Owl Doorstop

This is my my latest craft project; an owl doorstop!

The idea for this project has a little story behind it. When I moved in with my boyfriend I brought a few pieces of furniture with me as his place needed some extra storage. One piece was a pink ottoman that'd be great for storing my shoes in. The only problem was that it wouldn't fit in in his monochrome bedroom. So I set about finding a grey blanket that I could use to cover it so it would be accepted. This was harder than I thought it would be, but eventually I settled on this fleece one from IKEA (which I bought via Ebay because IKEA's postage prices for cheap items is ridiculous).

My Mum helped me cover the ottoman and there was still quite a lot of blanket left over, as well as the scalloped edges which I immediatly looked at and thought 'owl!'

To make the owl I cut the front and back pieces from left over blanket and some spare white fabric, using a hand drawn paper pattern.

Before sewing the scallops I dabbed a little PVA glue to hold them in place. Then I could machine straight across a whole line of them.

 Just as I'd imagined it when I first saw the blanket!

I found some matching patterned fabric in my stash, which is actually from an old dress of my sister's, and used it to make the eyes along with some white felt.

When raiding my button box I found a wooden toggle which would be perfect for the owl's beak. I drilled a hole in the middle so I could sew through it.

I used zig-zag stitch to attach the eyes - something I'd never done before, especially on a curve - and added buttons for the pupils.

The main characteristic of a doorstop is that it's got to be weighty so I bought a 1kg bag of Tesco value rice to fill the bottom of the owl. I sewed a fabric pouch for the rice by sewing around the edge of a fabric circle and then pulling the thread like a drawstring bag.

The wings are blanket material on one side and patterned on the other with a layer of wadding inside. I hand sewed the top of the wings to the body of the owl.

The base of the owl was the most difficult. Once I'd figured out what shape it would be I cut the piece of patterned fabric and machine sewed half of it to the body, then I put polyester stuffing and the rice pouch inside, and a hand sewed the rest of the base.

I'm so please with how this turned out and because it's made from a fleece blanket it's so soft! Not that I've cuddled with it....

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