Whoooo wants a couple of adorable owls to come stay at their house? I think the real question is Whoooo wouldn't 🙂 Using traditional wooden pegs and felt, these little guys can take their place with your gnomes, fairies and other woodland animals. And, using our basic pattern, you can personalize these wee owls to suit your fancy. Make one or make a "parliament" of owls. This duet will fit easily into my travel bag when I go visit the wee ones in Wisconsin next week. I hope they like snow 🙂

Materials:
Wooden pegs – 2 3/8" x 7/8" 
Wool felt
Embroidery floss in coordinating colors
Crafting glue
Stuffing material
Batting – I used thin cotton batting
Pattern

READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO PREVENT MISUSE OF MATERIALS.

IMPORTANT: There can be significant variations in the sizes of the wooden pegs even from the same manufacture and even in the same shipment! Before cutting the body wraps out of felt, cut the pieces out of paper, and "try them on" your wooden pegs. Make adjustments to the paper pattern before cutting out your felt.

The pattern for the Owl Peg can be found HERE.

The tutorial on How to Cut Out Felt can be found HERE.

The Stitching Glossary can be found HERE.

Directions:
Make a copy of the pattern.

Following the photo or your own imagination, cut out felt using the pattern.

Glue body wrap to the wooden peg. Match the bottom edge of the wrap with the bottom edge of the wooden peg.

Following the guidelines on the pattern, stitch appliques to owls body as follows:
-Stitch chest to body using a blanket stitch and 3 strands floss.
-Stitch beak to body using a running stitch and 2 strands floss.
-Stitch eyes to body using a blanket stitch and 3 strands floss.
-Add eye detail using a straight stitch and 6 strands of floss. If you would like, using the same piece of thread, you can tack down every other straight stitch in the center of the eye using a small stitch. This will help secure the stitches. (Please note: the pattern says "3 strands" of floss. I simply couldn't ask Michelle to make another PDF to fix it!)
-Add detail to the chest using a straight stitch and 6 strands of floss.

Now, with wrong sides together stitch the front of the owl's body to the back using a blanket stitch and 3 strands of floss. 

Add the feather detail to the wing using a stem stitch and 3 strands of floss.

With wrong sides together, stitch a wing front to a wing back using a blanket stitch and 3 strands of floss. Only stitch the sides and bottom of the wing, DO NOT stitch the top of the wing above the "attach line". Refer to pattern. IMPORTANT: Do not cut thread! 

Position a wing on the side of the owl. Use photos and patterns for positioning. Pin in place.

Using the same thread, continue blanket stitching the top of the wing, but now you will also be sewing it directly to the owl's body. Do the other wing in the same manner.

You are now done with the owl's body.

To attach the body to the peg, begin my cutting a strip of batting 3/4" wide. I used a thin cotton batting.
 

Depending on the thickness of your batting, wrap the batting strip around the peg to get the width you want. With my thin batting, I wrapped the peg twice. Cut off additional batting. Note: Use enough batting so when you slide the owl body over the peg, the owls chest is firmly stuffed. Before you glue the batting to the peg, "try the body on", by carefully sliding it over the batting, to make sure you are happy with the fit.

Place glue on the peg where the batting will go. Glue the batting to the peg. Note: If you are wrapping the peg twice, start wrapping the batting around the peg, then place more glue on the batting that is wrapped around the peg, and finish wrapping the peg. Press together and allow to dry completely before going on to the next step.

Using a small amount of stuffing, stuff the ears of the owl and place a little at the top of the head. When you place the body over the peg, you want the top of the owl's head to almost sit directly on the top of the peg. Do not over stuff!

Place glue on the batting and the top of the wooden peg and carefully slide the peg into the owl being careful not to get glue on the outside of the owl's body. Note: Position the peg so the seam of the body wrap is at the back of the owl.

Before glue dries, fuss with the owl's positioning, making sure the body is centered. Hold the owl's body against the peg until the glue begins to set. This should only tack a couple of minutes.

Allow to dry completely. Now, make a friend or two for your new owls and introduce them to your gnomes, fairies, and other woodland animals 🙂


 

 

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Photos 2-21-13, 2-21-13