Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Tiny Tuesday: Owl Tutorial

Yes, this wise yet ferocious owl looks intimidating despite being only 5 inches square unfinished. However, if you work on it section by section, you may be amazed how easy it is to work with small pieces. And after all, you are participating in a Tiny Tuesday project hosted by the wonderful Angela at SoScrappy, home of Tiny Tuesday AND the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

First, check out your scraps for owl wings, owl head fabric, owl body and owl feet. You will also want a bit of beak and some background fabric. And yes, owl eyes. Rather than cut all the pieces ahead of time, we'll move through each section. That said, I would start with three 1X8 inch strips of background fabric.

Let's start out nice and easy. You will need two 1 inch squares of beak fabric and two 1 X 1.75 inch rectangles of owl head fabric. The layout shows that we're going to add a flip triangle to the upper corner.

Place the beak squares face down on the owl head rectangles and sew a diagonal across each as shown.

Press back the triangle...finger pressing works best for these tiny pieces. If the sewing gets a bit wonky, that's okay, because you are going to fold back the fabric as if you had sewn it perfectly. Then cut away the excess from behind. (Do not cut first and then fold back because you will have lost your alignment.)

And while we're here, let's sew the beaks together.

Now the feet will be really easy. Take two 1 inch squares of background fabric and put flip triangles on either side of a 1 by 3 inch owl feet fabric.

For the owl breast, add 2 one inch squares of background fabric as flip triangles to the bottom corners of a 2.25 by 3 inch rectangle of owl breast fabric.

And now you can sew beak to body to feet.

Now let's help the owl fly by giving him/her some wings. For this you will want two 1.5 by 2.75 inch rectangles of wing fabric. You will add four flip triangles to each wing: three of background fabric and one of "owl head" fabric. This is the same fabric you used when making the beak.

Please note that the "owl head" flip triangle is added to the top right of one wing and the top left of the other wing.

Here are the wings with the flip triangles attached.

Now you will attach a 1 by 1.5 inch rectangle to the bottom of each wing. You don't really have to cut these separately...just use the one inch strips of background fabric that you started with.

Now you have the wing sections.

Now you have two wings and an owl body. Please attach.

Voila! Time to make an owl head.

Just like everything else, the owl eyes are made by attaching a one inch square flip triangle to the corner of a 1.75 square of owl eye fabric.

But let's talk about owl eyes. Here, I've taken a 1.75 inch square with a 1.25 inch square cut out of the center. This helps audition fabric for owl eyes. When using polka dot fabrics, remember that you can cut them off center to make the owl look right, left, up, down or cross eyed.

And don't forget, you can always use a solid fabric and draw an eye with a permanent marker.

So where did we leave off? Flip triangles of owl head fabric were sewn to each corner of the eyeball fabric. Now sew the eyes together in the middle. Then sew one inch strips of owl head fabric to each side and the top. (You can cut two 1 by 1.75 inch strips for the sides, and a 1 by 4 inch strip for the top.)

Next, add two 1 inch squares of background fabric as flip triangles to the top corners of the owl head.

Almost there!

Add one inch strips of background fabric to each side of the owl head.

Now sew the head to the body.

Knock Knock! Hoot's There?


22 comments:

Kate said...

Your owl is so cute and I thank you for the instructions. Now if only my fabric stash were as interesting as yours. ^^

Turid said...

So lovely. I have to make this one, for sure. Thanks so much for this great instructions.

Jo said...

Well done. This is an interesting and fun block.

Ellen said...

So cute!

grammajudyb said...

I off to check out my scraps! I hope my owl will be a cute as yours. Thanks for the instructions.

Quiltdivajulie said...

OMIGOSH - this is just TOO cute. I am not making all the TT blocks, but I'm going to make a few of this one. LOVE IT!!!

Susie H said...

Adorable!!! Love this owl. Thank you for drafting us this pattern. It will be a sweet addition to our Tiny Tuesdays quilt!

Barbara said...

You are so clever! Do your cats help you with your designs?

Sue SA said...

Ha ha, this owl is super cute and love the fact he is made of Kaffe! I was just telling my friends about my mothers very large Kaffe collection, so now I can suggest she makes owls!

Cathy said...

Owl be darned...another cutie!

Cathy said...

This owl is too dang cute not to make. I have that same Kaffe fabric (head) but am still looking for scraps rather than cutting into a half yard piece. Hooooo knows what we’ll end up with!?!

Julia G said...

Just love it! You are so generous with all your tutorials. Thanks!!

MissPat said...

The Kaffe fabrics really make this mini owl special.
Pat

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

This little owl is so much fun! I just finished mine up!

Quilter Kathy said...

OH my goodness Sally these guys are so adorable!
I have to make some!
Do you know that a group of owls is called a parliament!?!?!
I'm going to make a parliament!

Mari said...

This is darling! So many pieces and steps, but it turns out great. Thanks for writing this up-- it must have taken forever!

Wendy F said...

Thanks for the great instructions. I love my tiny owl!!

Linda in Calif. said...

Oooh I see how you did those Owl eyes! Very clever. (I was wondering!)

Carol E. said...

So cute!!!

Julierose said...

Whoooo says I can't move out of my comfort zone???:ooo Hoooo knew....
--this owl is a "HOOT" (as in "Who cooks for you"--we hear those every night here ) --I have never seen an owl in the wild--so perhaps I NEED (read want) to make one to lure an owl to our yard?
hugs and thanks for a beautiful owl Julierose

Barbara said...

Great tutorial. Very cute.

Susie H said...

Thank you for the directions to this adorable owl. Very do-able. My wings somehow were too short so just increased the background piece on the ends. Turned out beautifully! Thanks again!