Birdy Pouches

Hi all,

I'm back! Still not 100%, I had a real dose of the rotten thing, but back on my feet at the very least.

While I've been laying around I had a bit of a fiddle with something fun that I thought I would share with you!

I had seen Jo Avery's triangle bird pouches on Instagram (you can see them at @joavery), they're very cute and I was planning to buy her pattern and make some Australian birds. I am very much all about that - if another designer has done something already, I will purchase their pattern and not attempt to work it out myself. I would expect the same from them. We all work very hard on out ideas and I respect their time and effort as much as I respect my own!

Jo announced that she wasn't going to release the birds as a pattern as she thought people would copy them (? ok), and instead the pattern was going to be available for a short time as a free class to promote the classes for another group in the UK that she works with. I duly signed up, but the window to watch the free video was so short that I missed it. Reading Jo's information after signing up though, I realised that she had actually taken the pattern for the pouch itself (not the bird component) from Arounna Khounnoraj (you might know her as Bookhou online) - which may also have influenced her decision not to make these pouches a saleable pattern!

Anyway once all that had happened, I still wanted to realise my little collection of Australian bird pouches, for no other reason than that they tickle my fancy. So I did! I managed in the Covid fog to get the cockatoo done. I'm planning a galah and a magpie and maybe a kookaburra and lorrikeet if I can work them out. For now though, you can find Arounna's excellent YouTube video on the construction of the pouch here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aivw6m8zniU

I made mine in the exact same way (other than a few differences outlines below), machine stitching the L shape and then hand sewing the other parts together. It's very simple and makes a really lovely and tactile little piece. I didn't hand quilt the cockatoo, mainly because the idea of trekking to the studio (which is under our house) for white quilting thread was not appealing at that moment, but I will quilt the galah because I think it will add some fun feathery texture.​

DOWNLOAD TEMPLATES

Sarah Fielke Birdy pouch templates.pdf

Download PDF • 598KB

So what did I do differently to Arounna?

1. I used one piece of fabric (that she refers to as lining), without adding the boro pieces on top. It might actually be fun to do boro for the magpie and the lorrikeet, to do bits of black and white or rainbow? I will see!

2. I used iron on fleece for the batting, which saved me having to baste the piece at all before it was turned. I know she didn't baste, but I felt like that was going to make things a little baggy. So I fused the fleece to the front piece of fabric, then layered the piece of the lining (the yellow inside on my pouch) and stitched as she did. Fusible fleece is light and easy to use, and it made the pouch and wings easier to turn through without too much bulk.

3. I added a small bead to the inside knot as well as to the outer end, so that it was nice and secure and wouldn't pull out through the hole. I want to try making some larger pouches using this technique too and I think the bead would be essential in that instance. 

4. I added a beak, wings and an eye!

   
   

So how did you make the wings and beak you say? Well as Jo hasn't released a pattern I made up my own, and as I'm not selling them or publicising them or putting them into the public eye, just releasing them to you fine peeps, that's fair game. You will find the files for the wings and beak for the cockatoo, lorrikeet and galah, as well as a magpie, and a generic beak, as well as a few differently shaped wings, attached to this post, along with a diagram of where to place the pieces when you stitch. Please note that you need to make the wings, beak and eye BEFORE you stitch the L shaped fabric pieces together!!

To add the wings and beak, I cut the beak shapes from felt. You could make them from fabric and turn them too but I felt it was unneeded fiddle. To make the parrot beak, I cut two pieces of the top section and one of the bottom section, so that it wasn't too chunky and thick. I whipstitched around the outside of the beak using matching thread, and when I got to the bottom edge I placed the bottom beak section between the two pieces and stitched along both sides to secure it. You don't need to stitch the edge thats going inside the pouch closed. For the other beaks, I will just cut two pieces and stitch them together with nothing between. 

For the wings, I cut a piece of the fleece using the template, and then ironed it to the back of the fabric. I them used the fleece as a template to cut two pieces of fabric for the front and back of the wing, around about 1/4" larger than the fleece. This really doesn't need to be exact. I then put the fabric pieces right sides together and stitched by hand around the outside edge of the fleece. You need to use little stitches, as small as you can manage for this, partly so that you get a nice smooth curve in your wing but also because you don't want holes in the edges of your stitching! Stitch all the way from the flat end of the wing, around the curvy part and out to the end of the fabric on the other side, and tie good knots. Then turn the wing through to the right side and give it a good press. I stitched a little bit around the edges of the wing, just with sewing cotton, for some definition. Make two wings!

The eyes are just a little circle of black felt. I attached them with a big X for cuteness but you can stitch around the edges too using matching thread.

Once you've made all the additions, place the beak xx and the wings xx. They need to be facing inwards, towards the body of the bird. Check the position of the wings particularly as its very easy to have them point the wrong direction... ask me how I know :) Pin or baste them in place, and then stitch around the outside of the L as directed by Arounna. Everything else proceeds as per her instructions, except when you come to stitch the area with the beak together by hand. 

When you do that, stitch the INSIDE edge of the fabric together first, with the beak pointing to the outside edge. Then turn the piece through and stitch the outside edge. When you go to the beak, one side will already be stitched in (because it was machine sewn into the seam) so stitch the fabric to the other side of the felt with a slip stitch before closing the rest of the seam. 

To make a bigger pouch, simply enlarge Arounna's template! It's important to keep the proportions the same, so it's easiest to just make hers bigger than reinvent the wheel imo.

I've put together some little kit situations that are only for StitchyMites, if you would like to try making these little feathered friends and don't want to gather all the little bits! Not fabric, because Lord knows we all have plenty of that, but a little package with beads, leather thong and the fleece. Mind you, if you would like me to put some fabric and felt together for a certain kind of bird I can do that for you too, just ask. The fleece strip is off the bolt, so its enough to make four pouches, but once you've made one you'll be hooked I swear. 

The kits will be $5 AUS (about $3 US) for the fleece, and enough leather to make one pouch, and a large and small bead - they're lovely wooden beads, not plastic. If you want more beads and leather, you can add another set of two (one large and one small bead) and enough leather for another pouch for an extra $3 per set. You can choose from any of the colours and sizes of beads that are shown below! As the sets aren't available for the general public, to order just send me an email sarah@sarahfielke.com and I'll sort you out. Make sure to tell me how many sets of beads and leather you want (just the one that comes with the $5, or extra on top), and what colour, shape and sizes of beads.​ They are nice and light to post, but if you want to add other things from the website, just place that order first on the site and then email me to add the bird kit in for no extra postage.

Here's the bead options! I used a hexagonal bead for the end of the leather and a small round yellow one for the inside. The large round ones would be fine for the end bead, they're about 1/2" wide. You could also be more decorative and add extra beads onto the end for colour. If I was going to try a larger pouch, I would put the medium bead inside.

Colour names from top left to right:

red, hot pink, pink, orange

yellow, green, blue, purple

dark purple, brown, white

And the sizes left to right:

large, medium small

The shaped beads are a bit larger than the largest round one, but not much. They only come in one size, and in fewer colours.

pink, dark pink, yellow

green, blue, dark blue

So there you go! I hope you have fun making a bird, please send me pics if you do so that I can post them for everyone to see. They're so cute! Please ask any questions about their construction too, I'm happy to help. I'm hoping now I'm up and around a little more that I'll play with the other bird types, I'll make sure to show you when I do.

Happy Thursday peeps 

Sarah xx