Stuffed Bird Ornaments

With the exception of a glittered deer I made before I thought the whole thing through, I didn’t put any animals on this tree. I was thinking about doing some cool things with faux fur, but then I decided that was kind of morbid. In my imagination this was a tree the animals from Bambi decorated for their own celebration, so with that thought in my head, hanging animals just seemed gross.

Birds, on the other hand, actually belong in a tree.

Using the pattern I’ll include at the end, I cut out two pieces for the body and two little wings. Then I used a quick zigzag stitch to applique the wings in place.

I sewed the two pieces together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, leaving open about an inch of the belly to turn the whole thing right side out, and leaving open the end of the tail.

I opened up a little bit of the sewing on the head so that I could insert a loop of ribbon for an ornament hanger. I tried to do this part as I was sewing the pieces together, but it was a pain. Nothing would lay flat, the hanger kept getting in the way, so I just said forget it and added an extra step. Turn the bird right side out.

Now here’s the part that was interesting. Open the tail and fold the edges in about 1/4 of an inch. Stuff in a small piece of batting so that the tail becomes perpendicular to the rest of the body. (I’m so not a Stuffie maker, so I was way too proud of myself for finding such an easy way to add a little dimensionality.)

Topstitch the tail closed by sewing a triangle. Start in the middle of the base of the tail, go out to the edge and across, and then back down to your starting point.
Stuff the bird and close her in your favorite method. Mine is fabric glue since it’s just a Christmas ornament.

To download the pattern, click on the picture to go to flickr, then click on “all sizes” above the photo. Download the original size. Although you could really print this simple pattern at any size you wanted to make a whole flock of different sized birds.