Screech - a Stitchery Stuffie Pattern

If you've been anywhere near a quilt store this past year you'll know that owls are all the rage. I don't know if this is a Harry Potter influence or comes from some other source, but they are every place you look: on fabric, in patterns, on totebags and journals. Luckily for me, I love owls and have several patterns using them already. I can't seem to stop drawing them and finding other projects in which to use them. So far, I have Hoot-mon!, a wall hanging and Hootie, a stuffie in 3 sizes, as well as It's a Hoot!, a FREE mini-quilt pattern. 

Now I'm working on a combination of a stitchery and stuffie owl pattern. You embroider the design and then stitch it to a backing, stuff it and voila, a stitchery stuffie!  As I currently have Screech in the design process, I thought you'd like to see how it's going so far.


As you can see, Screech is already embroidered and ready to go. First I traced her onto muslin using a water erasable pen. She was next outline stitched with a backstitch in No. 5 perle cotton and then I started to get a bit more creative. Her hair is actually two different colours of perle cotton stitched together to give a bit more oomph. I used a cross stitch in her eyes and this is worked in a variegated embroidery floss. French knots and running stitches were used to accent her bow. I'm not sure what kind of a stitch I used in her tummy - a made-up stitch, sort of like a chain stitch without continuing the chain. I could've embellished her more, but thought that this was enough for her.

This is the backing that I have chosen for the stuffie. I think it works well with the thread colours on the front and seems "girly" enough for Screech. Now I just have to put them together...

There is a template in the pattern for the back as it is not just a simple rectangle or square. The back is shaped, like Screech, just a bit larger. So what I need to do next is to trace this shape to the wrong side of the front of Screech. I put the front, stitched part of Screech, wrong side up over the back template and then trace it with a water erasible pen. It's important to ensure that your stitchery is centred over the back template. Once it is traced, you can then pin the two pieces of fabric, right sides together so they are ready to be stitched.

This is as far as I have gone with Screech today. I hope to have her stitched together and will then begin work on Hoot - her boyfriend. 

Watch for an upcoming post where I discuss thread selection for embroidery projects like these.