt for a topsy turvy doll - tutorial from Shiny Happy World

Oooh! It’s looking nice! Both sides of the skirt are the “right” side. For now make sure it’s turned so that the fabric on the outside is the one matching the doll with the stuffing opening.

Gather the Skirt

I’ve got a video tutorial here showing how to gather. For this project I used the “old-fashioned” method of sewing two rows of basting stitches around the top (raw edge) of the skirt – sewing through both layers as if they were one – then drawing up the bobbin threads to gather up the fabric.

Fold the top of the skirt in half and half again and use pins to mark the four equal sections.

Fold the center front of the doll with the stuffing opening and mark the center front point. (The sides and center back are already “marked” with seams.)

Gather up the fabric of the skirt and stuff the skirt inside the doll with the stuffing opening, matching the center back seam of the skirt with the center back seam of the doll. Match the remaining pins to the remaining seams on the doll. Adjust the gathers so that the top of the skirt fits the bottom of the doll, adding additional pins as needed.

partially made topsy turvy rag doll - shown inside out

I’ll be honest. This part isn’t much fun. It’s not hard, but it takes some patience and fiddling.

Sew the top of the skirt to the bottom of the doll using 1/4″ seam allowance.

Add the Second Doll

You’re almost done! Turn the second doll right side out and stuff it inside the first doll and skirt. Make sure the back of the head is on the side where the stuffing hole is, and line up the side seams.

Sew around that same opening, this time 1/4″ from the first seam you sewed joining the skirt to the first doll. That means your seam allowance this time is 1/2 inch. This way you double-sew the skirt (extra-strong!) and also make sure all your basting stitches from gathering are well-hidden.

Turn Everything Right Side Out

You can do it – just be patient and go slowly. First pull the second doll outside of the first one, then pull the skirt through the stuffing hole and keep going until everything is right side out.

Finished!

Stuff the doll, sew up the opening as instructed in the pattern, and you’re done!

So. . . what two Dress Up Bunch dolls will you choose to join together? I used Poppy and Violet, but I’d love to see Pip and Spot, or Pip and Squeak. So many fun possibilities!

Normally the Dress Up Bunch dolls are very easy patterns. Turning them into topsy turvy dolls bumps them up a notch in difficulty. It’s not hard – it’s more about patience than actual skill – but I do NOT recommend this as a first project. Make a regular doll first, then start practicing radical, Frankensteinian surgery. Ok? 🙂

Happy sewing!

So far. . .

A Word About Randomness

Prep the Pattern

Cut Your Fabric

Leave One Stuffing Opening

Sew Two Doll Tops

Make the Skirt

Gather the Skirt

Add the Second Doll

Turn Everything Right Side Out

Finished!

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