Christmas is a comin' so a craftin' we will go!
I love handmade gifts, so I try to make the time each year once the weather starts getting chilly to sit down and make some gifts from the heart.
I have a 3 month old little nephew who will be around 5 months old near Christmas.
So what does a 5 month old like?
They like soft, colorful things, and they love to put things in their mouth.
SO
I made him a little tag toy, and since owls are cute and trendy right now he'll be getting a little boy owl.
[Haha, Erica here's Jack's Christmas present <3]
I thought I'd put up a real simple tutorial for any DIY Christmas gift makers out there. A tag toy in any animal shape is perfect for baby and can have endless variations.
Materials used:
-freezer paper
-coordinating fabrics
-felt
-coordinating ribbon
-jingle bells
-stuffing
-fabric paint
I used freezer paper to cut out my pattern pieces since I was making more than one toy.
Freezer paper is awesome and durable for homemade pattern pieces. Just label them, and pick them up in a large folder when your done, and you can reuse them whenever you need.
These are the key pattern pieces you'll need. I cut the eye, body, and chest pieces on fold so that they'd be symmetrical.
This is just an idea of what the pieces look like as they open up and go together. Do whatever sizes you want, just make them proportional. My owls came out to have about a 6-7 inch body from top to bottom.
Cut out all of your pieces. You want to cut 2 bodies (front and back) and 4 wings (front and back for each side). Of course cut out 2 eyes, and you'll only need to cut out 1 chest and 1 nose.
Start by sewing the chest piece, eyes, and nose onto one side of the body.
I used my sewing machine, but hand stitching would be just as good if not better.
If you have some Heat and Bond or Steam a Seam or whatever then it works much better to iron it onto your fabric and then sew. I happened to be out, so I just pinned the fabric on which worked just as well.
Pin folded ribbon to one side of the owl's wing if you decide you want tags here. Sew front sides together leaving a small opening to turn right side out.
Once you flip it out to the right side, the wings look like this, tags facing outward. I decided to stuff the wings and put a little jingle bell inside each one for a little extra noise appeal.
Once the wings are stuffed I just pinned them to the inside of an owl body along with any tags I decided to add just like I did to the wings.
Sew it all closed, and sew a zig zag seam to enforce around the body.
I used fabric paint to paint the little black eyeballs instead of fabric. I wanted to use buttons, but since it's a baby gift I opted to just use the paint to prevent any safety hazards. If you do use a button though, make sure and super enforce it.
I think they came out super cute, and I'll for sure have to make some more for my little man in a few months.
