Small Fabric Owl Tutorial

Boredom is the mother of all creativity. With everything having been cancelled this summer, my kids had plenty of time to get bored. One of my daughters chose to amused herself with crafts. She made an array of beautiful creations.

At one point she asked to use my fabric scraps. I let her choose whatever she wanted, and a while later she returned with a cute little owl, which she turned into a brooch for me. It made my day and put a smile on my face!

She was inspired by a keychain she saw at a boutique in Japan a couple of years ago. The idea is simple and cute, and a great way to use small fabric scraps.

Here’s a step by step Small Fabric Owl Tutorial for making your own scrappy owl. Try this project with kids, or just enjoy creating your own creature! You can use a sewing machine, or make everything entirely by hand.

What You’ll Need

A piece of paper

Pen

Scraps from two different (but matching) fabrics

Fabric scissors

Thin thread and needle

Embroidery floss in beak color

Embroidery floss in leg color

A thin white fabric, interfacing or felt

Two black seed beads

Polyester or wool filling (or tiny fabric scraps!)

A thin twig from your garden, neighborhood or park

Step by Step Small Fabric Owl Tutorial

Draw a tear shape onto a piece of paper, about 3″ tall and wide.

Cut the shape out.

Choose two scraps of fabric in matching but different colors.

Lay the fabrics right sides together and pin the pattern on top.

Cut the shape out, both layers at once.

Sew around, with a 1/4″ seam, leaving about an inch of the bottom open.

Cut notches along the curved seams.

Turn inside out. Gently push along the seam from the inside, to make sure it is fully turned.

Decide which side you want as the front, and fold the top bit over. Secure with a tiny stitch (just make sure you don’t catch the back fabric by mistake).

Use a hole puncher to punch two circles out of thin white fabric or interfacing. You can also cut circles out of felt.

Prepare a threaded needle, and two black seed beads.

Put the thread in the needle, tie a knot, and insert the needle from the inside of the owl out, where you want the first eye to be. Stick the needle through one white circle, and then immediately through a black seed bead.Insert back into the fabric (so that the thread comes out from the back, where it started).

Stitch in place. Repeat for the second eye. Leave the remaining thread and needle dangling out from the bottom of the owl–you will need them shortly.

Take an embroidery thread, and make three stitches to mark the beak. Tie the thread at the back and cut off.

Return to the thin thread you left dangling. Make simple straight stitches all around the bottom opening (front and back).

Fill with filling.

Pull the thread to close the opening, and stitch shut.

Prepare a twig and embroidery floss for the legs.

Cut the twig to the size you want (at least as wide as the owl’s body).

Put the twig on the bottom of the owl, and make two stitches for each leg. Make sure to connect the body securely to the twig.

That’s it! A cute little fabric owl!

You can use it in whichever way you’d like. Turn it into a keychain, glue on a card, or glue a magnet on the back to put on your fridge. Alternatively, you could hang it on a necklace, or sew a brooch pin on the back and gift to your favorite person 🙂 If you make this a bit bigger, just add a loop on top for a cute tree ornament!

Do you have more ideas for what to do with this owl? If so, comment below!