Stitch Club: owlet

Series: Stitch Club no.11

Workshop: Outlandish owlet sculptures
Host: Bryony Rose Jennings website – Instagram
Aim: Create a three-dimensional textile owl character.

Most of the workshops in Stitch Club are done on a flat surface, but not everything. Every now and again a three-dimensional project comes along: at the end of last year I made a leaf from wire and wax and then, earlier this year, there was this owl.

My problem with this owl was all of my own making. A small error right at the start of the process that didn’t make itself obvious until two-thirds of the way through. So here is a reminder to my future self: when someone gives a specific seam allowance, I shouldn’t guess, I should actually measure it and sew it exactly. Because otherwise the owl ends up being slightly chubbier than he should be. And that results in the application of brute force when it comes to getting his wings to meet up where they are supposed to at the back. I won in the end, but it was a close call.

Apart from that rather sweary interlude, this was a fun make. I quickly realised that the ribbon I have is far too heavy to make ruffles with. Instead, I tore strips off a metre of silk that I had conveniently though randomly bought with no particular purpose in mind, and coloured them with various sprays and pigment powders that have accumulated over the years. I used the resulting ribbons for both the ruffles around the eyes and the fluffy ears.

The eyes are black plastic buttons. They were getting a little lost against the dark ribbon around them, so I added some gold metal leaf to set them off. The legs are made of green florist wire that I coloured with gilding wax. The beak is a small piece of natural stick that I carefully carved into shape. And, demonstrating my inability to throw things away, the wood shavings are still in a small container on my desk…