Owl Pillow Pattern AT LAST!

Okay, for those of you that have wanted this pattern ages AGO- I am SO sorry.  Actually figuring out how to make a pattern, finding the time to do it, and then actually doing it are three different things.  I have felt super guilty.  That and I had to make a whole new owl since I needed to figure this all out…  I HOPE it will be good enough for you all to follow, I’ve never actually made a sewing pattern and I do things in strange ways… I tested it out today, and it worked for me…

That said, I think this should be quite timely for Easter baskets?! (I know I totally missed the boat for Christmas,.. but this is just life for me!)  Since it is spring, and I originally showed this to you as a fall project, I changed up the colors a bit when I tested out the pattern…

Owl Pillow Pattern

Well, let’s get started.

Supplies:

(I am not giving a yardage amount because that will depend on your chosen size, but I will say that this is a GREAT project for scraps!  You need very little fabric.)  ** the small size I made was about the size of a sheet of paper, you can enlarge the image for a larger owl. This post contains affiliate links; learn more and read about our full disclosure policy here.

Body Fabric

White Eye Felt/Fabric

Black Eye Ball Felt/Fabric

Yellow Beak Felt/Fabric

4-5 Different coordinating, or clashing fabrics for the appliques

Fabric glue

Coordinating or accent color thread

Pillow Stuffing

Fabric Scissors

You will need the pattern, just right click and save the image.  This may not be used or republished on any other sites, thank you.

I started by folding the body fabric in half and cutting out the outline of the owl.  I tried to list how many pieces you need of each (right before the name and the fold lines are noted.

Okay so let’s get started:

First:

I got my fabrics together and decided what was going where, and marked it on my pattern.

Second:

Begin cutting out your pieces.  I started with the body (2 pieces cut on a fold) laid out the top piece on my desk and slowly replaced the paper patterns with fabric pieces as I cut out the rest.

**For the feathers I actually just cut some really long strips to sort of place them and trim as needed.  So this pattern piece, is a little vague, it can either be placed on a fold or whatnot, but you can see how I did it below to plan for yourself.

I centered each new circle layer on the point of the lower layer… (hope that made sense, it is harder than you think to explain things!)

Now, just trim the extra feathers so that the wings cover the raw edges. Now that you have all your pieces cut, lay them out in their proper places. Make sure they are all placed right where you want them to be (my feathers were just off, but I didn’t notice until too late- so annoying!)

Just know that this is the final layout for your owl, and after the next step you won’t be changing anything, so be sure to get it looking how you want it right now..

Third:

Now that everything is all laid out, take some liquid fabric glue and glue all the pieces in place.  Don’t go crazy with the glue, lightly glue, cuz you don’t want it bleeding through the fabric and leaving a residue or stains.  **You could just pin it all in place, but the glue really makes it easier and keeps you from having wrinkles in the next step, so if you have glue try it!

Allow glue to dry- (check your glue trying times on the packaging, I waited about 2 hours and mine was great, it could have even needed less time).

Fourth:

Now you are going to sew around all the raw fabric edges of your glued pieces.  Set your sewing machine to a regular zig-zag stitch. Set the width of you zig-zig to about 1/2 of it’s full width. Set the stitch length to be about as low or short as you can go. This will create that solid-ish seam look that I have.

As you sew, think of it in layers, you want to sew the bottom layers first where seams will meet.  Like the picture below, I did the feathers before the inside seam of the wings, since the wings are on top.

The back should look nice and clean like this..

Just make your way around all the pieces.

One little detail to make sure you don’t forget is the little reflection in the eye pupil.  It gives the owl such a cute little personality!   Just sort of hold your zig zag stitch in place.  (also notice how the beak was done before I started on the eyes since it was the bottom layer!)

Going around the eyes is the hardest part of this project (it is that easy!).  Since the circumference is small, just go slow, and if they aren’t perfect (like mine) it will just give your owl more personality..

Once all the raw edges are sewn you are ready to sew the back on. 

Fifth:

Sew on the back.

There isn’t a huge seam allowance.  I added a bit more to the pattern after making this, but err on the small side.  Place the two good sides together, and pin the edges.  I sewed all the way around but a small 3 inch opening centered on the bottom so I could flip the owl and stuff it.

Since this is a toy, (and I am hoping it get’s lots of love), I went around the edges twice with a straight seam and then sig sagged the edge… this is the time when I might just have a little bit of serger envy!

Flip it right side out, stuff your owl with batting and whip stitch the seam closed… (I was running out of daylight so I forgot to photograph this…sorry)  But the good news is, that now you are done!

—————–Update 04/15/16—————–

Our reader, Dominika, used this pattern to make these adorable owls:

Fantastic! Thank you for sharing, Dominika!

Check out her blog and more of her great work here.

Cassity Kmetzsch

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Cassity Kmetzsch started Remodelaholic after graduating from Utah State University with a degree in Interior Design. Remodelaholic is the place to share her love for knocking out walls, and building everything back up again to not only add function but beauty to her home. Together with her husband Justin, they have remodeled 6 homes and are working on a seventh. She is a mother of four amazing girls. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.

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