Fat Quarter Friday Tutorial - Chicken bookends

For a pair you will need:

About half of a fat quarter
Some buttons or beads
A small about of orange felt or thick ribbon
A small amount of wadding
10 pieces of red ribbon - 5cms long
Rice, pea gravel, or similar (I used gravel from the garden centre, it was about £3 for 5kg, I washed and dried it, and it works great in doorstops etc)

Make the pattern:

Cut out a piece of paper 20cm long by 15cm wide.




Mark the half-way point along the top edge. On the left hand side mark 5cms down, and on the right mark 8cm. Draw a curved line around these points (the dotted line).

Cut out 2 pattern pieces per chicken - I did one red and one white.

To make it up:

Fold the small pieces of ribbon in half, and pin along the right side of one fabric piece (on the short curved side). Machine tack in place.

Right sides together, sew the two fabric pieces together, just sewing about 4cms on each side of the bottom, backstitching at the ends.

Line up the side seam with the bottom seam and flatten the corner. Pin and measure 2cms from the point. Then sew along this line. Remove pin and trim seam.

You now have something like this:

Turn the right side out. Stuff a small amount of wadding in the top to shape the head. Then fill with gravel.

Hand stitch the bottom seam closed. Sew button or bead eyes in place, and cut a beak shape from felt or ribbon and sew or stick in place.