Sleepy Time Owl Stuffy

So busy these days haven't had much time to craft with all the activities going on and spring clean up and maintenance that goes with warmer weather. Yet my daughter was begging and pleading to do a project with her, and after listening to her beg all weekend I decided to get out my machine.



She is a stuffed animal fanatic.
We once made a very tossed together tiny stuffed bear. So she knows making stuffed things is possible to do. Shhh don't tell her about "build a bear" We do that at our own house for much cheaper.
So first it was another bear she wanted, then she decided that a bunny would be fun, then a snake maybe and I think a whale even the choice for a while. Since I knew she was up in the air about what to make I got her to go with my idea. A Sleepy Time Owl.
Owls are pretty popular right now for children's bedroom decor. I went to etsy.com and did a simple search for stuffed owl and came up with over 700 stuffed owls made by people who are trying to sell them. Some for an ok price and some pretty expensive.
So we got out the scrap fabric. Turns out we still had enough scrap fabric from the quilt my mother made for her when she was a baby and she still uses on her bed, to make the owl with. Coordinating!! How exciting.

I found some old stabilizer sheets and two sided tape, I got free for attending a free polar fleece class at a local fabric store. These came in handy and didn't cost me a thing. What we didn't have was stuffing. So we used some older fabric scraps and old torn t-shirts from the rag bucket. So honestly this project cost us nothing, we just used what we had. You could very easily do this whole project with and old dress shirt or two if you wanted.



I made a paper pattern then traced and turned it over on my fabric and traced it again. Then I cut out one owl shape and attached a circle with the stabilizer paper on it. Ideally I would have used fusible web but didn't have any in the house and I didn't know what I was going to use the paper for anyway.
Once it is placed on the owl I used a zig zag stitch around the outside. If I wanted this to last a really long time I would have made my stitches more close together but opted for a wider stitch this time. I think it will just end up sitting on her bed more than drug everywhere.



I repeated the same for the beak, and the eyes starting with larger circles first then the smaller ones.
Then we had to decide what buttons we wanted to use for the center of the eye.



Purple- didn't match this bothered her, but i liked the dark contrast.



Green- Loved the shape but we had put green on there and they just didn't contrast enough.



Pink- Probably my least favorite, but it is not my stuffed owl it is hers and this is what she picked.



Now honestly right then and there I almost decided to applicae it to a large t-shirt making her an adorable summer night gown, but of couse my stuffed animal fan wouldn't have it. Maybe another day.

Then we stitched it, right sides together with the other owl piece leaving the bottom open for stuffing.



Stuffed him with scrap fabric. Stitched it shut, and we were done.



Here it is with her matching quilt made by grandma.



She was happy with it.